Heck, Phil Shoemaker's Old Ugly the .458 WIN has survived for about 35 years with the aluminum Weaver bases and old Weaver steel strap rings.

I figure the EGW base might do well for me on a .458 WIN.



A .375 H&H might do OK with 6x48 screws, but ought to be glued.

Rip ...

Never needed 8/40s on a .375, 6/48 and a little glass bed has worked fine...

I have a number of the old steel Redfield ring sets and a bucket full of bases, not sure about the early 375, but some Ive seen had two holes forward and one hole in the rear..If interested send me the measurements..

These are beautiful rins and bases, I have them for some mod. 70s but may be fwt weithts..

fine rifle you have 53s are the best of the pre 64s,,,

I also thought Talley made a base for the magnum 70s..Im not sure drilling and tappeing one hole would ruin the collector value of that fine old gun, as hard as a 53 year model is to find....I saw several that sold for $3500 that had been drilled and tapped locally..

Win 70 H&H receivers share the same hole pattern/spacing as the M70 Target actions. To clear the clip slot on the Targets, and to clear the bridge relief cut for the H&H rounds on the mags. ALL the rest including other magnums have the standard hole spacing, and they are all the same length over all. The ring holes should be typical with the difference being the spacing from ring to bridge and the bridge hole spacing itself. If you cant find a Target/H&H spaced mount, one could possibly add a hole to a standard base. No mods to the gun that way. Properly mounted 6's will hold just fine.

Questions for the experts:

1) Should I glue the base down on this rifle?

2) If so...
a. JB Weld or
b. Accraglass

For my whole adult life...this has been my procedure for mounting bases:

1) Degrease the screws, bases, and receiver top with non-chlorinated brake cleaner.
2) Remove the bolt and clean the receiver holes with Q-tip and brake cleaner.
3) stick a rag in the bolt channel to catch excess loctite
4) put a drop of blue loctite in the receiver holes.
5) put some red loctite on my finger and apply to bottom of the base and top of the receiver.
6) set the base on the receiver
7) apply blue loctite to screws removing excess.
8) put all screws in snug
9) torque to 20 in/lbs with a torque driver
10) clean excess loctite off with Q-tips and cleaning patches with brake cleaner.
11) let it sit for 24 hours before shooting.

It has always worked well. That said...I am happy to use Accraglass insted of red loctite if that is the braintrust thinking. It scares me to use JB Weld on this rifle.

Clean and de-grease the threads. Chase holes with a tap if really gunky. Light oil on threads. Assemble. It's not a John Deere lug nut. If base doesn't sit flat on both surfaces,epoxy bed the bridge for full contact. Loctite not necessary. All the rest is witchcraft.

OP has the correct base on the way so no mods to anything are required.
You would think from reading all this that no one here has ever mounted a scope base before. It doesn't require any drama.

It only takes one broken 6x48 for a religious conversion, for peace of mind.
I religiously glue on the scope bases if they are not made integral to the rifle.
Use the Accraglass.
That is how I started off with gluing on bases.
After removing those with no marring I stepped up to J-B Weld and found it could be removed with torch heat too.

On a .375 H&H I would be perfectly happy with Accraglass and 6x48 screws.

Rip ...

I had a scope mount break on my .458 WM on a hunt. That is why I go the extra mile now.

What a timely thread. I have a rifle bought off of GB that when I torqued the rear base screws, they began slipping at 20 inlb. I suspect the previous owner had gotten a little happy torqueing them down. Was going to D&T to 8-40's but now I think I will mount with bedding compound and see if that cures the fliers.

I use the standard 6x48s and Talley bases and rings on mine. It's also vintage 1953.

I have fired many, many rounds down range and in the field over the years and all remains well.

This year in Zambia:

Ledvm,
If you intend to keep the gun then do what you wish, 8/40 are best even if not necessary..I only use red Loctite or JB is probably as good.Drill and tap an extra hole?, Why not? If it were mine Id fix it up like I LIKED IT...ruin collector value? not with one hole on a rare 53 model except for museam quality guns that you can't even hunt with...that's an over reaction on allowable modifications. If one hole ruins it for a collector, then actual hunting or showing it out from under glass will ruin its value likewise..Your gun is a $3500 gun, with or without modifications suggested..

I think you can find bases and rings for that gun! Im not sure where this thought of no body makes rings and bases for it..Any Custom gunsmith can make you any thing your heart desires, a custom set would add value to your gun for that matter..

MR in the above post had custom bases for Talley QD rings on his custom 1953 that look great, and it looks like they are Talley bases but not sure if they are custom or Talleys..

Everything is standard Talley. Lag bolts and Quikrete were not required.

And they’re QDs, too. Always return to zero.

I've got standard QR Talleys on mine. Can't remember if there was any Loctite involved.

Atkinson:

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
I would really like to use QRW2 rings on it ...

That is quite admirable.

MR's ponderous custom rifle built around a Pre-'64 M70 action is a good recoil reducer.

