Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Winchester M 70 stuck safety

Any help with my blued push feed .300 WM would be appreciated. I got it a bit wet the last day of moose season so I removed the stock, dissassemled the bolt and hit all the metal parts with kroil. After reassembly the safety won't move back to the middle position. I may have moved the safety to the fire position once it was dissassembled if that's possible. The cocking piece (term?) is not moving rearward as I believe it should as I attempt to engage the safety. In the assembled position I can't seem to force the cocking piece back but if I unscrew the bolt shroud a click or partial turn and force the cocking piece back I can engage the safety. Once put back together then trigger pulled it returned to it's non-functional state.

Thanks in advance for an assist.

Ensure you've installed the shroud fully.. It sounds like you may be short one thread.

To check: Remove the bolt and with a smooth-grip pliars, pull back the firing pin (striker) until you can engage the safety. Then ensure the shroud's fully screwed on until the toe of the striker aligns with the small notch next to the cocking ramp and the shroud lock engages... Insert the bolt in the receiver and try the safety again.. If it does not engage, you've done something else wrong in assembly somewhere..

Redneck, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be the case. The toe of the striker's in the very small notch and the shroud lock is engaged.

Not overly familiar with those units. If they are like many other units though, can one depress the shroud lock by hand and get one more turn on the threads? In hast, I have missed that a few times on mausers.

I agree with 1minute. At least on Mausers, the shroud will lock in the cutout a round before seated fully. As he stated, depress the shroud lock and turn the turn in until it locks again.

At that point, the safety should NOT engage.. It will only move 'on-safe' after you install the bolt back in the action and have the bolt handle all the way down..

If, after doing that, it still won't engage, pm me...

You may think I'm crazy, but make sure your trigger retaining pin is all the way in. If it is not, it allows the cocking piece to go about .020 further forward. Had this problem come into my shop and it drove me nuts until I discovered it.