Gentlemen,

I purchased a Winchester Mod. 70 in .223 WSSM for my wife. This is the full stainless model, and has a synthetic stock covered with a soft, pleasent feeling Dura-Touch armor, with camoflage. My wife is a small lady, about 4 feet 11 inches tall, and her length of pull is 12.5 inches to 12.75 inches. The length of pull on this rifle measured from the center of the rubber butt to center of the trigger is 13.25 inches. I need the shorten the stock by 3/4 inch to make it perfect for her.
My question: by what method can I accomplish this? I know nothing about this Dura-Touch, or how thick it is.
I have access to a shop for shaping the butt pad, but the only serious cutting instrument is a giant table saw. I thought of asking the shop foreman if he would install a brand new carbide tipped blade, and then have him (he is MUCH more skilled than myself), carefully trim the stock.
I am worried about the camoflage covering and this squishy rubber type armor.
Any experienced opinions appreciated.
Thanks.

I should add: I am in a remote area with no gunsmiths. This is a birthday present, and I am trying to finish everything before my wife comes home from a short trip.

how thick is the buttplate on it now? could you swap to a thinner pad to get closer to your 3/4 inch reduction?

3/4's isn't a lot to make up for, just my 2 cents.

Plenty of ways to skin a cat shorten a stock. However, I have to plead ignorance on the dura-touch stuff. I did shorten a Hogue overmolded stock, don't know if that is similar.

In addition to a table saw, does the shop have a belt or disk sander? You don't need a table saw but you will need a sander to re-profile the recoil pad as the stock will be smaller.

At any rate, first thing is can you remove the recoil pad? Hopefully it is screwed on and not glued on. Remove the pad, stand the stock upright on the workbench or table and scribe a line around the circumference. A good way to do this is figure out how much to take off, then get a board that thickness. Put the board next to the stock and use it as a straightedge to scribe your line. What is really recommended is to put a layer of masking tape around the stock first and draw on the tape. To be honest if you are carefull you don't need to but I strongly recommend doing it, and especially with a wood stock. For drawing the line, the thinner the better. You will be amazed how much wandering can occur when you are following a thick line with a saw. you may not run out of either side of the drawn line, but when everything is cleaned up the line can be seen to wobble with the eye even. Anyway, use a very fine tip marker, or automatic pencil, or the real precision guys use scribes but that is too much for me to do, I have good luck with fine tipped stuff.

When you have the line marked, if you are going to use a table saw make a jig to hold the stock. something like a 1X6 with a 2X2 on the end will work, just fix the stock that once you have it adjusted it can't move and use the T-square of the saw. line it up by making sure the blade touches the line you have drawn, then lower the blade and slide the stock as if making the cut, when over past the saw blade, raise it up enough to verify yoy are still cutting on the line. If it is off, adjust the angle of the stock. When the saw blade lines up on both ends of the cut, make the cut and you're done.

If you have a large sander, you can just guesstimate the cut and make the cut 1/4" short and sand to the line.

To do this by hand is not difficult at all. Just mount the stock in a vise and use a hacksaw with a new blade in it. Cut a shallow groove on your line, all around the stock. Then deepen it to 1/4" Now you can cut it through and it won't wander on you.

Once it is cut, you'll need to re-mount the recoil pad. Most likely if this is synthetic it will be hollow. I like to use 4" sections of 3/4" hardwood dowels, I'll epoxy them into both ends of the stock cavity and they are usually big enough for the original screw holes of the pad to reach. If not then use a piece of 1" lumber to make suitable screw in points. Afterwards you'll need to sand down the recoil pad a tiny bit since the stock will be smaller but that is about it.

Thanks for the replies. It looks like Winchester did this one right. I used electrical tape and carefully applied it around the area to be cut. I then used some green duct-tape to mark the line. This morning, after half and hour to get everything square, I used the shops miter saw with its carbide tipped blade, to make a perfect cut.
I have the rubber buttpad in a cryo-freezer now to cold-soak at -50* C or -58* F so it will be easier to sand down.