Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Damnit!

My nephew wanted to try out some different caliber rifles so I pulled a selection out of the safe including my .338 LH Stainless Classic for him to try. Grabbed a box of Remington 225 grain factory loads for it and met him at the range. We worked our way up from the .270 and I set him up with the .338. First shot I thought I noticed a little smoke from the action before he ejected the case. He put a 2 more through it and I notice he's having a hard time getting the bolt back. I figure inexperience. So I take a seat behind the gun and load up 3 rounds. First 2 shots the bolt is sticky, third shot I had to wack the bolt handle with my hand to get it to start back. I look at the cases and notice a shinny ring just ahead of the belt on a couple and a bit of soot on two more. Enough of that so I case it up. Cleaning things up tonight I take a closer look at things. Here's what my bolt face looks like now.


The culprits

WLRP or WLRMP I'm presuming? Or are those factory Remington??? Sorry to hear that..

He did say he grabbed a box Remington 225gr factory ammo too shoot in it..

Nope. It was an unopened box of factory Remington 225 grain Core Loct loads. Not sure how old, this century for certain. Looking over the rest of the unfired ammo I find a few small spots of green corrosion on the brass. Wonder if corrosion in the primer pocket would cause it? Never had a primer leak before.

Around 2010-2011 Remington had a bad Batch primers.:

Remington also had primer problems in the mid 80's. Problem at that time was pin holes at the corners.

I'm going to contact Remington to see what their response is. I'm sure it'll be something not of their fault.

I'd send the ammo, bolt and request reimbursement for a new rifle too!

The machining on that bolt face was done by a hack.

I agree with pal. I'm wondering it tmitch can send it back to Winchester for repair??

Kinda doubtful? It's a left hand Stainless Classic from the mid '90s.

I don't know why it couldn't be tig welded and machined back.

Agree.

Looks like some amateur has already tried to make a repair to that bolt face.

No, I bought the rifle new. Had my dealer order it from the distributor. Winchester's machining of stainless at that time wan't the best and a strong side light plus 10x magnification makes it look worse. It's not much different (except the gas cut) than the 4 other SS M70s I have. The two CM M70s I have are better.
Never having dealt with this kind of issue before, what does the gas cut hurt other than looks? Regardless I'll have to either have it looked at by the local Winchester repair center or call Winchester and see if they still work on that vintage M70. Apparently more happened than just the gas cutting. I mentioned hard extraction on the last couple shots, so I tried a couple empty cases fired from this rifle prior to this happening. They will chamber but won't extract without a good rap with the heel of my hand. The cases then have a bright spot at the top rear like there's a burr on the edge of the chamber.

+1

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully Winchester can repair it. When is FN going to start building LH models???

Me too! I got on the Winchester website and the only exclusions they list for service are model 12, 42 and 94/9422s. I'll call them in the morning and see what they say.
I kinda doubt FN will make a lefty, and quite frankly, if they build them off shore like the rightys I wouldn't buy one anyway. Of course I probably wouldn't buy one regardless because I have more than enough now. Still thinking of turning the extra .300 into a .264 though.

Good thinking tmitch. I concur with your reasoning...

I wouldn't bother with Winchester. I'd call Mark Penrod.

Eek.

First thing I'd do is find some gauges and check headspace. Next, I'd call Winchester. They just replaced the bolt body on a NH M70 that somehow had gotten bent (THAT was a first).. $227 incl. ship back - and they did it inside a month.

I'd also call Rem and yowl about those factory loads. With pix of those primers I have a feeling they'll be right pronto on ponying up something to satisfy you..

I also agree with pal - I've had some rough M70 faces in before but THAT one looks like it was done via a Dremel.. Geez..

I refuse to use Remington Ammunition.

I called Winchester service department Monday and the fellow that answered the phone said they don't work on that vintage M70. He referred me to Midwest Gun Works. I dunno, maybe if they worked on your NH 70 the guy was mistaken? I'll call them again and see if I get a different answer.
I dropped the gun off at my local gunsmith (an authorized Winchester service center) this morning but it'll be a couple weeks before they can look at it.
I sent Remington a note last Friday but haven't heard back from them yet. Will be calling them tomorrow also.
The 'smith will check headspace, but until I fired those 6 Core-Loct loads there's not been an issue. I bought the rifle new and have only fired factory loads. I can account for almost every fired case put through it. It's always fed, fired and ejected perfectly.
Yeah, the bolt face ain't the purdiest, but even I look ugly with a strong side light! Ah, who am I kiddin', I'm ugly from every angle.

without the side light.

You're right Redneck, after I talked to them Remington seems pretty agreeable on taking care of things. I also called Winchester and talked to a service rep who, unlike the first one I talked to, said no problem just send it in. He said the G prefix serial number M70s are the cutoff for them to work on.

Progress is being made. After talking to reps from both Remington and Winchester, rifle and ammo were shipped back to their respective makers. Received a quote from Winchester to "Place gun in proper mechanical condition" which includes replacing the bolt. Remington rep said he'd take care of the charges for the repair and a call to Winchester confirmed they received the check and are proceeding. He also said he'd send me a replacement box of ammo from their "premium line". I just got it and was kinda surprised it was a box of Barnes VOR-TX. When I asked he said the faulty ammunition dated from '98 and was corroded on the inside which led to the primer leak.

It's good to hear that Big Green is doing the right thing.

And that they didn't dick around, but went right to the truth.

I wouldn't say the "Big Green" did the right thing other than for themselves. As to "right to the truth", I'll bet there was more to this than "corroded ammo" which is pretty vague and can point blame in any direction.

A few years ago I handled an M700 that blew up using Remington 300 RUM factory loads nearly killing the shooter. The rifle was part of a lawsuit with "Big Green." Ammo was the culprit.

And then there's the nearly 5 decades long azz-covering involving their faulty trigger...

Granted, the "Remington" of today is several owners removed from the Remington of even a decade ago, but it's one company that has proven time and again it's no friend to the shooting public.

So you have to pay Winchester to fix the rifle? I may be misunderstanding.?

You are.

Remington sent a check directly to Winchester to cover the cost of the repair.

No doubt Big Green is doing what they are for their own benefit, but I'm glad they're doing what they are to make things right for Tmitch. They could have just said "screw it, take me to court" and drug the resolution of his situation out for years too. Whatever their motivation, I don't care. Even if they're doing the right thing, for the wrong reason, in the end he's (Tmitch) being taken care of appropriately. That's a win in my book.

Oh ok that makes more sense, good on them I guess,

I'm happy to be reading this today!

Even better news, just got UPS notification this morning that the rifle is being delivered today.... several weeks ahead of their estimate! Had figured it would probably be delayed, given the time of the year.



Edit*
The brown truck dropped off my rifle this afternoon. According to the invoice, besides replacing the bolt and "minor repairs", they also replaced the magazine spring.
Oddly, and not mentioned on the invoice, they also replaced stock. This kinda baffles me because the old one was perfectly fine and IMO looked nicer than the replacement. I noticed the barrel is free floating now where is wasn't originally. Removing the stock it's apparent they use a different method and material to bed with. Much different than the amber hot glue type they used on them originally. I guess it's an improvement, but now it's missing the small marks that remind me of the elk hunts I took it on.

The new bolt face looks a bit better than the old one. Doesn't look like it's been chewed by angry beavers.