Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Winchester M70 XTR

XTR FWT? Generally gloss Leupolds look just right on them. Or is yours an XTR sporter that is not quite as nice as a first gen XTR FWT?

Still kicking myself for letting the XTR's and FWT XTR's. Both wood and synthetic.

Well, i put Leupold Dual Dovetails and a Conquest scope on, tried two loads in it,never messed with the trigger or bedding and it shot both at or just under an inch. Federal Fusions and Remington CoreLokts. Had a guy that wanted it worse than I did so I sold it😭😭😭😭. Quite possibly the single dumbest thing I’ve done.

Same here! I hate to even think about it

I did replace mine with a BACO 308 featherweight with an Ernie spring, McMillan stock, and bedding. It will do 10 shots in a row around 1.5-1.75” at 100 yards. And for my 75 yard average shots it works perfectly

owning Several.... I'll take my XTR Featherweights any day over a Model 700....

Amen..

I picked up a 1985 xtr fwt. 2nd hand in 7mm a couple years back. Good deal on it, too. Just not as good as I first thought. I haven't reloaded for it yet, but it had hunting rifle accuracy with factory- nothing approaching MOA very closely, but good enough for out to 300 yards. 1.5 to 2 or so... and it's not that light- and maybe now a few ounces heavier. My first Win 70 and 7mm Mauser, both.

I had to file the safety notch into the striker shaft to make the safety work - it came from the factory, apparently, with the striker shaft not worked - at all! (still isn't - anyone want a virtually new, un-machined steel striker?) - for the safety to cam into. I went whole hog and put in an Tubbs aluminum striker (which also had to have the safety cam notch "machined" (hand filed) for the safety as well, and the double spring kit that comes with it. Accuracy (which that was supposed to improve) remained the same - a "wasted" $100, if you don't count the education.... . So far.

The metal to wood fit was pretty good, outwardly. The barrel channel was deeply inletted, tho fitting well at the top edge. A rather soft finish on the wood- thin, too. On the list for refinish... The barrel channel was very whiskered down in, with pressure points in several places along the sides, now removed. well, removed and redone.. It took a lot of epoxy to fill that thing up! It is now full length bedded - accuracy only slightly improved. I've yet to relieve the bedding in the barrel channel to see if free-floating improves accuracy - I'll try a tab under the forward screw first - when I get around to it.

Meanwhile- it hunts. In it's turn. I've a couple other rifles that have not been hunted for so long they are pouting. The xtr has killed 3 caribou so far.

I have a Rem 725 SA, and a 700, as well. I've no preference between the 700 and the 70 as rifles, tho I've never cottoned much to the .243 caliber (700). I like the 725 (now a .260)better than either.

The 70 action is danged hard to beat, unless with the M98 (which I also have one of).

Sounds like yours was a problem child. Luckily I've never had those issues, but have not had a lot of XTR fwt rifles. My current XTR rifles are very good. You guys also know the bedding is crap on these right?



I get tired of hearing about how poorly some of these model 70's shoot and the poster has not properly glass bedded the rifle. They are most times great shooters after properly bedding them. Most times they like a proper freefloat as well. The whole barrel... Groups like what I posted above are the norm..


Pic right after I pulled the action out, so the action screw hole was not drilled out yet^^

That's the 22-250 I posted a pic of above^^ She's a shooter.

It is a FWT, and the Leupold looks close to just right but I was just curious if there is something better. I figured on here I can ask people that have actually seen all the options in person. Can’t really tell from pictures.

I posted pics in the other thread. Like I also said, you are leaving out some useful info on whether its a short or long action. That could also influence what scope works best on your rifle. I personally have a hard time using a Leupold 2.5-8x36 on a long action rifle. No adjustment fore to aft in mounts that look good. It appears you also value how your rifle looks, since you do not like the matchup/pairing of the gloss Leupold to the XTR. Your base and ring choice is going to be critical as well..

I’ve got a 1978 300 win mag deluxe that I absolutely love Also a 222 xtr deluxe heavy barrel that is literally a nail driver

Both very nice rifles I'm sure. That 222 would be one to see for sure. As for the XTR's, the finish varies by era. Some are more polished and beautiful than others. The most recent XTR in my collection is a 300WBY and it is no where near as polished and beautiful as some of the XTR FWT's I've seen and owned. For this rifle, I went with a 12 oz, lightweight but very useable Leupold Vari-x IIc 3-9X40:


It's a great combination, but the funny thing is that scope now resides on one of my new to me 7mm rem mags. That poor Leupold has been bounced around to 4 different new rifles in the last 2 months..

(drool....)

That would be a cool one. You don't run across those every day.

I'd be interested in what loads you use in your 7MM Mauser. The only factory load that I've used in mine was the 145 gr. Winchester load which shot slightly less than MOA. Mine did have a problem with serious barrel fouling until I did a firelapping of the barrel. Now she shoots everything good.

I almost never use factory ammo in any of my rifles and the 7x57 is no exception. I've been working with Rl17 and the 150 gr. Nosler Partition with interesting results. Worked up to 2884 FPS with a half in three shot group. That's 280 Remington territory.I have several loads with that bullet and Rl17 ranging from 2700 FPS to the 2884 mentioned above. Guess I should mention that I do most of my load work ups during Tucson's very hot summers. I figure if pressure is gonna be a problem, it'll show up a lot faster in out summer heat.
PJ

They're great guns. I'd get all of them I could get. Featherweight anyway. The XTR FWT really seem to fit me like a glove. I've had a few I regret selling. I have a BACO .280 Rem that I like a lot. I found a .280 rem XTR Fwt that I'd trade it for.

I have one Winchester 300 Win Mag XTR with a Bell and Carlson pre-medalist synthetic stock. It isn't much to look at and presently without a scope because I need to get it re-barrelled. It will still shoot 2 moa with a barrel that has seen better days. My father bought it from a South Bound Teacher needing money. He used it for a while and then tipped it over on his Sasquatch 3-wheeler and bent the barrel. He didn't like it after that. We took it into town and had Red Morton straighten the barrel and skim bed the rifle in the synthetic stock. Red worked for Great Northern Guns at the time but he was a maestro. He also worked the action and changed the magazine box so it holds five magnum shells rather than three. He worked the trigger over so it breaks like an egg at 3 lbs and put a Leupold M8 4X with a lyman 3 moa dot. That was in 1982. Since that time I hunted with that gun and it had a bit of that lucky gun mojo. I co-shot a moose with my brother in 1982 after it was fixed. I shot my first black bear and other black bears. I once shot a moose offhand at 320 yards and nailed it with a perfect shot in the chest area that was under a bit of a tree. The gun just delivered. It shot my biggest ram a 39 7/8 inch dall at 10 yards. I shot a grizzly with it when I was 25 years old. It took another ram with it in the Alaska range. When ever I fell out of favor and was missing with other guns, I could grab that gun and put the bullet exactly where I wanted. It is interesting that it used to group in the center of that dot at 200 yards. I might get buried with that gun and if the wife decides to cremate me well then that sucker is going into the fire with me.

That rifle sounds like it has a lot of character and history. A lot of sentimental value there.

I like the XTR FWT's too. They sure have gone up in value though. Probably because so many of us like them. They do look good though.

I have been asked if I wanted back a NIB XTR Featherweight in 7x57. Absolutely YES!