Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa New Winchester Express .375 H&H

Very satisfied with overall fit and finish of new (FN) Mod 70.
The wood is quite descent and straight grained.
The action cycles smoothly as does the safety.
The matte finish on the metal is surprisingly good looking.
The stock when wiped vigorously with a silicon cloth takes on a luster that brings out the grain.
The magazine floor-plate does not close completely leaving a 1/32 in.gap.
The follower is not made of steel.
The extractor seems to have a coating that resists mild polishing.
Has anyone tried to polish or jewel the extractor to match the bolt body?
More to come after I get a chance to shoot it. The weather in the North-East as you may know is pretty lousy at this time.

Do the new ones have Williams extractors? It was a worthwhile switch on the New Haven ones and the future availability may be uncertain. Just a thought before you jewel it.

Hi,will the company send you a steel follower if you request it?.
Does this have the new MOA trigger or is it similar to the old Winchester model 70 trigger.
Is the magazine floorplate gap have a propensity to open up when you fire a few rounds?.Would like to hear if that lack of fit and finish could lead to unwanted openings when firing.Thank you.

SC Winchester is using PTG now for the bottom metal, am unsure of the extractor, but I didn't think they used Williams anymore. This and the stock is now made by one of the Italian gunmakers to cut down costs. Take the extractor off and you will then see if it is still a Williams, but with the cost savings, I'm thinking it's not.

I'd imaging that being the machine facilities are brand new, the metal work on the rifle is probably more precise with better tolerances than the later NH rifles. I'm pretty sure they switched to the Browning trigger on all the new M70s, including the Safari, I do not beleive they are set up to machine for the old Winchester triggers anymore.

Good Luck!

The post 07 Winchester mod 70(Columbia NC manufacture)has the MOA trigger which is entirely made of stainless steel and is very nice at about 4 lb.It is fully user adjustable.Time will tell if it has any flaws.

I hear the Williams extractor is very well made but it is now only available in stainless . Williams has stopped dealing with direct sales and uses Brownell's as their online store.
The cost is $51. I would rather not have to change it if it works well.

Tolerances on the new mod 70 are tight. The chamber is certainly tight.I could not chamber a reload that easily loaded in my CZ 550.
It is very slick in both the operation of the bolt and safety.
My .338 Win (95 vintage) in stainless was also slick but the finish was not as good.
Feeding of rounds is quite good with minor scatching of brass. My CZ made deep gouges in the rims,belt and sides.

Something that costs $51.00 at Brownell's will be $25.50 if available anywhere else.

I'm constantly amazed that my post-64 Classic 30-06 goes through well north of 1000 rounds per year--year in, year out--without having been blessed with a Williams extractor.

Save your $51 and spend it on powder and bullets.

All the extractors were not the same. They had a batch of POS MIM units that were all over the map. Not too many of those gave long service. The Williams exractors installed on the NH Safari were 416 stainless, so stainless would not be out of place.

Had is the operative word . The OP has a new production FN rifle; doubt it has a defective extractor left over from New Haven

I'm with you there. Your post just sounded like you were bashing use of the William's extractor with the NH M70s, I was disagreeing, if that was your intent.

I have the stainless Williams extractor in my left handed NH M70 Classic. I don't know if it was necessary but I bought it.