Winchester model 70 black shadow 7wsm info

good rifle and a good round, i love my 7wsm browning.

Winchester made several versions of the "Shadow" rifles. All of them are the budget line of model 70's but are solid guns. The original Black Shadow's were push feed versions in black plastic stocks with a floor plate. I'm pretty sure by the time they were offered in the WSM line of cartridges they had gone to a pretty modernistic plastic stock with a blind magazine. I can't remember if those are CRF or PF. Either are good. I prefer CRF, but it ain't a huge deal and I have both types of rifles.

If you ever decide to upgrade the stock there are very few options for a Winchester blind magazine stock and most are high end such as McMillan. You could buy a less expensive aftermarket stock and new bottom metal to convert it to a floorplate version. Would probably be cheaper to go that route. If you don't like the stock and are thinking about upgrading later I probably would pass. If the price is right and you can live with the stock it is a solid rifle.

Winchester intended to release the 270, 7mm, and 300 WSM cartridges and rifles at the same time. But shortly before they were released it was discovered that 270 WSM cartridges would chamber and fire in 7mm WSM rifles. They decided to hold off on introducing the 7mm version until the design was tweaked to prevent this. As a result the 7mm version was introduced about a year later. I like the concept, but the WSM's have always been a niche cartridge that appealed to a limited number of people. By the time Winchester got the 7mm WSM ready to sell most everybody that wanted one already had one. A good argument can be made that the 7mm WSM is the best of the bunch, but it is the least common. Factory ammo is hard to find, as is brass. You'll need to handload and probably make your own brass from 270 WSM brass.

Bought a used one myself several years ago. My guide managed to break the stock when his ATV ran too close to a tree with the rifle in a scabbard, but replacement OEMs are available.

Rather than a simple replacement I chose a Richard’s Microfit for $100 which needed a fair amount of inletting to fit (most of theirs do not). I decided a few weeks ago to refinish the stock with BLO and wipe on poly, should be finished today.

The rifle itself is chambered in 30-06 Springfield and has always been a great shooter for a factory sporter. Easily adjusted trigger and carries well.

There is a good amount off 7wsm ammo online for under $40 a box. Tho most of that is fed. And if you reload you may only get 1 or 2 reloads from that brass. The win brass is good. Still have not tried hornady brass.

jmr40 said:

But shortly before they were released it was discovered that 270 WSM cartridges would chamber and fire in 7mm WSM rifles.

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One wonders how many engineers had the chance to catch that and didn't. . .

Got off my duff and put it back together just now. I think I’ve got $650 into it as it sits; rifle, stock, stock pins/bedding, Limbsaver pad, Zeiss Terra 3-9x, and Weaver Grand Slam rings. FYI these are, at least mine is, Push Feed.

horsemen61 said:

Ok folks what can you tell me about this rifle
Good
Bad
Ugly

I need info

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Funny you mention this. I bought one new in the mid '90's but didn't end up shooting it until 2 years ago. It really likes Federal factory 160 grain ammo but in 25% of the extractions I need to exert (what I think is) too much pressure on the bolt to open it. The 150 grain factory Federal's don't give me that problem but it's a weaker load and not as consistently accurate. I just managed to get hold of Hornady brass and will start to reload it. It's recoil is MUCH less than my Browning A Bolt in 300 Win Mag shooting 200 grain bullets. The Winchester is a nice handling rifle IMO.

jmr40 said:

Factory ammo is hard to find, as is brass. You'll need to handload and probably make your own brass from 270 WSM brass.

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In my limited experience with this cartridge, factory ammo might not be available in your local gunshop but it is quite readily available over the internet, if you can order over the internet. I live in the commune called NY and loaded ammo cannot be shipped to my residence. The previous loaded ammo I have was obtained before the infamous SAFE ACT. Brass is another matter. It is almost impossible to obtain. Midway USA just received a shipment. I've heard you cannot just run a 300WSM or a 270WSM through your reloading die and get a satisfactory 7mmWSM hull. Something to do with either the shoulder or the length of the neck, I can't recall. If anyone is hung up on the 7mm bore, probably the best thing to do is get a Remington 7mm mag and be done with it but that's only my opinion.

lowmileage said:

In my limited experience with this cartridge, factory ammo might not be available in your local gunshop but it is quite readily available over the internet, if you can order over the internet. I live in the commune called NY and loaded ammo cannot be shipped to my residence. The previous loaded ammo I have was obtained before the infamous SAFE ACT. Brass is another matter. It is almost impossible to obtain. Midway USA just received a shipment. I've heard you cannot just run a 300WSM or a 270WSM through your reloading die and get a satisfactory 7mmWSM hull. Something to do with either the shoulder or the length of the neck, I can't recall. If anyone is hung up on the 7mm bore, probably the best thing to do is get a Remington 7mm mag and be done with it but that's only my opinion.

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if you don't live in the city these ple will ship to ny.
https://www.targetsportsusa.com/
https://www.outdoorlimited.com/
buds gun shop. will ship to.

troy fairweather said:

if you don't live in the city these ple will ship to ny.
https://www.targetsportsusa.com/
https://www.outdoorlimited.com/
buds gun shop. will ship to.