Here is a thumbs up on lag bolts and Quikrete from my Botswana Community Escort Guide, Ernest, on the right.
On the left, my tracker/skinner named Motsomi, the word meaning "hunter" in Tswana language, is all smiles too, below



They were applied to my 6.75-pound .375 H&H M70 (1958 action) to secure some old-style Kimber bases with nickel-plated Kimber QD rings with slotted nuts.
Shown is a Leupold 2.5-8x36mm that actually could barely be fit onto that rifle by using the Kimber bases that had some "Seyfried Schtick" to them.
I also had a backup scope along in blued Kimber QD-lever rings.
I never needed the backup scope, thanks to the lag bolts, Quikrete, and adhesive/sealant between the rings and the scope.
There was clear silicone adhesive inside all of those rings, sealing the scopes in the rings,
against water or stray lubricant.
Motsomi towing the mokoro out of Red Lechwe Swamp:



That is something else that I am amazed so many shooters look askance at also.
Seyfried recommended 3M brand Liquid Electrician's Tape. I used clear or black "RTV" type silicone adhesive.
Photos were by waterproof instamatic in the days when we still used film in our cameras.
The 6.75#, 24"-barreled .375 H&H was re-barreled to a 7.0#, 23"-barreled .395 H&H, the only one in the world.




Rebarreling that .395 H&H to .458 WIN is just a joke. That is my one-of-a-kind PERFECT rifle as is.
I guess I am going to have to settle for a 7.5# .458 WIN by re-barreling a Connecticut Classic .416 REM.
Or maybe an FN/SC/Portugal .375 H&H M70 Alaskan will be re-barreled to .458 WIN.
The loss of value on that would be way less than losing my .395 H&H, which is priceless.

I am going to try that EGW base and see how it holds up, with lag bolts, Quikrete, and silicone.
It will allow greater versatility in scope mounting, short ones, long ones, just not the too heavy ones like those Swarovskis.

Speaking of heavy, here is Motsomi taunting a lone hippo in a puddle:



Right after this pic was snapped, he turned around and shook his butt at the hippo,
and I unlimbered my .375 H&H magic wand, just in case.
Light rifles are nice for kopje hopping.



Rip ...

Lane,

I guess you're so far into this project that my comments are superfluous but what the Heck. Your Pre '64 375 is heavy. Recoil is not much of an issue. In my opinion your original 8x48 screw holes are just fine and the QRW bases and rings will work great with a little application of Loctite. Simple!

Mark

A better picture of the lag bolts and Quikrete,
whether that is 0.425" or 0.437" I am not sure,
thought it was 0.425". That may have been parroted from the internet.
Better go eyeball&caliper it again on mine.
(Edit: Fixed it: 0.437" seems to be correct as per EGW.)

EGW says it is 0.437" for the Pre-'64 M70 H&H.
Got one coming in the mail.
(edit: arrived 8-26-2019)

The standard QRW steel bases by Leupold matched mine, and are low enough for the peep to work.
The EGW base is going to stand a bit prouder.



Lag bolts and Quikrete have been very good to me,
here on a .404 Jeffery and a .500/.338 Lapua Magnum (12.7x68mm Magnum):



Peace of mind on lighter, bigger-bore rifles that are more prone to shear the 6x48 screws:
Lag bolts and Quikrete.

Rip ...

"Warne Winchester Model 70 Pre 64 Magnum .440 RHS Scope Mount M902/818M Color: Black, Finish: Matte, 29% Off" at Optics Planet.

Warne says their rear hole spacing/spread is 0.440",
.437" ?
.440" ?
Buy and try, for only 27 bucks!
Drilling out these steel bases to 8x40 size and gluing with epoxy/J-B would be an improvement over what I have now.
This one allows some Reverse-Seyfried Schtick (RSR) at the front base,
for shorter scope mounting, with less obstruction than with a full rail.
Fits QRW, QRW2.



https://www.opticsplanet.com/w...rhs-scope-mount.html

"This base set does not use 8-40 screws, they are the standard 6-48. If your rifle needs 8-40 screws for this, the bases would need to be drilled out as this is not the factory configuration."

"Yes, these should fit your Pre-64 Model 70 in .375 H&H. They are also compatible with the Leupold QRW rings."

We all know that "factory configuration" can sometimes be improved upon.

Rip ...

Those are what I have on my others. Broke a 6-48 screw on my .458 WM thus was looking for a one piece for more stability.

Torque screws have made life much easier, for thoses that understand just how tight you can get them, like overtight will dent a scope and or break a screw, but us guys been breaking screws with screw drivers and hammers for decades...Just a little more is catastrophy in the making.

I use leather glue (Leather cement) inside scope rings painted it on thin.. mount the scope and it will never move..Leather cement will set up ruber like and can be peeled off at any time in your life span..prevents scope scratches from rings as a plus..

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
Those are what I have on my others. Broke a 6-48 screw on my .458 WM thus was looking for a one piece for more stability.

Assuming the 1-pc and 2-pc have the same number and size of screws involved, as in this case:
The only way a two-piece can be more prone to shearing screws is if one of the scope rings is loose and the other is not.
Scope slides forward in one of the rings and not the other.
The base with the tight ring on it will have more shear force on the base screws since the weak sister ring is not pulling her share of the load.
Gluing the scope into the rings, like Seyfried, Atkinson, and I do with our 3 different adhesives can prevent problems.
Atkinson's leather glue is "Barge Cement," rubber cement.
I bet he learned about that while he was learning leathercraft in prison, preferring that to stamping license plates.
Me too, of course (old joke).
I would use that, or 3M Liquid Electrician's Tape, or RTV silicone adhesive.

You can make it solid with either 1-pc or 2-pc, or sweat over getting away with a lesser job on a mere .375 H&H instead of a .458 WIN.

Rip ...