Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats How light can one make a model 70?

So, I’m into lightweight rifles. Think Kimber Montana, Remington 700 Titanium, Weatherby backcountry, etc. That being said, I’ve got a Pre-64 model 70 that I’m considering building on. I also have a Brown Precision stock for it, that weighs in at 24oz. Was thinking of a carbon barrel, in something like 280ai, 7mm Weatherby RPM, etc. finished at 22”-24”. Has anyone gone this route before? What could one expect the finished weight to be of similar rifle, or how light can a Pre-64 be made?

About 6 to 6 and a 1/4 bare I think. Not sure how the carbon barrel factors but the 0 and 1 contours were pretty light and your Brown should help stuff.

Sounds like a great project though.

The lightest ones I have are 7 pounds on the nose with Talley mounts. The H&H receiver is lighter than your standard receiver. IF your stock is a PoundR, that is going to help for sure. That is how both of mine are stocked. Great stocks by the way. They really mitigate recoil well.


Crappy pic, but you get the idea on weight. That rifle uses aluminum fwt bottom metal, so that reduces the overall weight by a few oz's. A carbon fiber wrapped barrel should bring the weight down quite a bit. Build it and let us know what it weighs when you are done. Should be a cool project. Good luck with it..

You can’t build a super light M70 because the action is around 40oz. A Ti Rem 700 is around 20 for a comparison.
Also the Proof Carbon wrapped barrels are at least 11-12oz heavier that the M70 Fwt barrel which is around 2#-2oz depending on the size of the hole.
The Douglas Fwt barrels are about as light as you can get.

The lightest pre-64 M70’s are original Fwt’s with Brown PoundR stocks that are installed by Brown Precision.
Haven’t seen a single installer come close to Brown with the PoundR AND be aware that a conventional pad will gain all the weight you are trying to loose.

My son's pre 64 M70 06' fwt
(factory barrel) w/o scope and mounts is just a hair under 6 1/2 pounds with a mcm edge, 1" pad but it does have steel Williams 1pcs.BM.
I have several set up about the same way and scoped they are all right about 8 lbs. but his is the lightest of the group.

Yeah, beretzs is spot on. Hard to make a ~44 oz action much lighter. And that’s with the featherweight barrel weighing 34 oz. Your carbon is going to add at least 8 oz to that even if you go with the lightest carbon 6.

I would also check to make sure that you’re going to have enough space in that brown for a thick carbon contour.

I have two questions: what are you going to so with this rifle, and how do you define "light"?

I hunt blacktails an island in western Washington. The typical shot is about 35 yards, fast, and offhand, and it often comes toward the end of 10-12 hours of still-hunting on old trails in dense brush and pouring rain. I tried a lot of different things but the best rifle I ever found for that was a pre-64 M-70 Featherweight 308 in a Pacific Research stock with a 4x Leupold in Weaver rings and bases. Ready to hunt, it weighed 7.5 pounds. It balanced perfectly for close, fast shots, it was easy to carry for long stretches, and I put a lot of meat on the table with it.

There are plenty of ways to minimize the weight you add to a heavy action, but at the end of the day, that's still what you're doing. So rather than locking in on weight, what if you build a rifle that works for the way you hunt?

Instead of trying to turn a M-70 in to something it was never meant to be, maybe use it for a cartridge that needs some weight like a 35 Whelen, 9.3x62, or 338 WM. A lightweight stock like the Brown would help the rifle balance so the weight isn't all in once place. As long as you don't go crazy with the optic, you could come in around eight pounds scoped with a 22" barrel.

That's light for any of those cartridges, which you'll learn as soon as you touch one off in an eight-pound rifle.


Okie John

270, 280, or 30-06 in a 22" Fwt contour, make it easy on yourself. It'll feed easy and shouldn't frustrate you w/mag-box length.

