As many of us here do, I'm always trolling for a better mouse trap and after handling about every make and model of firearm past and present, I have a few things I like. A couple of those things are controlled-round feed (and I'm not debating anyone about that) and a three-position safety. That being said, I've only owned one Model 70 in my life, it was in the early 90's and in a weak moment, I sold it prior to firing it.

I'm interested in the current manufacture/BACO M70 Featherweight in 270Win or 7mm Mag, but know little to nothing about them; enlighten me.

Is the MOA trigger a decent trigger or just marketing hype that needs replaced?

As far as accuracy is concerned, how do they compare to what is currently on the market?

Are the barrels made in-house and are they twisted properly?

I'm not a huge fan of McMillan stocks (gasp), so who makes a nice light-weight aftermarket stock?

Are the actions appropriately sized for the cartridge or is it a one size fits all system?

Any insight you can provide is appreciated.

Nothing wrong with baco made model 70's. The MOA trigger is a good one, I replaced the spring in mine with Ernie trigger spring kit. You will see guys putting Timmney triggers in them but that's just wasting money. I have a extreme weather and it shoots pretty damn good. Barrels are made in house and are twisted right for what your looking for. Stocks I can't help you there BSA and other can help with that. They do not use one action fits all, they have true short/long etc. you will not regret picking one up. They are a great rifle..

The M70 Featherweight as currently made is, in my opinion, as good as any Model 70 ever produced.

The MOA trigger is not bad, but a bitch to get the glue off of in order to adjust it...

Accuracy is more than acceptable for a hunting rifle. You may want to bed the lug and/or skim bed...but I'd sure shoot it first...with decent handhloads you can expect MOA

Barrels are made in house in SC last time I checked...

Aftermarket stocks...I like B&C but like some of my other opinions, I'm sure they'll be challenged

The actions are either short or long...sized close enough for the cartridges you mentioned.

There is one mans opinion....

They did use one action fits all. At some point they changed. My post 64 FWT in 308 is on a long action. Its serial number dates it to 1982. It's a push feed.

What Ingwe said. Very much impressed by my recent M70 7x57.

The new ones are made in portugal, my dealer says they are better guns then the SC rifles. Good Solid rifle , not my cup of tea anymore .

In my opinion the Winchester M70 is the best overall bolt action commercially mass produced available today. Overall meaning best package.
There are few rifles out there that may beat the M70 in one or 2 categories, but taken as a package the M70 is the high-water mark of bolt action rifles, unless you go a to a fully custom made gun. Even then you can get a "nicer" rifle, but I doubt you can get one much better as far as function goes.

. Mid 80's is when they made the change to short and long actions. But back on topic he's asking about current production

And that's where the arguments start lol. But some say the first ones out of South Carolina are some of the best made. I know where a nib extreme weather made in 2009 in 325 wsm is at. If any one is interested.

Yes the first ones out of SC were outstanding as well.

IMO the Model 70's made today are the best ever, I have been so impressed by the new Model 70's My buddy has bought recently that I am buying a new Extreme Weather .300 WSM for Myself......Hb

What kind of accuracy are we talking about; hunting rifle good or Tikka good? There is a difference.

I picked up a SC made FW in 270 a few years ago. It is well made and shoots well under MOA. Replaced the springs with the ones from Ernies. My understanding is that they are now assembled in Portugal just like Browning shotguns have been for years, that would certainly not be a deal breaker for me.

My buddy bought an Extreme weather and a Featherweight both in 30-06, the Featherweight actually outshoots the Extreme Weather by a little, we tried 3 factory ammo's and the Extreme Weather shot 2 of them sub MOA (barely..like .9") and the other printed 1.25"-1.5" 3 shot @100 yds. The Featherweight shot all three loads sub MOA and Barnes Vortex 165gr TTSX factory loads were very accurate with all bullet holes touching, .5" or so.......Both of his rifles functioned flawlessly and had great triggers that broke cleanly around 3.5lbs (3.4-3.6lbs according to my Wheeler trigger pull guage).......They also feel like solid very well made rifles as fit and finish on his rifles is top notch.......Hb

Be patient and find a like new made in USA 1990's Classic. Best hunting trigger ever made. Thank me later.

