Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Model 70 action length?

Within the past day or so I was told that Model 70 .308s have been made in short and long action lengths. I checked the mag well on my late-USRA-production Classic .308 (stainless synthetic) and see that there is in the rear a spacer approximately .2" thick. Including the spacer, the floor plate is about one inch longer than the magazine. For what it's worth, this is a one-piece floorplate.

Is my .308 built on a long action? What purpose does this serve? Thank you.

All pre-64 Model 70's (from the .22 Hornet to the .458 Win Mag) were built on the same size receiver. The push feed rifles introduced in 1964 also came in one receiver length (about 1/4" longer than the pre-64 receivers). Around 1984 USRAC introduced a push feed short action receiver, which was also later adopted for the short cartridge Classics as well. Depending on when your rifle was built will determine which length receiver the .308 WIN was built on. Odessa

Yours is built on a short action. If it's stainless and a classic M70 in .308 then it's the short action. The M70 short action is about .2" longer than most other's short actions and the magazine has the spacer in most calibers it's chambered for excepting the WSM's, they leave the spacer out of it for more room. I once had a walnut/stainless featherweight .308 rebarreled to 257 roberts and removed the spacer to allow the slightly longer roberts into the magazine.

Thanks, guys. If what I later read was accurate, it is built on a short action. The receiver holes are 7 1/8", as opposed to 7 5/8" for their long action.