As has been said, M70 actions are heavy. There's a number of easy ways to lighten the rifle, the stock and barrel contour being the first place to start. Find a 24 oz stock and you're on your way. The M70 Featherweight barrel contour is a brilliant compromise that eliminates the typical barrel shank, but still has a nice medium taper from the little mini 1/4" shank to the muzzle. It's stiff, but not a pencil barrel like the M700 Mountain Rifle contour. The next place to think about weight is the scope and mounts. The Talley lightweight's in x-low are the place to be for lightweight unit. Mount a scope that doesn't go over 12 oz's. Bottom metal is another place to look - ditch the factory stuff and go to an all-aluminum bottom metal assembly (like PT&G). Get rid of the metal factory follower and replace it with a composite follower. Use a Butler Creek Mountain Sling (there really is no lighter, functional sling). You can even ditch the factory firing pin and get a Tubbs speed lock unit, saving an ounce.

Here's a lightweight 308 Win I did (you could lose 2 oz's going to a blind magazine with aluminum trigger bow and losing one round) :

Dog Schit glass and mounting systems,ain't a "savings" but rather heavy concessions and them differences are stark. Pun be intended. Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!...........

That's a gorgeous rifle. Let me know if you ever get tired of it.


Okie John

Pray for BS. He knows not that which he does not know.

If Delusional Dumbfhuqktitude soothes your Realities,you are welcome to it. Hint.







Bless your heart.

Hint.

Fhuqking LAUGHING!.............

Maybe you shouldn’t toss those rifles on a pile of rocks before shooting them for YouTube ??

LOL…. I guess that’s how you break in scope rings ?

You have to laugh at yourself every once and a while stick.

With a Brown PoundR stock that really does weigh a pound before finishing, you MIGHT get a complete rifle with scope to go under 7 pounds. There’s just too much weight in a 70 to ever get a complete rig like those you mentioned. Couple years ago my son had Kevin Weaver make him a light 270 on a M70. Kevin used a light contour 22” barrel, fluted it as well as the bolt body, removed as much weight as he could from the action and mag box, aluminum bottom metal, Hunter Edge stock. with a VX3 scope it still went over 7.
For comparison, my Wby Back Country weigh 6-3/4 all up, with a 20oz scope.

That's a nice rifle Brad! Mine is right at 7lbs 1.8oz scoped not bad for a .30-06. I deleted the bottom metal, and used a 670 TG.

My FWT 308 is 7.4 lbs. But, that aint because Winchester did me any favors. There aint much featherweight about the Featherweight.

Thanks for the feedback guys. To answer a few questions:

I plan on hunting deer in PA with it(unique situation in the places I normally hunt where I can shoot pretty much as far as I can see, but wouldn’t plan on shooting over 600 yards). Also woukd use it out west(Montana, Wyoming, etc. for mule deer and elk).

Rifle weight versus recoil isn’t a concern. I currently have/shoot a 5lb 15oz 7mm-08 with 150s at 2850fps, a 6lb 12oz 6.5 Wby RPM with 140s at 3000fps, a 7lb 3oz 350 Rem Mag with 225s at 2700fps, a 7lb 15oz 7mm wsm with 160s at 3020fps, and an 8lb 10oz 300 RUM with 200s at 3150fps.

The brown precision stock I have currently weighs 24oz, and according to a few rough measurements, there’s enough room in the barrel channel to fit a proof research in it that’s the same dimensions as the one on my 7mm wsm, with a little bit of material removal(so maybe lose a couple oz there).

It’s all just an idea at this point. The pre 64 that I plan on using for the build is nothing more than a shooter grade rifle at best(sights removed eand rear dovetail filled and blended with barrel contour, reblued, bottom metal worn shiny, etc. No collector value whatsoever, so figured I would do something interesting with it.

TwatShooter,

To date,I've only had (8) LW's fail me. Hint.

'Course,I long ago discontinued their service from my larder,which by default,precludes the 9th failure. Read that again. Now one more time. Hint.



Hint.................