Model 70's have been made on true short actions since 1985.

I have one in 7x57. The MOA trigger is a bit heavier than I am used to, but very crisp. I have shot factory Prvi Partisan, Winchester, Federal and in 140g, 145g, and 175g. All grouped ~ an inch or less and had similar placed groups at 100 yards. No more than an inch from the other. It was comforting to know I could use either load to take hunting with virtually the same sight in. The .375 H&H of the small caliber world.

This. There's no reason to pursue a Mod70 if you aren't going to get the good old trigger. There are a ton of Classics available on GB and such.

I have a like new Supergrade I will sell you. It is not a featherweight but the wood is awesome and
the rifle flat shoots.

The BACO featherweights are great rifles. I think it's one of the few that are just right out of the box.

Lighter fluid and burn it off maybe INgwe?

certainly would be a southern Oregon solution....

And here we go... and finding a 7 mag in a classic featherweight will be next to impossible. Did they make them yes but for like 1-2 yrs.

I have a fwt stainless in 270wsm, late New Haven production. In a magnum, i think they get a little barrel heavy if being carried with a hand on the receiver. Still, it would be my first choice for a bolt action.

Why would you replace the factory stock? The featherweight out of the box is beautifully balanced.

Hint, get it in a 7-08.

Great gun, hope you enjoy it! I've liked the ones I've owned.

If you have to have a synthetic stock and want a long action in 270, get the Kimber 84L and save some money. Both have a lot of similarities without the added aftermarket expense.

THAT!!!!

Or the 6.5x55.

Great rifles, but they need to make more stainless 308's of the non-Extreme Weather variety.


Okie John

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/769706865

I have a BACO 7x57 with a Zeiss Conquest 3-9 that I bought off a member here, great rifle, shoots bugholes with everything, handles great. The only thing I'm afraid of doing is scratching the beautiful wood! I would suggest a 270 or 308, can't get much better than that!

I've got one in .257 Roberts and it shoots 90 gr. Barnes X Bullets very well. I reach for it most of the time these days.

That's going to turn into a bidding war before it's all said and done..

I think the model 70 Featherweight wood stock is the best looking factory made rifle.
This from Sako lover, and someone who has never owned a Winchester.

I have two BACO / FN USA Win m70 rifles in 30-06: a featherweight and a std sporter. Both are outstanding. Sub moa accuracy. Smooth as silk action. Very nice walnut stock. I find the trigger just fine, and have no intentions to replace it/them. I may try the “Ernie the gunsmith” route to try lighter trigger springs someday, just to play, but not because of any current trigger shortcomings.

I used to own a 1952 Win m70 std sporter in 270 Win. It was a fine rifle, but I was clearing out various calibers in my “ collection”, and sold it years ago. No regrets.

I do like the stock dimensions MUCH better on my Win/baco m70 rifle. The pre-64 m70 stock / rifle I owned had much more drop at heel.

My view is that a Win 70/ baco-made rifle is better than the pre-64 version. Quality, precision, dimensions are all in the Win/ baco’s favor. They are made at the iso-9001 certified defense contractor plant ( FN) in South Carolina. Both of my Win m70 BACO rifles are true baco-made ( USA made and assembled, and no longer done that way). Don’t know about the “ assembled in Portugal” current versions. The barrels are made in-house by FN ( in South Carolina), on the same machine used to make the sniper barrels on the FN US government contracts- if that tells you anything ( it should and is a good thing for high quality and accuracy on a factory barrel).

True USA-BACO era Winchester model 70 rifles are “A+“ in my view. Hope you find your m70 BACO featherweight.

I have a recent featherweight compact in 7-08. Its quickly becoming my favorite.

