Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Refurbished 1969 M70

First of all a quick thanks to Redneck, a few words of yours in a thread several months ago proved very helpful.

This rifle came into my hands as a .30-06, it was one of the various discount versions Winchester offered and has a 1969 serial number.

My mission was to get a rifle destined for the junk pile back into usable shape with minimal expense.

It had been neglected for years and then an attempt was made 2 or 3 years ago to refurbish it. The attempt included refinishing the stock with a stain so dark it was almost black, all metal was cleaned up and quite neatly spray painted flat black. An attempt was made to glass bed the rifle resulting in the action and stock being glued together. An attempt to remedy this destroyed the action screws and did some damage to the bottom metal.

Some months passed before I got my hands upon this diamond in the rough and rust had started to pop through the paint in a few places. The safety had also developed issues.

Jobs required were:
1 separate stock and barrelled action
2 get rid of paint and rust from the action (barrel did not matter as that was going down the road)
3 thin the stock down substantially and focus on a fit that I desired
4 fit recoil pad properly
5 finish stock
6 buy new barrel (not required but desired)
7 get it all back together including fixing the safety

Lots of fun was had.

In the end I ordered a Hugh Williamson Precision Barrel (local Calgary guy who is a high end benchrest shooter) in .270. Calibre was chosen mostly based upon the ice cream pails full of brass I got from a buddy years ago as well as having dies and lots of suitable powder on hand. I have owned a .270 years ago and really enjoyed the rifle and calibre.

I hit the stock hard with the rasp and knocked off a good deal of wood shaping it into something that fit me well. It was finished with 8 coats of Birchwood Casey true oil including under the recoil pad in all the inletted areas. I have refurbished checkering before but I have never done any from scratch. So I decided to use a spray on traction epoxy I used before on steps and ramps. It was appled on the pistol grip and on the forearm where checkering would usually occur, it turned out great in my opinion, ample traction without being ugly.

The bases were old weaver ones from my "tickle trunk", the rings were weaver bases on clearout pricing at the local Canadian Tire a while back.

The scope is a Bushnell 3500 Elite 3-9 with the weird 600 DOA reticle, they were never overly popular so once the model was discontinued I was able to pick up a couple on clearance for about $190 each all in (CDN$)

I hired a local smith to sort out the safety and stick the pieces together as well to arrange for the ceracoating.

With the exception of the new barrel its a discount Danny fix which I am very happy with.

To answer one of the first questions folks will ask; "Why put all the time and effort into "polishing a turd" when for less $ one could buy one of the modern accurate discount guns like the Ruger american? The mission was not to buy a new rifle but to pull one out of the scrap heap. The old M70s have a great and simple trigger, they have the awesome 3 position safety and this one needed to avoid the dump.

I hope y'all enjoy the story.

I look forward to the comments, questions and flames.

Well done, and congratulations on saving an old M70.

Did something similar with a Remington 78, sometimes the "homely lookin" rifle surprises you with amazing accuracy!

GRF;
Good evening to you sir, I hope that this finds you and your family well.

Thanks for sharing the project with us, it looks like the outcome is a very serviceable and handy arm. Well done sir!

It's good to see folks getting their feet wet modifying and just plain having fun with firearms, so hopefully you'll do more and as well it might encourage others to do the same thing.

Thanks again, all the best to you all and have a good summer.

Dwayne

Way to go on making a great rifle. Glad you saved the old 70! Let us know how it shoots.

Great save! I had a 1965 or 66 M70. It was ugly and heavy but it was accurate.

Bravo Sir on saving a M.70. Looks good to me.

Neat project.

If it dont group that great or scatters shots.
Read the copper fouling on the lands at the muzzle with a strong small flashlight.
Some of the lands might be worn from muzzle cleaning and not show copper all the way to the end.
Tape up and protect the barrel and plug the end
Lop off square the amount needed with a 30 tpi hack saw blade
Use a small hose clamp as your line guide and shift it for your final cut
Do some jewelers file work on the muzzle face to get it flush and even.
Round over the shoulder slightly with the files.
Get some valve grinding compound , 2 or 3 brass round head bolts of correct slightly over size.
Chuck bolt into a variable speed hand drill and crown the barrel with it and the valve compound.
Wear eye pro , its messy
Lay out paper towels around work area also.
Messy getting flung out also.
It will center itself concentric to the bore.
Vids on the web about it .

