The legendary Winchester Model 70, the finest commercial rifle made in the US, has become an all-time great and in its latest iteration it is more than ever the “Rifleman’s Rifle”.
In terms of longevity, fine design, quality materials and manufacturing excellence the Classic Model 70 is as good as anything and too good a rifle to fade into obscurity.
The Model 70 story begins with Winchester’s first entry into the modern, high-power bolt-action field, the Model 54, which was manufactured from 1925 through 1936. It was a good, strong rifle that gained a lot of followers.
The Big Red W had served its apprenticeship manufacturing Pattern 14 and Model 1917 Enfield rifles for British and American troops during World War 1. The Model 54 included features of the 1903 Springfield which had, in turn, been copied from the Mauser Model 98 and cost the American government millions for patent infringements.
Features included a coned breech, dual-opposed locking lugs, a broad non-rotating claw extractor and one-piece firing pin. The receivers were milled from a solid piece of forged nickel steel and the bolt was a one-piece forging with integral handle.
Little has changed. Today, Model 70 receivers are still made the same way but are cut on a CNC machine to the correct dimensions.
By the 1930s, after analysing and working out the strengths and weaknesses of the Model 54, Winchester set out to improve on its shortcomings and designed the Model 70.
Production versions of the Model 70 began to be distributed in 1935, although the model wasn’t officially announced until late 1936. Despite this inauspicious beginning, sales of Winchester’s new high-power bolt-action took off like a house on fire.
The Model 70 retained the 54’s most worthwhile features including the very handsome and efficient basic receiver pattern, the claw extractor and controlled-round feeding, but added a separate bolt stop in the left rear of the receiver’s bridge. The bolt stop, a serrated button, is pressed for bolt removal.
This separate bolt-stop system was a real improvement over the Model 54. Not only was the sear relieved of this function, but the unobtrusive button did away with the clumsy, externally mounted, boxlike unit endemic to military bolt actions.
About the only problem with the receiver was chipping of the stock where the clover-leaf shaped tang was inletted. In 1947, the tang was restyled to have an overhanging outer edge which sits entirely on top of the stock, thus eliminating any need for close inletting.
Early Model 70s had a safety mounted on top of the bolt sleeve, copying the Mauser 98, but it soon got in the way of a low-mounted scope. Winchester solved the problem by relocating the safety to pivot on an offset vertical axis for easier operation under a scope. When the tab is pulled to the rear, the safety is engaged to lock the bolt handle down and block the firing pin. In the middle position, the firing pin remains blocked, but the bolt handle can be lifted to safely remove a loaded round from the chamber. The forward position releases the safety and puts the rifle in firing mode.
The Model 70 retained the Springfield breech. The coned barrel, massive non-rotary extractor, receiver-mounted ejector and partial bolt-face rim all form a system tailored to feed, extract and eject cartridges with the utmost speed and certainty.
The blade ejector is fixed, being mounted to the receiver, and slides through a slot cut in the bolt face. The pre-1964 bolt has an integral guide lug on the left side of its body for reducing wobble as it travels in the receiver. Serving the same purpose as a guide lug on its bolt body, a groove in the bottom of the right locking lug engages a matching rib in the receiver rail. In both design and operation it is identical to the anti-bind feature shared by all Model 70s built since 1968.
From a practical standpoint, there has never been a better system. Trying to prove the cone breech is unsound from a cartridge-head support standpoint is pointless. It has proven to be adequate through almost nine decades of use.
The original Model 70 trigger with its breakaway or override action was a big improvement over the Model 54. Machined from solid steel, there was nothing to go wrong. It is a simple, foolproof design with no small screws to vibrate loose and become dangerous. It is adjustable for weight of pull and over-travel and gives a crisp, clean let-off.
In 2008, when Winchester reintroduced the classic pre-1964 Model 70 rifle, they also gave it a new MOA Trigger System which includes a trigger-piece, actuator and sear coated in Winchester’s proprietary SlickShot and a mix of electroless nickel and Teflon for smooth operation and corrosion resistance.
Encased in a solid steel housing it works on a simple pivoting-lever principle and has two external adjustment screws. Designed with a 2:1 mechanical advantage, it has zero take-up, zero creep and zero over-travel. Pull weight is user-adjustable from 3-5lb (1.4-2.3kg). It is essentially the Feather Trigger of the Browning X-Bolt modified to fit the Model 70 receiver.
A new steel trigger guard and hinged floorplate replaced the heavy steel strap used for the Model 54’s trigger guard and floorplate. The new bottom metal was gracefully sculptured and pleasing to the eye. The floorplate allowed easy unloading via a plunger mounted in front of the trigger guard.
