winchester 670 questions

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williev18

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I recently inherited a model 670 winchester in 243win. apon immediate inspection i found the barrel to be very dirty, and after cleanig was very pitted. i tried a few loads and a few facory rounds to find that the accuracy this rifle had when was growing up was gone. I am going to rebarrel this rifle but not sure what direction to go in. This was a handy accurate little mountain rifle so a simple factory countour replica may be in order. How ever i am planning on building a Varmint Hunter rifle, in the near future, and im wondering if this action might be a feasible starting point. Ive already removed the barrel and the weight seams reasonabe, and it appears like it might be a fairly rigid action. My question is is this just a variant of the model 70. Also have there been many bench resters been built on this action,and will parts be interchangeble. Do they require alot of smithing to true up, and would it be cost affective to go this direction. obvously it wont be a custom action in the end but with my total investment being zero so far im condiering trying it.

any input us welcome, i want to hear what you think.

Thanks
Will
 
Was it a variant of the................

Model 70?? Yes, it has been referred to as, "The Poor Man's Featherweight" because of the barrel contour, the Beech stock and push-feed action.

Will it work as a BR rifle?? I doubt it; well, no, actually. If you're going to go into BR, you need a competitive action from the beginning, this receiver was only a hunting rifle.

If you wanted to use it as a "live" varmint rifle, (where it actually shot varmints), yes, it could be utilized with good quality components, put together by someone who knew what they were after. For that, you could have a good groundhog getter. ;)

HTH
 
Its a fine action, Most people opted to use the Remington 700 for benchrest back when, custom action were scarce.
If you can do the work yourself then have fun. The fun is in the building. Remington actions have an advantage , due to many aftermmarket parts available. The weak point is the trigger On the Winchester. Remington has a better trigger system, but there are new triggers out there {jewel] for one that will fix the problem. I'm not sure about a stock though. You may have to use wood,although tactical stocks are made. I'm not sure about Benchrest fiberglass stocks but maybe there are some out there. The build should cost about the same as a Remington 700.
 
thanks for the input guys, ive allways been a savage nut so was clueless on this model, or if it had inherent accuracy problems. It was always a shooter when i was a kid,and borrowed it from my uncle to chase wood chucks. i knew i would have to change the trigger thats why i was wondering if the model 70 parts would fit. as far as stock i will probably contact mcmillan to see if they can make a HBR stock for me. i guess the next step is to contact my machinist to look at it,and find out what he will charge to rework the action.
 
Put a new barrel on the rifle and leave it as it was intended.
Buy a used BR rig and you will have two rifles of value.
Or throw $1000 out the window. Your choice. Kenny
 
It will never be a competitive rifle in the Benchrest world... it can be a fine varmint rifle for field use with a quality barrel installed, a good stock and scope. You were happy with it originally, you could always do that contour again.
 
Put this under wild ideas. I read that one of the reamer manufacturers, who makes piloted tap tooling for straightening out the fronts of Remingtons, makes a tap that opens up model 70 threads (1") to Remington (1 1/16"). Later, it occurred to me that someone could open them up, on a lathe, to Savage diameter and pitch (1 1/16-20?), and since the push feed bolt nose is flat, like a Savage's, that small shank Savage drop in barrels could be used, from that point forward. (after comparing bolt face depths) Like I said....wild idea, but with the large selection of quality drop in barrels that are available, other than stock fit (in your case) why not? The thread cutting would be mostly offset by the barrel job savings, and it would be a one time thing. Comments?

Boyd
 
Send the action to Greg Tannel. Winchesters are just enough different, that truing the action can be challenging. He will do a superb
job. Add a good barrel,and trigger. Your cash outlay will be no more than what you would have in a redone Rem.
 
boyd, your idea of rethreading to savage specs is just different enough to look into. i have a multitude of savage barrels aready, and beeing able to switch back and forth between rifles might be an asset. obvously it would require some creative stock inletting to accomodate the barrel nut. I would think a compitent machinist could do it quite easily and would square up the action at the same time. I realize the end product wouldnt be a BAT or PANDA but im not a good enough shooter to tell the difference. I do reasonably well, and have alot of fun shooting a trued up savage localy in VFS, and im looking for a way to get into either hunter or varmint hunter. I was going to get a second BR quality barrel for my savage action but without the magazine cut out it wouldnt be leagal for hunter, one quality the winchester already has. I know a used hunter gun would be faster and probably the same money, but i enjoy bulding them myself, and having something a little different. I see trued up remingtons still winning so why not try a winchester.
 
well decided not to turn it into something else, deciced to rebuild it to original and give it to my father for X-mas. it was his brothers rifle and he used to like to carry it on mountain hunts. Just orderd a replacement barrel from ER Shaw. I am going to try a little smithing my self though. Ive done tons of savage barrel swaps but never on a shouldered barrel. I had shaw short chamber and thread the barrel. I want to try fitting the barrel, finishing the chamber, and bluing it myself. Any one know of a good place to buy a used 243 finishing reamer, or have you tried on of the reamer rental places. I hate to buy a $95 reamer to fit one barrel.
 
thanks guys, i thought you could rent reamers just wasnt sure where, or what shape they would be in but this place seems honest. i guess i will have to contact the im 12-14 week when the barrel gets here.
 
I believe it's Fred Zeglin's outfit, Willie. I rented a D-n-T jig from them once...they screwed up and sent me the wrong thing, but they were real nice about it and made it right without any hassle at all. They're good folks.
 
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