An Alaska outfitter called today inquiring about an extra round floorplate for the "new M-70"

He had in mind the "coffin" style that we (Sound Metal Products) will be making for the Enfield.

Alas, I told him, you could put a banana clip on the M-70 and that extra round will only cause a log jam at the top.

The loop in the magazine spring is there to keep you from putting in an extra round....try a standard follower spring. Now sure enough! you can put in the extra round but now it won't feed..at all!

This is old news to many of you, but I would encourage the gunsmiths here on AR to address the problem and make$$$$.

A new box can easily be made from 1/16" flat stock...make up a properly dimensioned mandrel, bend the flat stock around it and weld up the seam.

Now...turn the action upside down in a suitable fixture and open up the rails (something like a pre 64).

Then, get a pre 64 Mag follower from Jim Wisner, along with one of his springs and tweak the rails and feed ramp so it feeds smooth as glass...even smooder maybe!

I've done this a few times, but workload will not allow me to consider taking on such jobs.

This particular gentleman is a reader of AR, so if anyone wants to step up to the plate.

Saw an advertisment on the side of a cement truck "Find a need and fill it"

D'Arcy Echols already does it. All of his M-70 magnums hold 4 down and feed perfectly without the use of a gawky drop floorplate.

He makes his own magazines and followers from staimless steel and then modifies the magazine well to accomodate the new magazine dimensions.

Gene Simillion also uses D'Arcy's magazine on his M-70 based magnum rifles.

Chet

A nice feature about D'Arcy's magazine is that it gets an extra round because it's actually the right dimensions. And all this makes it actually shorter than the 3 rd factory mag.

D'Arcy is a gunsmith and understands that rule #1 is design the magazine for proper stack.

The folks who designed the factory counterpart may also understand, but chose the path of lower cost "universal" dimension....which, of course, meant it doesn't do anything well.

quote:

Originally posted by Ralphie:
A nice feature about D'Arcy's magazine is that it gets an extra round because it's actually the right dimensions. And all this makes it actually shorter than the 3 rd factory mag.

And some of those Echols magnum boxes will actually hold FIVE (albiet tight and not necessarily feed that fifth one).

So why try to stuff in another round that doesn't feed...what am I missing?

If you can't hit it in 2 rounds, why would you want to miss again?
Butch

Duane,

The rifle is one of Phil's loaners, a reworked .375H&H M70. If I remember correctly, it still has the factory tupperware stock so the mag box depth is standard but you can CRAM a fifth .375 in there. We tried it with .416 Rem loads and it only held four.

Once that fifth .375 is in there, it's too tight to feed and really starts to mess up the cartridge stack. Four rounds of H&H are slick though.

quote:

Originally posted by PWS:
Duane,

The rifle is one of Phil's loaners, a reworked .375H&H M70. If I remember correctly, it still has the factory tupperware stock so the mag box depth is standard but you can CRAM a fifth .375 in there. We tried it with .416 Rem loads and it only held four.

Once that fifth .375 is in there, it's too tight to feed and really starts to mess up the cartridge stack. Four rounds of H&H are slick though.

How did you manage to get 4 down in a M70 classic?

I have two M70 classic Safari Express models a 375 H&H and 458 win. mag. all I get is three down...would love to get 4 down that feed reliably. Any help would be appreciated.

Reread Duane's first post. He sums up what needs to be done - install new box, spring, and follower and tweak the rails. I haven't had it done and don't know who'd take on the job. Sorry.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
If you can't hit it in 2 rounds, why would you want to miss again?
Butch

Tell that to my Professional Hunter that was forced to kill three Elephant out of a group that were keen on killing him.
One dead at 10m, next at 7m and the last at 4m!
He was glad to have his Brno 416Rig with its huge magazine but was a tad worried as he only had a few more rounds on his belt.

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:

Tell that to my Professional Hunter that was forced to kill three Elephant out of a group that were keen on killing him.
One dead at 10m, next at 7m and the last at 4m!
He was glad to have his Brno 416Rig with its huge magazine but was a tad worried as he only had a few more rounds on his belt.

I bet he'll never carry a double after that experience!

quote:

Originally posted by rolltop:

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:

Tell that to my Professional Hunter that was forced to kill three Elephant out of a group that were keen on killing him.
One dead at 10m, next at 7m and the last at 4m!
He was glad to have his Brno 416Rig with its huge magazine but was a tad worried as he only had a few more rounds on his belt.

I bet he'll never carry a double after that experience!

He never did and yes, I suspect he never will.
He highlighted this as a reason to carry at least 12 rounds in DG country.
Ps: a couple days before he was forced to kill one in a similar situation. And they weren't even hunting Ele.

quote:

If you can't hit it in 2 rounds, why would you want to miss again?
Butch

Uh, sometimes despite good shot placement critters don't drop at the shot. My rule on big critters, like elk especially, is to keep shooting until they are down or out of sight. This years elk only took one shot, last years only two, so I didn't use all 4 but I don't see how it hurt me. Once I shot a cow elk with 2 rds when the kid next to me rifle jammed the rifle still had two rds left for his.

I have never had anything stay around for a 3rd shot.
Butch

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I have never had anything stay around for a 3rd shot.
Butch

My Lion, one Eland, two Buff, Two Elephant plus a herd.The list go's on for me.
All good shots from calibers such as 9.3, 416 and 470.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:
I have never had anything stay around for a 3rd shot.
Butch

Wish I could say that !

Yep, I had plenty of motivation when I was in Phil's area, those bears will provide in spades.

Last time up for spring bear, we ran into National Geo. flim crew and while we all were having dinner at the King Ko they mentioned heading for Brooks next day. Naturally I was curious what they used for protection. The answer still gives me the willys they had a couple of big black pop open umbrellas.

I'll take 4 down.

HBH

Phil,
I haven't hunted dangerous game and the reference to not needing a third shot; if you miss twice my animals are on the other side of the state by then.
Butch

quote:

I have never had anything stay around for a 3rd shot.
Butch

I've seen animals that were well hit that couldn't get out of shooting range because of those hits but they still weren't down and out. I would agree though that if the first 2 or 3 are clean misses or bad hits most critters would be pretty well gone.

My old LH Win 70 375 H&H with 2 piece BM would hold 4 in the mag. and fed them quite well used a Pre 64 mag spring to make it work. My buddies would not hold 4 in the mag in a RH Stainless Win 70 375 H&H, with the same spring ?