I have read a lot of what has been published about the pre '64 M/70 over the past 40 yrs. or so. The gas handling issue has to do with the difference in the bolt shroud of the M/70 and the Mauser. The Mauser has a flange at the forward edge that was intended as a last form of protection, deflecting escaping gas before it reached the shooters eye. Ruptured cartridge cases were probably far more common in the era in which the Mauser was designed than when Winchester engineers designed the M/70. I believe there was a custom gunsmith who designed a bolt sleeve for the M/70 that incorporated a Mauser-like flange. I have never seen one, so I don't believe the idea caught on. As regards the trigger, I have always been satisfied with the pre '64 trigger and have never felt the need to do any adjusting or gunsmithing. I owned a .338 Winchester Magnum that the previous owner had installed a Canjar trigger in, it felt like a M/52 Micro-motion trigger breaking very crisply with very little over travel. An I am talking about Canjar's standard trigger, not the set trigger model. In my opinion most of the M/70's percieved deficiencies are between the owner's ears. The one flaw I will agree to is the poor stock design, it does not handle recoil well. Other than to sight in or check zero I don't shoot my pre '64's from the bench a lot. The recoil issue when shooting at game is like the noise of the shot, just not noticed enough to be of concern to me. I have had a couple of pre '64's custom stocked and agree they are more comfortable to shoot. Currently I am awaiting the delivery of a Griffin & Howe M/70 .35 Whelen that was made in 1961, it had a Monte Carlo stock which looked hideously out of place on a classic rifle like a G&H. Their gunsmithing shop is in the process of redesigning the stock into a straight comb and adding a G&H recoil pad.