Thank you for saying that. A man asks a question about a gun made in 2018 then a reply about the 80's is made

In 7Mag, the barrel contour is standard sporter on all of them, even though some are called "Featherweight" to identify the stock shape. You can buy a featherweight stock off eBay for cheap and put it on if needed.

$795 Classic Stainless Featherweight 5-digit
$795 Classic Walnut Sporter Boss
$795 Classic Stainless synthetic Boss 5-digit
Classic Stainless Super Grade 6-digit beauty
Push-feed XTR Winlite/McMillan stock--best of the bunch

Or a bunch in 270, some with featherweight barrel contour.
Classic Featherweight walnut
Classic Featherweight walnut 5-digit
Classic Sporter Stainless 5-digit sporter contour
Classic Sporter walnut 6-digit sporter contour
Push-feed XTR Winlite/McMillan/Leupold VariXIII--bestest of all

I have 7mm08 featherweight that says made in USA assembled in Portugal. It is my second most accurate gun. Shoots 5/8 inch 4 shot groups at 100yards. All the qualities previously mentioned apply. The only thing I don't like is the safety is so stiff that my wife can't operate it . What good is a safety that won't operate. My other featherweights push feed and classics shoot 1 inch after load developments and their safety's work.

I have one of the SC rifles ...Put a Timney in it'cause I couldn't get MOA below three and 3/4 lbs...Had a brake installed as all my rifles are, so little recoil and I plug ears at range..Bedded too..I shot Fed's 180 cheap ammo ,,3 shots at 100 yds with a MeOpta 6x42 at range ..2 shots crossed in the middle and 3rd was a 1/4" away..Used a splatter target so all 3 splatters (lol) were touching...This rifle is super accurate !

Work the safety over while watching tv for a few hours. If that doesn't work, call Winchester CS. They have always come through for me without any fuss.

I have two Featherweights, one an SC BACO gun and one an XTR, both 7x57. Since the thread is about the BACO guns, I'll limit my comments to it (sorry Ingwe).

First, while the BACO trigger is enclosed and catches a lot of criticism for it - although I don't often hear the same criticism of the Timney, which is also enclosed - it is very crisp with no creep or overtravel. Even with an Ernie spring, however, mine won't go far below three pounds. That's no big issue for me since I like a 2.5-3.0 pound pull weight on a hunting rifle, and certainly don't notice the difference in the field. Getting the glue off the adjustment screw, though, is a different matter. I tried everything short of a propane torch. I finally heated it with my wife's hair dryer, then used her smallest crochet hook to pick out the somewhat softened epoxy. And yes, I got in trouble for that.

As far as accuracy is concerned, like everyone else has mentioned this one is sub-MOA with just about anything I shoot through it. As a matter of fact, like my other 7x57s, it shoots just about everything in a weight range very close to the same point of impact. In other words, all of my moderate hunting loads between 150 and 160 grains more or less land in the same place. Any difference is vertical, not horizontal, and generally within about one-half inch at 100 yards. Faster 120-140 grain loads impact a bit higher, 175 grain loads a bit lower. Some of that may be due to the fact that one of my favorite pig loads is a 175-grain Deep Curl loping along at about 2300 fps. If I pushed them I'm sure they would probably land in the same vicinity as the rest.

The finish on that factory stock is very good and the checkering is sharp. Even though the stock has also been sealed inside and out I still coat a thick layer of Johnson's Paste Wax on the inside inlet as well as a thin coat on the outside. I'm not much on synthetic stocks - I have no objection, I'm just a dinosaur - and treating the stock several times a year keeps moisture at bay. Sometimes our weather can be a little like Cameroon, so short of going to a synthetic or laminated stock I've found a healthy dose of paste wax to be the next best thing. I also coat all outside metal with Dyna-Tek once per year. While it did dull the original blue just a little bit, although nothing like a matte finish, it keeps rust at bay and makes cleaning/drying very, very easy.

