opinions from the gun guru's

[buzzr46]

I have a post 64 Winchester model 70 30.06, I am wanting to "tune" this rifle up. I want to have the barrel crowned and have it bedded as well. Now, I don't know a lot about all of this and am putting my education in your hands. Those of you that are knowledgeable about this. What is the best way to go on bedding? Is having a barrel crowned pretty standard or are there different ways to have it done. I am also going to either have the factory trigger adjusted or have an aftermarket, Timney or Jewel put in. Your thoughts are welcome.

Thanks

 

[Model70Man]

A factory M70 trigger is the best hunting trigger ever made. No need for an after market trigger. If you are wanting to tune up your M70, I would take it to Joe at Coal Creek Armory in Knoxville, and tell him what you want. He is the best M70 smith in East TN. I've had others work on my M70's, but they didn't do the work that Joe has done.

 

[jakeway]

I was getting 5" groups with a brand new Ruger; I then noticed a deep nick in the crown right at the end of a rifling land. The key to a good crown is gettign it centered. You could do it yourself with a tool from a suply house like Midway USA or Midsouth Shooters Supply, but I paid a professional gunsmith $75 to do it for me. When I got it back I hand-lapped the bore with 100 passes with Remington Bore cleaner. After that I was getting MOA or slightly better groups.

Since the crown has nothing to do with the bedding, I'd do the crown first (if it looks like it's damaged or off-center) then check it out. If it improves but the not good enough, and the trigger is rough or creepy, then do the trigger work.

I'd save the bedding for last. Soemtimes the bedding by itself with fix things, and sometimes it makes no difference. (Of course, the same cound be said for the other two.) If you get good results with eh crown and trigger, I wouldn't risk possibly screwing up a good stock by botching the beddign job.

 

[FULLDRAWXX75]

As mentioned above, start with the simple stuff first and see if you get better results. If you do choose to float the barrel and bed the stock after that, I would have the action pillar blocked as well while you are going that far.

Unless you are extremely handy with such things, I would recommend letting a good qualified gunsmith do the work. I have seen way to many guns & stocks get ruined by a botched bedding job.

FDXX75

 

[Whelen Man]

I prefer the recessed target crown on rifles. I prefer it to the radiused crown and it's fine for hunting rifles as well. They can be done with a crowning tool but can be done better when indexed in a lathe. I bed everything with Devcon just to make sure nothing moves unless it's a screamer and then I leave it alone. For a hunting rifle the Accraglass kits contain everything including instructions and might be a good place to start. Finally, I've never worked a lot with Winchester triggers and can't comment on their improvement but on Savages, Remington, Rugers, and Mausers I've replaced several with aftermarket models by Timney, Jewell, and Rifle Basix and never been regretful.

 

[Kimberman]

How many rounds have gone down the tube? If its been shot alot, you could have an eroded throat which can hurt accuracy. If its an old gun with alot of rounds through it(thousands of rounds), you may be beter off getting a new barrel for it.

 

[megalomaniac]

those 2 things are the most common and easy things to significantly improve a rifle's accuracy. (Handloading aside)

I'd do both if it's a rifle you would like to keep for a long time.