Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Model 70 Winchester one piece floorplate/trigger guard

When did "Winchester" start putting one piece bottom metal on the model 70? Did that start with the South Carolina production or was it already used with some of the late New Haven rifles?

They've had it for years at the NH plant..

I'm pretty sure that the 1 piece bottom metal used in the New Haven plant were Williams too.

Was that changed at the same time they re-introduced the CRF "classic" action? I didn't realize it had occurred that long ago!

Lots of classics came with two piece metal.

One piece bottom metal started in 2003.

My father and I developed the one-piece trigger guard for USRAC in the latter part of 1998 and fully developed it for production in 1999. The first models were for long-actions only and they were used for Safari Express, Super Express, and Super Grade models.
I believe it was about 2000 when we developed the short-action model, which was later revised in 2005 because the engineers made an error on trying to copy our outside profile, subsequently increasing the width of the front tang. They did this because they brought out our design in a casted aluminum piece to use on all of their rifles.
That casted aluminum guard is what FN is currently using on all of their rifles, other than the Safari Express that was just introduced this year. It has steel on it, but not from us.

During the 1999-2002 timeframe, we also made all of the flooplate and hinges that were used in conjunction with USRAC's aluminum trigger guard. Those were used exclusively on the Sporter LT and Classic Sporter; the stocks claimed to have been designed by David Miller, though David has a bit of a different story on that......(grin)

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I see some of the new OEM featherweight stocks advertised as fitting the one piece bottom metal, not the older two piece style. I thought that either floorplate/trigger guard assembly would fit the same stocks. BTW, I've read that the stocks are not manufactured by Winchester/FN,; anyone know what company is the maunfacturer? Thanks very much.

They're made in Italy......I can't remember the name of the manufacturer, but I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be someone that just anyone could purchase stocks from.

A bit off the original topic, but I have the factory bottom metal from my new SC M70 in front of me, and as Matt told us earlier, the floorplate is steel, the rest cast aluminum. The reason it is in front of me is I just replaced it with an all steel Williams unit. My only complaint with the rifle out of the box was that the floorplate did not close tightly, making for an uncomfortable carry, among other problems. The replacement unit from Williams was a perfect, tight fit, with no further inletting required, and the floorplate is a tight, secure fit. With the original unit out of the rifle, the floorplate seems to fit just fine, tight, but with a little more side to side movement than I would like. Not sure what the problem was, but it is gone now. Thanks to Williams Firearms for a quality product.

The catologue indicates the Super Grade is also all steel??

That solves a problem for me as I was looking to get Super grade and Extreme Weather in 300 Win and the EW is not all steel. But maybe the Super Grade is not all steel

Hmmm., and here I was supposed to believe these wondrous new SC models were the very definition of quality..


(ok, ok, a tad bit of sarcasm there...) Hehehehehee...

I've got a new Super Grade -- that assembly is all steel, including the trigger guard portion of it. Seems to be well made and finished.

[edit] The SG also has a steel pistol grip cap instead of the cheezy plastic used on the Sporter and FW.

Triggerguard1, Do your steel one-piece trigger guards for the M70 just drop in or do they need some fitting by a gunsmith? I have several M70 rifles that I would like to fit with one-piece trigger guards. The only one I have with a one-piece is a .243 WSSM

Every one I've installed was 95% drop-in.. Only minor, and I mean MINOR (like, 5 minutes, tops) fitting was needed - and then only rarely.. An easy job for anyone, even an amateur like the Chief..

Matt makes some good stuff.

I notice there are short and long action versions. I assume the long action is the 30/06, .338WM length. Is the short for the WSM models or the WSSM models? I would think I would get short for a 270 WSM. Is that correct? What would I need for my .243 WSSM? (It came with a one-piece, but I was just wondering.)

This thread kinda took off, so I'll try to answer as much as I can while my blueing tanks are heating up..

First, our trigger guards are a drop-in replacement for all of the FN Model 70's in both short and long-action.

If you order a short-action, it will fit the 308 as well as the 300WSM models.

We don't offer any guards for the WSSM's.

FN was sitting with some of my old inventory in April of 2007 before they brought the Model 70 back into production. This may very well be what they're using for their Super Grades and Safari Express rifles currently. We aren't providing those parts to them any longer, but that's not to say that they may have had someone else making them.

The aluminum guards do have a steel floorplate, but there's a big difference between those and what we're currently offering.

Well, I'm outta time, so thanks for all the kind words and I'll check in again this evening.

Am I correct in assuming they will also fit the pre-FN rifles, perhaps with a little fitting?