Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Model 70 accuracy concerns.

I own two Model 70's (308 Win) but both of them are push feed designs. I found that by just bedding the recoil lug and tang their accuracy improved, meaning an end to the flyers that usuall occured when shooting 5 shot groups. When I first took the barrels off their stocks, the recoil lug on both was bedded with just a dab of synthetic resin or epoxy (which only covered at most 1/4 of the lug area). I scraped it out and bedded the back of the lug and the channel under the receiver and the tang. No other modifications were made to the stocks. Hope this helps.

Cur Dog

Some of you may remember a few years back when Rick Jamison lined up 33 Model 70 owners, 33 Model 700 owners and 33 Model 77 owners. He sent each of them a box of 30-06 ammo and had them shoot groups. The Model 70s shot the best, the Model 700s second best and the Model 77s last.

I own both M70s and M700s, and they all shoot well. My favorite is a 270 WIN M70.

I've driven both Fords and Chevys. They all need fixing at some point! (Driving a GMC now.)

Welcome aboard TwoCup...99 boxes of ammo...plus shipping cost...mmmmm. Sensible test though <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

That test "test" much more than the individual rifle. But I guess it gives a good average on the whole of the commercial outlook. I will say this about my question and the response. Remington must be doing a hell of a marketing job and Winchester must suck because the local and prevailing belief is that Remington is far and away the best out of the box rifle for accuracy...which is the way your average joe hunter shoots it. Open box, top with optics, buy ammo of choosing, blam blam at the range to zero it...then off to the woods. I think the "average joe" ON THIS SITE puts much more thought in to his gun, ammo, and shooting.

One very prominant, well established local gun dealer/outdoor sports stores actually stopped carrying Winchester M70 due to very slack sales, and the reason he gave was the hunting public's concern over accuracy.

"We" are an elite bunch it seems...hope I can catch up and fit the mold as well <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Most of the Model 70s I have owned have been Super Grades and I have yet to have one that wouldn't shoot. I glass bed the action, float the barrel, and adjust the trigger. I do the the same with Remingtons with the same result. Feed either make a load it likes and they will shoot.

When you ask a rifle to produce its best accuracy. you are really trying to extract the accuracy potential of the barrel because the rest of the rifle is just a complicated handle, so to speak.

Go back to the bench rest brigade. They use stiff rigid stocks, actions that are trued, triggers that are lightened, scopes that are commonly bedded into the rings, actions that are bedded or glued into the stocks, barrels that are custom, stiff, tailored to a match, bullet, cartridge or all of the above and all placed on a concrete bench to stabilize the lot.

In a hunting rifle, we are a world away from that. What we can do, is (without changing the factory barrel) is bed the action, lighten the trigger, lapp or bed the scope rings, glue the scope bases to the action, work the scope and play with loads and seating depths which is very important becuase we also set a ballistic criteria which the bench rest boys do not.

They don't give a damn how slow a load it as long as it shoots. We do, so our tolerances open up accordingly.


The best accuracy combo I have come up with is to bed the front recoil area evenly around the lock up screw, that means on a model 70, the compound stops at the recoil mortise and completely free floats the barrel, also permitting swap barrels with the same bolt face size.

With other rifles such as the Weatherby where the screw goes through the recoil lug, I extend the compound a little forward so that it is equally supporting the lock up area.

I also bed the tang area around the lock up screw and nowhere else.

The barrel is free floated and the barrel channel sealed. The trigger is lightened. The scope bases are glued to the action and the scope bases lapped. If I want to check the scope, I run it around the target to test for stability and then work on the handloads to reduce the variation in group sizes.

This practice works for me and all my rifles shoot very well with this basic procedure. I have tried many bedding compounds and am most comfortable with Devcon Steel because it has less shrinkage than most commercial conpounds so the accuracy does not go off with time. If you have a grey stock, you can use Devcon Aluminium and the compound will be grey and blend in cosmetically.

AGW

Aussie,

Forgive my ignorance I'v always used acraglas or other commercial. Is this Devcon an automotive epoxy type I may have seen at Pep Boys?

Now that we're getting into bedding an M70....

I have a .270 Model 70 Classic Stainless with the factory synthetic stock. It doesn't have the same feel to it as my fiberglass stocks; I suspect it's injection-molded. I would like to bed it, but have never bedded a rifle. Given the material that the stock is made of, and the fact that I've not done this before so I need something that's easy to work with, which bedding compound do you recommend I use?

Also, I understand you to be saying that I should bed the surfaces around the front and rear action screws; should I also bed the recess that the recoil lug goes into?

Thank you,

Dave Rabin

Never been into a Pep Boys but you can get it from Brownells for about $10. Each tin will do about 8 stocks so it is very cheap.

Regarding the Winchester stocks, they bed quite well. I use a dremmel to route out the recoil mortice and surrounding areas. It is very difficult to write about bedding especially in a forum like this and extremely easy to demonstrate it or write about it with supporting slides.

I really recommend you stay away from it if you have never seen it done as you will most likely ruin your stock though most balls-ups can be fixed, such is the benefit of Devon which in the steel version is also black and blends in with the Winchester stock well.