Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The New M70 Experience

The M70 fares no better. Any of them can become a pipe bomb.





As to the original poster, every maker has some degree of flaws which slip through the cracks. It would be impossible for the South Carolina facility to have zero quality control issues. I'm sure the currenty QC is head and shoulders above the later days of the NH production, but even the current production will have issues now and then. It's how they correct these issues which separates the really good from the not so good.

Best

+1

I'll agree with you on that Gary. And Beretta Has been doing a lot of "Ignoring" about the ejection problems on the Sako 85 rifles. But as Melvin says, trade it or buy a Sako and don't look back!

My 300wsm extreme weather was giving me fits until I realized it didn't like 180 gr accubonds. It will put 3 nosler partitions into less than an inch and will pretty much do the same with hornadys.

I had a .243 fw that was a 2 inch gun at first. I got a tubes kit and than developed a 85 gr Barnes load that would consistently go moa or less.

I would definitely buy another and may someday if I can get rid of the kimber bug. :-)

What makes a gun blow up like this?

So Melvin doesn't trust American made rifles, but if he bought one, it would be a Kimber.

I now understand how Obama was elected.

Barrel obstructions are the most common. The Sako/Tikka barrel issue was a specific lot of stainless steel with fluting. They performed a recall for a certain set of serial numbers. Apparently, their supplier provided out of spec grade steel for the application. My point in posting it was that there is no such thing as a perfect manufacture.

As some have said, every company makes lemons.

I am sure Winchester will make this right for me and if they do not then their company name will be rightfully dragged through the mud here. There is a good reason everyone here loves Winnies and I don't think it's cause they make crap that doesn't shoot/hunt.

I've never had issues with getting firearms serviced when necessary with any company- few times though that may have been. If I'd have wanted a Sako I'd have bought one. I wanted a Win M70 in the classic 30-06 sporter weight, my choice, so I bought it. I am giving Winchester the benefit of the doubt here.

As I have said, I'm not happy but I will give Winchester the chance they and any other company deserve to make the customer happy within a reasonable time frame. I am hoping to have something back by the end of June. We'll see. I'll keep you all updated.

And with regard to Melvin- the Sako might be a really nice rifle that shoots great, but it didn't "do it" for me aesthetically like say a Remmie 700, Ruger 77 or the Winchesters do... and if it doesn't "do it" aesthetically then I won't pull it out of the safe for any reason.

LOL

Fare enough. I hope Winchester fixes your rifle.

Good stalkin men

Update:

Since Winchester still had not received my rifle (or at least logged it in) as of last Sunday, I contacted the store that sent it in. They informed me it was not sent to Winchester, but to a friggin gunsmith in CA. In friggin CA!?!?!?! I'll never get it out of gun jail.

So I called this gunsmith. They have it and looked at it since the store had called about it and so had I. The smith there said it needs to be sent to Winchester. Well... duh! I figure I'm lucky if I have a rifle in my hands by the end of August.


To be continued...

Damn man. I truly feel for you. That would piss me off. I had to send a new rifle to a "factory authorized repair center" aka gunsmith wannabe and had nothing but problems......This was for a new Weatherby though. Hope Winchester gets this thing back to you ASAP!!!!!!!!!

We should have some reps here that could handle problems like this for us...Sometimes we do get lemons, no matter who it is made by....I think we have a Nikon representative in the optics forums but I havent seen any for the rifle manufactures. There may even be one here for bushnell but when I was having problems with my elite 4200 (their premiere top of the line lifetime warranty scope ha ha), the pos crawled under a rock and hid........

Just a rant I had to get out LOL

IN GENERAL, when one purchases a Sako, Tikka, Blaser, Mauser M03 or Sauer there will be generally less issues........out of the box. And as much as I dig USA made rifles the Europeans just built better rifles per average.........But one can get lucky as I did on my third Kimber. First 2 where [bleep], current 270 is a ripper!!!


On the issue with Sako medium(30-06 family). This IMO has been read into far too much....... Firstly. There are soooooooo many of these out there it would shock, but we hear of few problems......... Secondly. Why does it even matter if it just hits the scopes ocular?(are we hunting DG....If so you should have a Mauser M98, CRF Model 70 or the like....). I have had a few rifles do this now, with only 1 rifle spinning the fired cases back into the port(landing backwards). Nosler 48 Custom. This problem was addressed when I installed higher mounts.......But from what I have read & gather this is not even happening to the Sako unless held on a certain angle. LOL

You will also find. Many brands of rifles ejecting empty cases don't just fly out & miss everything......Some empties hit the lips of the port(side & rear) & I have even had em hit my cycling hand too............ So is this classed as a flaw. I think not!
On that note. The smaller opening 'ejection port' seen on Sauer 202 & Tikka T3 is superior here for 2 reasons. It seems to be much more precise in 'flinging' empties out....... And these style of ports are far better when stalking through the thick stuff........... Also very water tight, compared to most. Blaser R93 & R8 also dominate here! But alas, harder to top load.........

Food for thought lads

I do hope Browning/FN gets you squared away. Nobody enjoys having their NIB rifle go down for needed replacement or repairs while not being sure of the outcome. We are not clairvoyant, and being we don't have a vetted track record on how Browning/FN deals with QC issues on the new M70, it could lead to some felt frustration. I would expect their warranty department to want this issue corrected with the end result being a satisfied customer. Hopefully it will be sooner than later.

Keep us posted as this can be helpful for future reference.

Best

When my Kimber 8400 had an 'off centre' bases hole, I was told. "Just use windage adjustable bases". Which did certainly solve this problem. But why should I. I use Talley UL mounts exclusively...........

I guess life is full of compromises, especially when dealing with rifles........

I would have told the fella that said that to buy this rifle for his momma and let her use windage adjustable bases.

Curious here, but why didn't you just send it to Winchester yourself? It would have been repaired and sent directly back to you.. Now there's going to be 2nd and 3rd parties in this deal from one end to the other.. Winchester, when they finally get it, will have to return it to the guy in CA.. Then he'll have to ship it back to your dealer.. It may finally get to you by fall, maybe.. I wonder who's going to pay for all that shipping?

In the meantime, you could have shipped it to Winnie, and gotten it back a whole lot quicker - directly back to you..

No disrespect intended, but the FN plant doesn't take them back because they are not actually "Winchester". Browning is an office location, and therefore their standard Customer Service protocol is to have the rifle shipped to the nearest available Authorized Repair Center. Directly from the Winchester Customer Service Q&A, Question #215:

Where do I take my gun to get warranty and non-warranty service?

Whenever you have a problem with the function of your Winchester brand rifle or shotgun you should have it checked by one of the Authorized Repair Centers near you. Carefully follow the packing and shipping instructions before mailing your rifle.

Edit:

Okay, I do see where you can bypass the Repair Center step if you complete the below form for approval to send the rifle to Winchester's current service department which is located:


3005 Arnold-Tenbrook Road
Arnold, Missouri 63010-4728
1-800-322-4626

http://www.winchesterguns.com/customerservice/partsservice/support/winchester_return_form.pdf

Hope this helps

Redneck and Gary:

When I returned to the store with the UNFIRED rifle, I was looking to see what they were willing to do about it. They wanted to pack it up and send it in right away for me. I figured, GREAT!! I don't have to pay shipping, right?

I would have sent it directly to Winchester/FN but was curious to see if the store I bought it from would help out. Not in a huge hurry to get it back. I just started reloading and got another new rifle setup (in a new to me caliber) so I have plenty to play with working up loads for several calibers. I definitely won't be short a rifle this fall at all and can wait. It just sucks donkey parts for now...