Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Customs vs. Factory

Wow!

Now, don't ya reckon those were some pretty slick actions after 100-150K rounds...

DF

DF: They were slick alright. I saw them both many times at the club.

Incidentally both rifles used the old M70 trigger.

Man, would one of those make a great donor action or what.

I'd replace worn parts, extractor, etc., rock and roll with a Krieger and a Legend, keep the original trigger, add a nice finish...

DF

There are only a handful of shooters on this site whom I actually believe have burned out 1 barrel, let alone multiple barrels......

Nice sling on that Simillion!

I would say the pre 64 M70 has a more reliable trigger and extractor than a Tikka. CRF bolt, firing pin, and trigger are easily strippable/field serviceable in comparison, and no bolt stop or plastic shroud. Plus you don't have to worry about losing your recoil lug when removing the stock It is just less prone to getting clogged up or frozen, and more easily fixed if it did.

The Tikka may have a better feeling trigger, and may even outshoot it also, but no way it rates higher for dependability under field conditions IMO.

Any way, didn't mean to get sidetracked.

Use the rifles that make you happy. I have factory rifles I would never part with for a custom, or even change a thing on. If the Tikka or Blaser do it all for you, then no need to change a thing. I slapped my Sako Finnlight in a McMillan and love it, but probably could have loved it just as it was......

Pretty much perfection by my standards in a BG rifle. A M70 Classic with all the bad stuff taken away by Gene Simillion. Shoots great and functions perfectly.

To get it to work like a pre 64 M70 all he had to do was toss the extractor for a "real one" , replace box and follower with items form Darcy Echols shop and do the machining "trick moves"... install a Krieger barrel, etc etc. Stock is Echols Legend.

In any event it has never needed a thing ever since it was delivered a few years ago. But Simillion is one of those smiths who knows how to make a rifle function perfectly and that's what you pay for.

I will mention....in passing again...that pre 64 M70's generally have never needed that kind of attention IME.

Some folks have opined they've had years to weed out the good and bad pre 64's. I can't agree,having owned dozens. I've found the quality of function and accuracy pretty consistent and far above that of any M70's that followed . And better than most any factory rifle I can think of.(Please, no lectures about how the new ones are "better". The Classic certainly never was, and the FN rifles have not been around long enough to prove a thing. Talk to me in 50 years.....






Something Old School that works. Len Brownell custom on a pre 64 M70 action. 7 RM.It will go bang every time you ask it to.

Bob - I'd agree if you owned dozens BEFORE 1964 and found them all to be excellent. I never took you to be that old. Maybe I am wrong.

The dozens owned since (if you're not ingwe's age) are survivors - guns that shot well, were put together right and not incorrectly repaired or butchered at some point between manufacture and that's why you bought them.

What I was trying to say is that of all the guns made today - the ones left over 50+ years from now will most likely all shoot and feed and be rather nice. Those made today that suck - simply won't be around to purchase as an "original". Similar to pre-64's

Rifle darwinsim might be a term to use....

I believe that the pre-64's you've been buying were the best representation of those that were made because they were good enough to keep 52 years and if they weren't they were either fixed, turned into projects or scrapped.

Eventually all you have left are the top performers. It's a statistical impossibility that all M70's from 1936-1963 were produced as well as the ones you've owned or were retained.

Nice guns, Bob.

I guess if someone wanted a M-70 tweaked to perfection, no holes barred and had a healthy checkbook, there's always the Echols Legend. D'Arcy really goes thru them, fixing any and everything that could ever go wrong. They feed flawlessly, the bolt handle is pinned, OEM extractor replaced, etc, etc. Of course with a pre-64, you don't need to pin the handle, replace the extractor; they feed pretty well...

One could tweak a M-70 himself, buy a good, late model pickup with the difference...

Or just get a pre-64, upgrade with an Echols Legend stock and while we're at it, a Krieger barrel wouldn't hurt...

DF

Teal I am not that old.....

In 1964 I was only 14.

I had no idea those Ive owned were anything special....they were bought from stores or private individuals. And mostly from here in New England. Just run of the mill rifles and the most I ever did to them (other than those that I bought for the actions which were mostly those discards you're referring to) was restock with a good synthetic.

They are remarkably durable although anything can break eventually. I am fussier about what I will buy now.

But what always impressed me about them was the feeding/function and how reliable they were. The barrels were always pretty good and even if they did not always produce 1/2" groups,they were still good shooters.

I would like to have someone start a thread entitled "Tell Us About Your pre 64 M70 Failures and Malfunctions".

I have never seen one. Of course it would have to be started by someone old enough to know.

Here's another that Ive owned a couple years and just got it scoped the other day and took to the range. First indications are it will be like all the others. It's a 30/06 FW...just another rifle.

I've mentioned this before but a now deceased match shooting friend had a pair of palma guns based on pre 64 M70 actions. he figured one of them had several barrels over t years and had fired just about 150,000 rounds in practice and competition without a bauble.

The other was "younger" and had under 100,000 rounds. This rifle broke an extractor after 40,000 rounds or so. All he ever did to those actions was replace firing pin springs every 30,000 rounds or so to get reliable ignition. I'd say thats way more use and abuse than any sporting hunter will ever give a rifle action which is the heart of the whole rifle deal anyway. Barrels and stocks are spare parts...replace at will.


Oops here it is!

LMAO.

Comparing Tikkas to Pre64s is a conversation that should just never be had.

Only a newb would even bother. And I don't want to hear about modern manufacturing, yada, yada, yada. It just tells me you don't know your azz from a hole in the ground as far as rifles are concerned.......