Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Quality of Mod. 70 barrels

About 18 months back I purchased a new win. Mod. 70 Super Grade in 25-06. Beautiful rifle, and a cartridge I've wanted for quite a while. During load developement I started to notice a few things. First off, it didn't shoot for crap. OK, I can deal with this! I bedded it, floated the barrel, lapped the lugs, installed a Timney, and went back to the loads. Still way under my expectations. Started with 100 gr. Nos. BT's and IMR4831, but experimented with other bullets and powders. Still getting 3" or worse groups @ 100 yds. Also, borrowed my buddy's chrono and found that my loads were seriously slow by 3 to 400 fps. under the book listings.

While I have not slugged and measured the bore diam. yet, mostly because I can't afford a rebarrel right now, I have resigned myself to do just that. Gut instinct is telling me I've got an overbored tube. My question for all you knowledgeable rifle shooters out there is, have any of you experienced this sort of thing in recent years with Winchesters? I have one other Mod. 70; a .338, a few years older that shoots about as well as you could expect. Has USRAC dropped the ball on quality control in recent times? Would enjoy hearing your comments, and am truely enjoying this forum.

Two experiences with M70, one a 300 Win Mag and the other a 6.5X55. Both are good shooters. The 300 Win Mag was probably a couple of years old, but new on the rack, when I bought it last year. Factory Remington CoreLock's gave around an inch three-shot groups. The Swede isn't quite that good with reloads, one and a quarter inches, but I'm working on it.

Jaywalker

My last two Model 70's are pure phenoms. I bought them as donors, but couldn;t bring myself to rip one of them up.

The barrels are smooth, they're both bedded nicely, and both shot like a million bucks out of the box.

Judging by the serial numbers, both are very current production.

Contact the factory and ship it back for inspection. If it's wrong, they'll fix it. The M70's I have shoot very well.....

Ditto what Redneck says. Something is seriously wrong with your barrel. Send it back to Winchester. Flinch

Thanks for the comments guys. I haven't much considered contacting Winchester because of what I expect their response to be, that is, the reply that more than one of my trigger buddies have had over the years, "A shot grouping of 3 to 4" at 100 yds. is acceptable and normal." Granted, I haven't tried, so I can't say for sure. Seems like I wound up with a barrel that was made on a Monday morn. or Friday eve.

Thanks again for the input.

My .270 WSM seems to put 110gr, 130gr, and 150gr bullets into neat little groups with pathetically little load development. I pretty much chose my powder of choice and worked up finding good accuracy with less than max in some instances but very sufficient velocity.


What kind of brass are you using? How close to the lands are seating bullets?

Mike

I have owned a bunch of Model 70 Classic Super Grades and have yet to have one that would not shoot. In fact the only time I ever got a bad barrel was on a Ruger 1-B in 7mm Mag. This was long ago and I think Ruger had some barrel issues back then.

I picked up a Win Stealth (.308 Win) a little over a year ago. The gun is a shooter <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Barrel bore has the best finish I've ever seen in a factory rifle. Chamber throat isn't like Rem's long freebore, I can load 175gr Sierra Matchkings and fit the magazine (2.800"O.A.L.). Have gotten 3/8"- 5 shot groups at 100 yards. The only isues I had with the rifle is the trigger would wiggle sideways like a loose tooth, (I made a new trigger pin myself), and the fact they use slotted screws for the triggerguard. I like allen drive screws, easier for torque wrench use!

I bought a brand new Win 70 SS Classic in '06 a couple years ago. It shoots Nosler bullets reasonably well but the problem is in the chamber. The chamber has some deep scratches in it that leave marks in the brass near the base after firing. After the brass has been shot a few times (I handload) it looks it might suffer a head seperation. Tried to polish the scratches out but they are too deep, wound up re-barreling. IMO, this rifle should have never left the factory but the scratches really only affect the brass from a handloader's perspective.

Other factory Win 70s have been fine but I have heard of a dud or two.

MtnHtr

AJ300MAG, I too have one of the Stealth models, a 22-250 I picked up a couple of years back; and it is the most accurate rifle I have ever owned. Little .3" bugholes @ 100yds. w/Nos. 50gr.

That 25-06 is the only Winchester I haven't been satisfied with. Usually a little tweakin' with the loads takes care of any shortcomings, but this rifle just acts weird. Out of sheer curiosity, maybe I will contact the factory people. Thanks for the comments.

I just recently purchased a VERY recent manufacture M70 in left hand in '06 that was to be a donor action, but, my custom projects weren't going to be ready in time for my Colorado elk hunt, so, I loaded up some 168 gr. Barnes TSX's and found this gun to be the most accurate out of the box rifle I have ever owned!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
It ain't gonna be a donor now!!


Huntr

Bought a 270 WMS classic stainless about a year ago. Couldn't find a load it shoor into less than 2 inches. It's at PAC-NOR now getting a 25 inch fluted 5 groove put on.

The 25/06 is one cal.I'm never without.I noticed in your post that your loads are running 300 to 400 fps.slower than book.There are a couple of things you might try before you send it to Winchester.I have found that this cal. likes to be pushed.I've never loaded for one that didn't tighten up at 90% of max. pressure on up.I'm not suggesting you go over the book loads just that you push it.I also noticed you are working with 100 gr.bullets,I've had better luck from 100 grs. and down with IMR 4350.Just thought it might save you shipping a rifle and waiting.Or it could be a bad barrel.(grin)

Yeah, what Doug said...

I have a factory 70 Classic in 25-06 and she likes 4350 with her 100gr and 75gr bullets and as Doug said, things came together when I got close to book max loads.

Doug, Thanks for the info, but afraid I've already been there-done that. Finally wound up using R22, and did get up to book listed velocities, but was far above what the books listed w/compressed charge. Even so, was not seeing any usual pressure indicators. All of this is what has lead me to think the bore is oversized. I'll settle that question by slugging and measuring!