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Thanks, I'm aware that a few places will ship to a licensed dealer for pickup and Campsite in Huntington Station (Long Island) won't even hit you up for a fee (or at least they didn't previously). But I will definitely check out those businesses. thanks Troy

I had an older Model 70 in 300 WSM. This rifle was one of the Shadow series. It looks like the WSM's had what looked like a push feed system. However, the ejector was fixed working through a slot in the bolt. The rounds would feed up through the magazine and rim would go under the extractor. Some what reluctantly, a round in this rifle could be loaded like a push feed. Evidently, the Shadow shows up with this push control feed plus push feed only and.also the external extractor. This Shadows in the WSM's locally that I have seen had the combination system. YMMV. I reloaded for the Model 70. Tradded the rifle off but now have a Browning A bolt in 300 WSM.

jmr40 said:

Winchester intended to release the 270, 7mm, and 300 WSM cartridges and rifles at the same time. But shortly before they were released it was discovered that 270 WSM cartridges would chamber and fire in 7mm WSM rifles. They decided to hold off on introducing the 7mm version until the design was tweaked to prevent this. As a result the 7mm version was introduced about a year later. I like the concept, but the WSM's have always been a niche cartridge that appealed to a limited number of people. By the time Winchester got the 7mm WSM ready to sell most everybody that wanted one already had one. A good argument can be made that the 7mm WSM is the best of the bunch, but it is the least common. Factory ammo is hard to find, as is brass. You'll need to handload and probably make your own brass from 270 WSM brass.

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It was the other way around - they were worried the 7mm would be chambered in the .270 and cause an over-pressure situation. Firing the .270 in the 7mm would be inaccurate but safe. Hence they moved the shoulder on the 7mm so it wouldn't fit in the .270 chamber.

I agree that it is a reloader's proposition only, but in that context I would argue it's the best of the 7mms for non-dangerous hunting. It fits in small, light rifles, has plenty of velocity, is efficient and accurate. It's case capacity is right to put heavy bullets at the Retumbo burn rate (which is generally as slow as you want to go for hunting powders).

Because the 7mm WSM shoulder is farther forward, you cannot make it from any other brass in a single step. In order to make it, you start with .300 WSM (or .325 WSM if you're crazy), put on a false shoulder with your 7mm WSM die, and then fire form to move the real shoulder forward.

However, 7mm WSM brass IS available. Bertram sells it, as does Hornady. I prefer the Bertram. I would not plan on making brass, I would buy 200 pieces and figure the barrel will be done before you run out of brass. If you're not prepared to do that, I wouldn't buy a 7mm WSM.

A 175 wedcore and enough Retumbo to get you to about 3000 ft/s in a 24" makes an excellent round for all non-dangerous NA and plains game. And it's actually not bad on big bears and bison if a little light. But OK as a client rifle.

I'm not a huge fan of the M70 "push feed" or "controlled push feed" action, which I believe is what all M70 Black Shadows have. I would look for a Classic.

There's another issue: all Winchester 7mm WSMs are from the era where New Haven quality control was poor. They need to be checked for chamber roundness at a minimum. The only way I know of to do this is to remove a piece of fired brass, rotate it 90 degrees, and try to feed it (from the mag if CPF, straight in if PF). If it won't feed because it's not round, you may have a problem. If you can't fire the rifle or get a piece of fired brass from the owner, I'd pass. I guess you could just measure the brass to find out as well.

Llama Bob said:

There's another issue: all Winchester 7mm WSMs are from the era where New Haven quality control was poor. They need to be checked for chamber roundness at a minimum. The only way I know of to do this is to remove a piece of fired brass, rotate it 90 degrees, put it in the mag, and try to feed it. If it won't feed, you may have a problem. If you can't fire the rifle or get a piece of fired brass from the owner, I'd pass.

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Didn't know that. I knew I bought mine right before they wrapped up in New Haven and moved south. Always sorta proud it was marked New Haven?

lowmileage said:

Didn't know that. I knew I bought mine right before they wrapped up in New Haven and moved south. Always sorta proud it was marked New Haven?

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It was an unfortunate situation. Thankfully many of the rifles, even those made at the very end, are 100% functional.

I will also mention that because 7mm WSM is a good round with a dedicated following, and not many were made, the primo rifles command a premium. Kimber 8400s and M70 Classics seem to pull at least what they were worth new. M70 push feeds, less so.

Llama Bob said:

I'm not a huge fan of the M70 "push feed" or "controlled push feed" action, which I believe is what all M70 Black Shadows have

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I got called to task on another forum on the controlled push feed. Had never seen such. One seasoned poster claimed no such ever existed. Another poster proved that it did exist by ads etc. The feature was advertised some years back by Winchester. There is information and comments on the net. Personally, I had no problem with the system. However, it is easy to see how others would not feel comfortable. This rifle had not been used as a push feed much and was stiff. Seems like some of these rifles show up with the new controlled fed outside extractor. One citizen in that thread shared that the rifles would be made up in batches for the Big Boxes to specs. This rifle came with a Burris Full Field 3-9X scope in Burris Z type rings. Originally that rifle may come from a Big Box. That rifle was well finished and functioned very well. I'd get another with no problem. The factory stock was ugly in the extreme! I had more problems with the Winchester bass split necks than anything to do with the rifle. Stay away from once fired Federal brass.