Like all M70s, after the action has been cycled a few hundred times, the bolt will feel like it's riding on glass. Tolerances are tight, which may explain the issue with a stiff safety, but again, after cycling a few hundred times any stiffness should disappear. If it doesn't, as has already been mention, a call to Winchester should take care of it. I have never had to use BACO's customer service, but my BIL has and his experience has been very, very good.

With a Leupold VX3, 2.5-8, Leupold Alumina covers, Hornady sling, and magazine full of 150-grain Partitions, the rifle weighs just under 8.25 pounds. I could probably shed a little weight if I swapped out the Leupold bases and rings for Talley Lightweighs, but haven't gotten around to it yet. As it is, it is very easy to carry and shoot.

As I said, this is a South Carolina gun. I don't own, nor have I ever handled, one that was assembled in Portugal, but most people seem to like them. I think the biggest objection to them is an emotional one: this is a Winchester - our iconic "Rifleman's Rifle" - and it says, "Assembled in Portugal" on the barrel. Ugh. But my favorite gas-gun is an old Browning B-2000 that says, "Made in Belgium, Assembled in Portugal" on the barrel, and it, like my old Belgian A-5, has never let me down. FN has always been a quality manufacturer of military and sporting arms. I don't think a BACO Featherweight will ever let you down either.

Just my $.02

RM

Thanks.

I had several of those rifles on my watch list, but missed the Stainless Super Grade. That is one sweet rifle.

ETA: enlighten me, what is the difference between the 5-digit and 6-digit rifles?

Have owned a bunch of pre-64's, Classics and Baco featherweights, have only owned one of the new Portugese assembled guns. Was surprised that the action and barrel were much nicer polished and blued than the South Carolina guns. Wood to action fit at least on mine was improved, some of the South Carolina guns weren't so great in that area.

Is the Sporter barrel contour about the same as the contour of a Remington BDL?

Is the Feather Weight contour the approximate equivalent of a M700 Mountain Rifle contour?

By memory....
BDL is a tad thicker??
FWT is a tad thicker than the MR for sure.

Nothing really, just year of mfg. Made 1992-2002. The best mass produced rifles made since 1963, imo. When they went to 7 digits in 2003 is when quality control went down hill.

No experience or experience desired with any Model 70 not made in New Haven CT. Someone at BACO oughta be beat with a sack of D cell batteries for scraping the best hunting trigger ever made.

My only current production M70 is a .270 Extreme Weather (SC made). It shoots almost everything I've Fed it MOA or better, Fed Blue box 130's shoot so well I'm having a hard time justifying reloading for this rifle. Several sub MOA groups at 300 yards with that ammo and my rifle.

I hated Winchester decided the MOA trigger was a better option, the old trigger was about as perfect as you could get for a hunting rifle IMO. However, my rifle with MOA trigger has been great from the time I got it, breaks cleanly and crisply at about 3 lbs. I don't know if the trigger was adjusted previously since I bought it second hand but I've found no reason to mess with it.

I don't know why you don't like McMillan, they usually have a pattern that most can find ergonomically pleasing. But for those who don't like them there is Brown Precision, Manners, MPI, LAW/High Tech/Bansner, Wildcat Composites, and others to choose from as well. I have a 6 digit Stainless Classic FWT that resides in a McMillan Hunter blind magazine with Edge fill that weighs just under 7 lbs 2 oz with optics, it's hard not to like that!

It is hard not to like that. I'm hoping to end up with a finished product just as you have pictured. What caliber is it?

There's a lot of love for the old M70 trigger, "best hunting trigger ever made." I don't doubt your word, but what are you basing your opinion on? Educate me.

The old model 70 trigger is just a good simple almost fool proof design. The open design is less likely to collect debris and they are easy to adjust and tune up. In some ways the Md. 70 trigger is a single stage variation of the Mauser trigger. Some feel that the farther you get away from the original Mauser design the less good it is.

