Model 70 featherweight accuracy

[Dups]

So i have a 1989 Winchester model 70, that i picked up used. its chambered in .280 and i havn't been able to get it to shoot as accurately as i had wished. from a caldwell lead sled, 3" groups at 100 yds. after going through the gun, checking bedding, trigger, scope (leupold VX-III) rings, etc....

so nothing seems to point to "unnacurate gun". barrel is smooth, shiny, with pronounced rifling. good throat, etc. finally, under examination with a jewlers lense, i found a very very small NICK, in the crown. so small you could almost not see it with the naked eye. so on a whim, i decide to grab my dremel set, and on low speed with one of the stones, i touch up the crown until it looks smooth and sweet. took it out to the range, today and put 3 shots touching at 100 yds.... Hornady 139 grain SST's (.280 remington caliber). I'm happy.

 

[AKElroy]

Nice catch. I bet the previous owner dumped it because he couldn't get it to shoot. I have two, a .270 and a 7mm mag and they both shoot 3/4 MOA. I bought a savage accuwhAtever and it shoots a bit over MOA. so much for the dark days of USRA turning out trash.

 

[Skylerbone]

MidWayUSA has a series of videos on YouTube including Larry Potterfield recrowning an older rifle with a brass screw in a hand drill. Amazing what a guy can do with a little know-how and steady nerves.

I'm loving my '90ish M70 in -06. Bought it used for $319 and my third group with loads for another of my -06s broke 1/2 MOA at 100 yards. I hope more people give up on their Winchesters, I've got a few dollars to burn right now;-)

 

[Float Pilot]

Bravo!

 

[Geno]

I swear I break into a sweat every time I see the word "Dremel" in this forum. That stated, as I have been given to understand, past an optical component going bad, the usual culprit is the muzzle's integrity. Kudos on that catch!

Geno

 

[jmr40]

I'd be willing to try it with a brass screw. I have 2 Featherweights from the late 80's early 90's as well. The 30-06 shoots fine, but my 280 is similar to yours. May give it a try.

 

[vmfrantz]

Hope you reload. I have a model 70 in 30-06. Had to go through 3 different brand bullets and powders to get mine to shoot. I get 1" (5shots). 180 gr sst and 57.1 gr. Of h4350.

 

[LeverGunJunkie]

I've read from the "experts" at Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, etc, that the Featherweight was never really known as a tack driver. Not sure if that is true, but I have a .308 I boought in '87 and the best I could get with factory ammo was 2". When I started reloading it took me 1.5 yrs and countless permutations of component and powder combos to get it right. Finally got her to shoot 3/4" groups, and know I'm pretty happy.

Congrats on getting it dialed in.

 

[Skylerbone]

I was shooting 180 gr. Nosler Partitions with my load in Win. 760 (prefer not to post the grains) when I dialed mine in.

Crazy that I just bought a box of Hornady 180 Interlocks and loaded 157 gr. of H4350 for trial Tues. night.

The sad part about loading these days is the lack of Q.C. with bullet manufacturers these days. Those who weigh a few from the box will know what I mean.

If you really have problems finding an accurate load try a heavier streamlined bullet with a low velocity load that still fills as much casing as possible. Shoot for 2450 fps as a starting point and shoot for a bullet with a B.C. Of .500 or higher.

Even at 2 MOA at 100 yards you're still looking at solid kills on deer at 250 yards with known bullet drop. Good luck to all still developing loads and congratulations to those who have found their rifle's ideal diet.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got the exact same gun and it shoots 145 speers using 4831sc into 3/4s of an inch at a 100 yards for a 5 shot group. Only thing thats been done to mine is a bit of trigger work and i ground out that crappy bedding material that win uses and glass bedded it properly but to be honest i never shot it with the old bedding material so i dont know if that made a differnce or not.

 

[jmr40]

There is no reason a gun with a thinner barrel should not shoot just as accurately as one with a heavier barrel. They just won't do it for long strings of shots.

I have one of the stainless/synthetic Remington mountain rifles. The barrel is much thinner than the Featherweight. From a cold barrel shot #1 and #2 will literally be in one oval shaped hole. Shot #3 will usually open up the group to around 1". If I try 4 or 5 shots without stopping to let the barrel cool it will open up to a 3" or larger group.

But for a hunting rifle, I could care less. For the 1st 2 shots it is as accurate as any target rifle with a much heavier barrel. I'm not likely to need more than 2-3 shots anyway.

My Winchester Featherweights are not quite that accurate, but plenty accurate for a hunting rifle.

 

[Dups]

When i took the old dremel tool out, i figured i couldn't do much damage to an already Innaccurate gun. I was pricing out a Shilen or a Lothar Walther match barrel for it, to try and tighten it up, but now that i have it good, i'm not interested in dropping 500 bucks into this gun. I just got a line on a very old Model 70 .30-06 rifle, with a steel butplate, gotta find out what i can about the gun... guy might pass it on for cheap because i know him.

Ed

 

[Vern Humphrey]

You hear a lot of crazy things about rifles -- just looking through an old edition of Rifle Magazine, I saw an "expert" comment that Model 70s are less accurate than Remington Model 700s because the claw extractor "pushes the case to one side" in the chamber.

What does he think the Remington plunger ejector does?

 

[DBR]

I have a late 1990s Winchester Feather Weight Model 70 Classic 243 in stainless steel with a composite stock. It will shoot 3/4" 3 shot groups with Federal Barnes Copper for five consecutive groups at 100yds. Barrel is allowed to cool between groups. After that accuracy degraded somewhat. There was some copper fouling in the barrel after this test.

I have since fire lapped the barrel using the Tubbs Final Finish system but I haven't retested yet. I have had very good results with the Tubbs system on a couple of other rifles. Accuracy while not improving in an absolute sense doesn't degrade from fouling nearly as much.

 

[Skylerbone]

Just wanted to add that I don't advocate the brass screw trick, Mr. Potterfield is a master gun smith in addition to being CEO so everything he does looks simple (and helps move the merchandise).

Any local gun smith can recrown a barrel for you and it won't cost an arm and a leg. Get to know the guy, he's devoted his life's work to your favorite hobby so he can't be all bad: )

You'll also have the opportunity to decide if you've got a few extra inches (on the barrel) that you'd like to get rid of (if you didn't get the length you wanted). The gun smith can also inspect your current crown to determine if that is indeed the problem.

 

[Dups]

well, i looked at the crown and noticed the nick, a quick touch up with the feared dremel tool and bam, about a 1/2 or 3/4 inch 3 shot group at 100 yds. thats fantastic for my "old beat up rifle"

 

[joed]

Every Remington 700 or Winchester 70 I've ever owned that had a wood stock has had bedding issues. Before even considering anything else I'd look at the bedding.

I'm actually amazed this isn't a bedding issue.

 

[leatherneck448]

wow. human ingenuity at its finest. Great job, and im happy to hear its shooting well.
One of my buddies has a model 70 featherweight chambered in 30-06, and it shoots at most, a 1MOA at 100 yards with a redfield scope.