I never cared for it, however, because instead of a one-piece arrangement like the Mauser and Springfield, it was made in two separate pieces. The floorplate is hinged to a small plate under the front guard screw, and a separate guard bow is flanged for the middle and rear guard screws. The catch is a small, angled plunger in the front web of the trigger guard. Most shooters rejoiced when the new Classic model appeared with a one-piece unit.
The Model 70 bolt is a one-piece chrome-moly steel forging and the handle has a 45-degree angle instead of being straight out as in the Model 54. It sweeps gracefully rearward, ending in a tear-shaped knob for a practical blend of grace and utility.
In addition to smooth feeding, the controlled-round action offers some other real advantages. The claw extractor is strong and has enough power to withdraw a sticky case, something most rotating extractors lack. Model 70 extractors are made of steel; they rarely break. They snap over the rim of a cartridge dropped into the chamber when the bolt is closed, something most Mauser 98s won’t do unless the claw has been modified.
On the pre-64 and new Classic Model 70, the Mauser-type claw extractor on the right and a combination gas-deflection flange and bolt-stop extension on the left share a common collar that encircles and rotates around the bolt body.
The pre-64 Model 70 was not perfect, since it had a rather poor gas handling system in the event a case ruptures. A hole was drilled in the right side of the receiver ring to vent gas away from a right-handed shooter’s face. But gas entering the firing pin hole was released by two ports in the bolt head that directed gases down the left lug raceway, straight back toward the shooter, just like late-version Model 54s did. Not a good idea since the bolt sleeve has no flange to deflect gas away from the shooter’s face.
The gas system in the later Model 70 was improved by having two large holes in the underside of the bolt body which divert gases downward into the magazine well. The firing pin driven to the rear by gas release is stopped about 8mm past full-cock when the mainspring goes solid.
The dimensional uniformity of barrels on the current Model 70s is far superior to old pre-64 barrels I have examined and the bores are much smoother. As well, the chambers have dimensions on the minimum side of SAAMI specifications, which not only offers improved accuracy but usually results in longer case life for the handloader.
THE INFAMOUS POST-64 MODEL
The Model 70 action has undergone many changes over its 88 years of existence, but few shooters care to remember the post-64 push-feed model which surfaced in 1963 and was anathema to the traditional rifleman.
Every gunmaker has good times and bad times and Winchester Repeating Arms Company was no exception. During the 1960s, Winchester was faced with ever-increasing competition and a considerable rise in costs. It made the mistake of attempting to replace an American institution with a new rifle, also designated the Model 70, which had a push-feed action and poor cosmetics. Winchester tried unsuccessfully to brainwash shooters into believing it was an improvement on the original action.
The post-64 Model 70 probably wasn’t as bad as most shooters claimed it was. I had one in .375 H&H re-chambered to .375 Weatherby Magnum that was consistently accurate and planted five shots into 1½” at 200yd. However, most shooters shunned it for not being a genuine Model 70.
A third ‘improved’ version of the pseudo Model 70, the post-68 model, offered a number of improvements — a new stainless steel follower, a steel floorplate and a new anti-bind device for smoother bolt travel. The latter consisted of a groove milled into the righthand locking lug that mated with the right receiver rail. But it was all for naught. Winchester had made an error when it attempted to replace an American tradition with an imposter and would pay dearly for its mistake.
At the time, Winchester Repeating Arms was owned by Olin Corporation, but in 1981 Olin sold its gunmaking operation to US Repeating Arms Company (USRAC), which was set up to manufacture the Model 70 under license from Olin. However, around 1987, the great Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Belgium, owner of Browning Arms, purchased 48 percent of USRAC and three years later bought out the remaining shareholders.
THE MODEL 70 GETS BACK TO ITS BEST, ONLY BETTER
FN, one of the largest firearms manufacturers in the world, then set out to upgrade the Winchester line, including the Model 70, using up-to-date technology — computers and CNC machinery. This cut costs and made possible a partial return to the pre-64 controlled-round feed design with claw extractor. This post-93 action was actually a combination of old and new Model 70 features.
The new action got such an enthusiastic reception that it soon took precedence and the post-68 action was preserved for cheaper models.
Then in 2008 FN reintroduced a full line of Classic Model 70s including the Super Grade, a handsome, totally modern, entirely classic and detailed rifle, manufactured in South Carolina. The bottom metal is all one-piece steel and includes a hinged floorplate with the release in the top front of the trigger guard.
The current Classic Model 70 is far superior to any production-grade Model 70 previously built by Olin Winchester or USRAC. If you were to compare a current action with the original you’d find closer tolerances throughout, making everything a neater fit.
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