I'm partial to the Classic as they are the only Left Hand models. The Portuguese rifles I looked at were nicely finished and some had better wood. But somehow "The Rifleman's Rifle" not made in the US has less appeal. This even though for a period the New Haven Rifles were poorly assembled while the factory was going through major changes starting around 2000 when they went to two shifts till 2006 when New Haven ceased operations. Here is a brief history: http://www.winchesterguns.com/support/faq/where-are-winchester-firearms-manufactured.html

Symplicity

Reliability

The model 70 classic triggers where made out of cheap mim'ed parts and felt like crap from the factory. If you had a good smith work them over you could get them to be reliable at around three lbs of pull weight but no lower IME. As far as I am concerned they were not that great and I always ran a Jewell on my Classics set to 1lb.
The new MOA trigger when sprung right is an improvement. The guys saying otherwise are mostly speculating in regards to enclosed triggers fouling up in rough conditions. This hasnt been my expierance and I have hunted in pretty nasty conditions for many years.

The new guns from SC or Portugal are night and day better than even the 5 digit classics. I owned a pile of them and just about all of them were projects in a box.
My favorite model 70, a six digit classic required a new extractor, a new follower spring, bedding and a trip to Redneck to get it to feed right and a trigger job. Even then it has tool marks galore. The new ones are essentialy tune the trigger with a spring only and shoot.

I'm not clear Ben, is your main criticism of the model 70 trigger the design or the manufacture? I'm comfortable and familiar with 4-1/2# triggers, so not being able to get one below 3# is a non issue for me.

curious to know why the FN SC rifle QC declined over time? what was up with that???

The design is fine from what I gather. The execution was poor.

^^^ This. ^^^

I have a .308 EW that shoots bug holes with everything and came from the factory with a fantastic trigger with no creep or overtravel that breaks like glass at 3.4 lbs. It shoots 130, 150, 165 and 180 grain bullets accurately whether I load them or some factory does.

My buddy’s Portugal-assembled Featherweight in .270 Win outshoots my EW. Outstanding trigger out of the box.

My next rifle is going to be a new Featherweight Stainless in either.308 or .30-06, which I will rebore or rebarrel to .338 Federal or .338-06.

The next one after that will be a Featherweight Stainless in 6.5 Creedmoor as soon as they introduce it.

I love the new Model 70s, especially the Featherweight. Really well-made, beautiful rifles with nice wood, great metal work and fantastic triggers that are much nicer than the old ones.

To each their own.

I'm staying with the one with 70 years of track record.

You must have got all 6 or 11 or 23 of the rough ones they made from 1936-2006.

He must have piss poor luck. Every classic I've owned has been very good.

I've got two model 70's, and two model 700's. I had a third 700 but sold it. Contrary to the common notion both of the 70s have been more accurate than the 700's. All were good, but the 70s better. All five were rifle I did no more to than screw a scope on to.

Likewise. I feel fortunate to have one but wished I'd jumped on some more sooner in other chamberings and perhaps a stainless one too. Same goes for my LH Ruger 77 MII. Never thought Ruger would drop the M77 in LH since they'd been making it for so long.

.30-06

You cant compare the classic action with the pre 64. And all pre 64's arent equal... if you search BobinNH posts you will see he came to the same conclusion.

Its not been just a few, but many. I am guessing over a dozen. And many were the five digit models.

I had very few in Classics that did not have an issue or two or three. A for instance, bolt is splined for the handle, the handle was indexed wrong and not secure(ie brazed) on a 300 mag, back to Baco in Missouri and it was fixed. Bedding via hot glue gun , notches on floorplates not ground correctly so the floorplate sat cocked off to the left or right. Most shot well after a little work .

I believe BobinNH called Classics a project in a box or something to that effect.

I have not seen that on Pre64's and certainly not on the Baco guns . I have not handled a Portugese gun.

Bingo! I had one in 30/06. That was a real Honey. The old open trigger was,and still is,the best ever mounted on a M70.