I did this to a sako customized Kar 98 I brought back to life project.
Found it in a pawn shop.
They just thought it was some junk rifle to sell.

Needed just under 5/8ths lopped off IIRC and the crown job.
Sub moa now instead of 00 buck pattern.
My mod 70ot6 aint seen the woods since.
Really like my 98.....
Made a big pic filled post about it on the gen forum several yrs ago.


I enjoy doing project guns.

Specially when they shoot accurately after you have worked on em yourself within your skill level at home.

Dear all; thanks for your kind words. I'll let y'all know how it shoots.

Dwayne; this is rescue rifle number 3. The first was a Husqvarna which I gave to my brother's son in law; your wealth of advice, most especially about dealing with the cracked wrist, was critical to the success of the project.

So in some way rescue rifle 2 and 3 occured because of your help with 1. (It's your fault Dwayne you enabler you )

Rescue rifle number 4 is in the wings, a sporterized LE No 4 Mk 1. Which I'm sure you recall I've already started picking your brain on.


One of the great thing about the 'fire is every project I have taken on a member has either given advice or posted about a similar issue which has greatly helped me. So thanks to Mr Bin for hosting us and thanks to all those who post their projects and purchases.

Here's wishing all of you a wonderful and healthy day.

GRF

GRF;
Good evening to you sir, I trust the day was a good one for you and this finds you and yours well.

I must apologize as it had completely slipped my gears that we'd chatted about a cracked wrist on a Husky stock until you'd reminded me.

Honestly I'd like to plead old age, but it's likely just me forgetting details once again.

Anytime you're so inclined to call, the numbers haven't changed and if you'd prefer texting by all means PM for my cell if you don't already have it.

Thanks again for posting the results of your handiwork sir, good luck on the next projects and all the best to you all this summer.

Dwayne

Very nice. Every time a model 70 is saved an angel gets their wings. Looking forward to hearing how it shoots with around 60 grains of H4831 under a 130gr bullet.

Whatever it was, I'm glad it helped you in this case..



Indeed! You put a LOT of work into that rifle.. And I bet it'll serve you very well for many, many years.. Thank you for doing that.. The old NH M70s are very good rifles overall..

Best wishes on that one..

Rennie; thanks for the idea about re-doing the muzzle. On this one I put on a brand new barrel on it

Dwayne; no need to apologize I am just one of many folks you provide advice and assistance to here.

Redneck; the main item you helped with involved my questions about a problem with the safety and I was heading in a direction leading to ruination and you very politely informed me that the issue I had was a simple fix for a gunsmith not for one in the garage.


In life we often do little things to help others and often have no idea the significant impact they have. So thanks to "all y'all" who gladly and enthusiastically give good and useful advice allowing a bunch of us to reap a lot more enjoyment from our shooting sports / hobbies than we would otherwise.

God bless.

GRF

Finished with load testing, no photos as the photos are over the maximum size allowed. I'll see what I can do to reduce the size of the photographs.

All groups at 100 yards and I'm sure a person better skilled in benchrest shooting could have improved things a wee bit.

130 grain ballistic tip
H4831sc 59.0 g .95" 4 shots
H4831sc 60.0 g 1.575" 4 shot

H4350 53.5 g 1.6" 5 shot
H4350 54.5 g 1.1 5 shot nice round even group chosen load for 130 g in this rifle

IMR 4451 54.0 g .925"
IMR 4451 55.0 g 2.0"
IMR 4451 1.425" 5 shot

140 grain accubond - H4831sc and IMR4451 loads would prove adequate
H4831sc 57.0 g .85" 3 shot
H4831sc 58.0 g .825"3 shot

H4350 51.0 g 1.275" 5 shot
H4350 52.0 g 1.6" 5 shot
H4350 53.0 g 1.21" 5 shot

IMR4451 51.5 g .8" 5 shot
IMR4451 52.5 g .87" 5 shot
IMR4451 53.5 g .975" shot

Next step to chronograph top loads and settle on a 130 and 140 grain load. Very happy with the way the rifle has turned out.