Winchester Model 70, Featherweight, .270WIN

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This just serendipitously appeared as a personal gift whilst I was busy doing good deeds (helping others mind their business) in the Bible Belt.

It has a thin stock with a schnable style forend; v-e-r-y skinny and whiplike barrel. Ballistic alignment is via a Leupold 3-9x42 held on by low-mount rings and a one-piece base. Extractor is the short plugly-type.

Fired a few stock Winchester and Remington 130-gr pills at 100-yds. Was somewhat underwhelmed with the 1-1/2 and 2 inch groups. First shot with a cool barrel is right on, but subsequent rounds tend to move away. I've heard that when such thin barrels heat-up, the harmonics tend to change a bit. I'm not sure I buy that bit in its entirety.

I'd appreciate any feedback from others having experiences with similar styled stock featherweight rifles. Thanks in advance.




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Mykl
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God was smiling on me the day I stumbled into a Winchester Model 70 FeatherWeight 7x57 (Mauser). That is one sweet rifle. A real sleeper too. Accurate and soft on the shoulder using factory loads. I would not sell that rifle at twice, even three times, what I paid. It is that nice. Whole thing weighs in around 6.5lbs so, it's easy to have on you when you need it, as opposed to my heavy guns (Rem 700 Sendero's and the like).

Sid
 
Mykl, playing with the bedding might help. Check the archives; several of us posted about this, and I expounded on my poor-boy "wax paper" method.

While I'd expect you could get some improvement from bedding work, remember that in the typical hunting rifle, the first shot from a cold barrel is the most important...

To me, the .270 is much like the '06--it'll do for most anything besides moose and grizzly/brownie. And it's amazing how much difference there is in weight between the foot of a mountain and the top!

You got a keeper!

Art
 
Mykl;
Try cutting a small oblong of business card and placing it between the barrel and forearm about 1/4" back from the forearm tip. Sometimes the mdl 70 needs a little upward tension on the barrel to make it shoot better. I had a mdl 70 270 that I did that to, and groups went from 2" to 1/2"! It would be a good idea to remove the stock and check the barrel channel for "shiny spots", which are high spots that the barrel is hitting when it vibrates. Sanding these down can also improve groups.
 
Mykle:
It sounds like you've got a lemon. I'll give you $25.00 for it as a parts gun, just to help you out, of course.

:)

Regards,
L.P.
 
Through the years I have owned a fair number of hunting rifles. I have found, almost without exception, that light rifles shoot better with some upward pressure on the forend. I use electrical tape, and have found that glass bedding the forend is not as good. Maybe it likes the softer tape. Anyway experiment with the bedding and you might find that you need to glass bed the recoil lug area. This usually helps. Some rifles are particularly fussy about the bullets they like. I think the most enjoyable aspect of getting a new rifle is to get it shooting to suit you. After that it isn't as much fun with the hunting situations these day. I have never had but one one rifle I couldn't get to shoot hunting loads 1.5" at 100 yds or better. Most will do better with enough work. Once I took two rifles to the range. One grouped in just under 2" while the other was a 1" rifle. Shooting out to 500 yards from sitting and other hunting positions I couldn't detect any difference in the groups. All of us like accurate rifles, but there is a point where the increased accuracy is not of any practical advantage. Having said that if a big game rifle wouldn't group within 1.5" at 100 yds I would get rid of it. Jerry
 
I have a bit of experience with this rifle and the .270, so offer the following reinforcement to the other good words on this thread: Fwt's barrel is skinny...doesn't take much to bend it. The fore-end bedding is the first suspect in poor grouping: electrical tape, wax paper or hot glue, a simple reversible applicattion of forend pressure, and relief of ANY other contact with the barrel, is what you should try first. I think you will find that the Fwt already has the recoil lug bedded in 'thermoplastic', which is basically hot glue. If there is contact on the front, sides or bottom of the lug, the plastic can be shaved off till you only get contact on the back. This simple two step process made two Fwts, in 6.5 Swede and 7x57, sub inch shooters. As for the caliber, the .270 is a doozey but you should try different makes/weights of ammo, or a bit of finagling with handloads, before you decide to be underwhelmed. My .270 Ranger shoots around an inch, but I had to try several loads in each bullet weight to make it behave nicely. A good part of the enjoyment of riflery is finding that magic combination of load and bedding that will give accuracy. Most rifles have it in them, but sometimes it takes a bit of wooing to make them show their style. slabsides

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An armed man is a citizen; an unarmed man is a subject; a disarmed man is a slave.
 
I would agree with the bedding and in addition the fit of the barrel in the forearm. If it is touching anywhere, it will push the impact of the bullet to the oposite side of the touch. If it rises then the touching is on the bottom of the barrel.

I agree with the pressure placed on light barrels, (see the Cody Rifle on my homepage) http://members.tripod.com/~stock4broker/Firearms.html

That barrel has specific pressure on the barrel, it is .308 caliber and has 1/4 MOA @ 100 yds.

hjn

[This message has been edited by Harley Nolden (edited July 21, 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Harley Nolden (edited July 21, 1999).]
 
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