Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Win 70 bolt breaking

Anybody ever have the bolt of their m70 break the part where the bolt handle and bolt body are welded together? I have a push feed Feather-weight from the late 80s that started out as a 243 that I shot out and now is a 308 that I want to have barreled to 358win.Anyway I want to use this rifle for all the 308 case shells 260,7-08 and maybe a wildcat.Is there something I should do to prevent this two piece bolt from breaking or find something more meaningful to worry about like is it ever fricking going to warm up.

I'd find something more meaningful to worry about.

That was my gut feeling but I read a article by Brian Pearce some time back where he wrote about it and there was something you could do about it to prevent it from breaking.He was talking about using the rifle in a dangerous game type situation not shooting sweet little deer that I use the rifle for...

I was a Winchester warranty 'smith for fifteen years or so. In that time, I saw three or four. It seems to me, they all showed up within a two year period which led me to believe it was a production problen which occured briefly. GD

GD thanks.I can go back and worry about what color my wife wants me to paint the bathroom

greydog -

THNX, that's nice to know.

I think most of these problems, whether they are M70s, M700s or some other make and design, are either done well and fail within a period of use, or they will be proven in that period of use. If the latter is the case, I wouldn't worry about it. If I was flying several thousand miles and hunting out of country, perhaps it would be worth augmenting the joint.

I have a Classic STS .338WM, it is my "beater" for keeping in my Taco 4x4 and Greydog was among the BC smiths who worked on this, when a buddy of mine started the project.

After speaking with some very experienced local gun people, I chose to send this to Martini Gunmakers in Cranbrook, BC and Jan Kolenbrander, the former metalman there, modded the bolt/handle a and a couple of other things.

I also have a short Classic STS .308, this was much modded by the same excellent smiths and is my other "beater" as I got a h*ll of a deal on it.

Both are in Micky FWT patterns, Edge on the .308, both have Brockman/Talleys and sourdough fronts.

The single reason I did this is that I do NOT take chances with my gear in what are often solo BC bush trips and felt that the $$$$ spent to have the work done were well spent.

Would I do so in areas where G-Bears do not exist, no, not worth it, IMHO.

I figured it was quite rare. I've used M70s for over 40 years, along with a bunch of other guys and never had it happen, nor heard of it happening.

But another thread a week ago had a M70 where that occurred. I hope he sent it back to Winchester for repair; I'm betting it won't cost him a cent other than shipping.

A process called 'pinning' can give some added strength and/or insurance that it won't occur when shooting at something that can bite back.. I've done it on a couple of rifles via the customers' request..

What years might you guess?

I have also heard of welding the bolts to prevent breakage. Pre 64's didn't have this problem as their bolt and handle was milled from one piece of steel.

If you want your bolt handle to fall off, you're gonna have to buy a Remington.

It's never going to warm up however so you're screwed on that end.

What years might you guess?[/quote]
As I recall, these were in the mid to late-eighties. I have two post-64 Model 70's and I'm not concerned about either one. GD

Yep, Brian Pearce can tell you all about it...he's had an article in Rifle magazine about just that, and a mention or two in his Q&A's from time to time.

I had a M-70 bolt handle come off a few years ago. The rifle is a M-70 Classic stainless synthetic in .270 WSM.

Supposedly, per the USRAC advertising literature, the bolt handles had both interlocking flutes and brazing to prevent this from happening. This one clearly had the flutes but no brazing was apparent. Perhaps stainless can't be brazed, I don't know.

Anyway, I took the bolt to a local welding shop and had them TIG weld the handle to the bolt. Crisis resolved.

I had the bolt handle on my 416 welded on by Dan at Accu-Tig for $50 all in. Cheap insurance. D'arcy Echols pins his.