Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Tell Us About Your pre 64 M70 Failures and Malfunctions

Pre 64 bolt handles aren't the problem.....the scopes are what got fatter.

You can hardly mount a scope lower than an older Leopold or Weaver in Weaver bases and low rings.

But no one uses that outfit anymore.....it's too practical and the scopes don't have enough stuff in them.

I use fat scopes and still have no problems with the leupold DD's or talley lightweights.. I hear what you are saying though Bob..

You mean like this?

Back on topic:


Pre 64 model 70 with what Bob was talking about:

?

Yes Sir!

Just like that!

Brad I guess some of us are just a bunch of Neanderthals....

Guilty as charged

BTW, An Edge stocked 270 FWT with 6x36 LRD on top.

I've broken the bolt stop block off the extractor ring on a 308 action, though that was on an across-the-course rifle that had at least 9-10k rounds through it at that time. It locked up the action, but I cleared it, shot an alibi string and carried on for the day.

I've also had a bolt sleeve lock disappear. Easily replaced with wisner parts and peened the retaining pin so it didn't happen again.

Good info free-miner. That's one thing I don't like about the 243 and 308: more parts in there to go wrong..

I can see that stuff happening. Match shooters can abuse stuff in ways ordinary shooters never could.

I had a major malfunction. Apparently you can shoot .308's in a .270. I cant believe these old guns cant handle my stupidity.

Holy cow!!!

Dammit son!

So....how did it handle the escaping gas?


I would not do that again.

Yes, I'm also wondering if the escaping gas came back into the shooters face like it's said to do. Did the bolt handle fly back or did the locking lugs do their job? Bob, this is one of the reasons I don't like that little bastid 308 . It can get inside a damn good rifle and fu ck chit up...

Ouch. I've seen more than a few rifles that have had significant failures, but this pretty much takes the cake. I guess that .30 cal bullet doesn't fit down a .27 cal bore?

That is a doozy of a blow-out... I hope you survived that ok!

Justin

For the back story- I shot a deer along a power line stand on our lease. The deer went down immediately, as I was walking up to the deer, it raised its head and started to try to get up. I reached in my pocket put a round in and pulled the trigger. One heck if an explosion took place and I was standing there holding the buttstock of the rifle, and the barrel and forearm were sticking in the dirt in front of me. I was totally confused/shocked I didnt have any idea of what had happened. The scope was blown off and hit me in the across the bridge of my nose. I had two black eyes,a little bit of bleeding from some shrapnel hitting my face, four pieces of metal removed from my right eye and busted my left ear drum. My youngest son shoots a 308 , My oldest son had given me a .308 bullet he had found in our driveway about a week earlier. I put it in my hunting jacket not thinking anything of it. You can guess what happened from there.

The bolt stayed locked after the explosion, the round made its way down half of the barrel. The explosion was so strong that what looked like liquid brass blew past the bolt shroud into my eye. I am very lucky I wasnt killed, or permanently disfigured. As you can see from the picture the action peeled back like a banana. I consider myself a safe hunter - never climb into or out of the stand with a loaded gun, wear a safety harness, etc. Scary how things can happen so innocently.

Thank god you were not injured more than that. I'm thinking similar results would happen with just about any rifle/action. I may be wrong, but wouldn't want to try it in a tikka or montana to test my theory. Thanks for sharing your story.

Glad you got out with what did, seems it could have been a lot worse.

Was this a custom? I don't see a sight on the barrel and the stock looks a little to nice with finer checkering and subtle pattern difference.

Yes, Thank You for sharing.