The Model 70 is no ordinary bolt action. The Model 70 still has the famous 3-position safety which is convenient to operate with the thumb of your firing hand, lifting the firing pin away from the sear. When the safety is in the intermediate or middle position, the action can still be operated, allowing unfired cartridges to be cycled with the safety on.
It's smooth to engage and easily identifies the safety status of the rifle. A blade-type ejector gives you full control when ejecting a fired case. If you pull the bolt back slowly, the empty case doesn't fly anywhere, so you can catch it in your hand and the case is not damaged as it hits the ground. If you pull the bolt back quickly, it ejects the cartridge with more force, throwing it well clear of the action.
The forged steel receiver starts as a forged from a solid block of steel. What could be stronger? This is expensive to do, but the regal Model 70 is worth it.
Each finished forging is precisely machined, creating a strong, stiff and solid receiver that resists flexing and delivers uncanny accuracy. The bottom profile of this receiver is flat to offer greater surface area for bedding. It is bedded with a two-part epoxy in two places, at the front and rear to keep things from shifting around inside the stock during firing.
Why all this trouble and time? So pinpoint accuracy is preserved. This is a massive claw extractor that smoothly slips onto and secures about one-quarter of the base of the cartridge. This exerts full control over the cartridge from the time it leaves the magazine, as it enters the chamber, gripping tightly until the cartridge is fully ejected.
This design also allows an unfired cartridge to be extracted even if it is not yet fully chambered. It's another feature found on the Model Most rifles have a recoil lug that is installed between the barrel and the action, much like a washer on a bolt. It is a metal piece that extends below the receiver and fits into a matching recess in the stock. It helps spread out the hammering effects of recoil across a wider surface so the rifle won't be damaged.
The recoil lug in the Model 70 is not added during assembly. It's forged and machined as part of the receiver. Winchester thought that it could do better, and they not only did that, they struck fire in the process.
In its heyday the Model 70 was probably aspired to by more shooters than any other rifle. It was a complex piece of machinery, and it had the great good luck to be introduced in , which was the depths of the Depression. On the other hand, the Depression guaranteed that a supply of skilled machinists, which is what it took to build one, was always available, and for low wages. What did the Model 70 have? It felt good; it felt solid; it felt like you were going to hit what you were aiming at.
New from the factory, a Model 70 cycled as though it had been used for 25 years. Was this all? No, it was not. It has the simplicity and ruggedness of a military trigger, but can be fine tuned to a let-off that endears it to target shooters. And finally, it had the lines. No one can define this, but all you have to do is look at a rifle with good lines and you know it. The Model 70 also got great press. Both of them loved the Model 70, and said so, often and loudly, and for years. And so the Model 70 flourished and was made into all sorts of configurations.
There was the Super Grade, which had a deluxe stock, and the Alaskan, which came in. There was the African in. The roster of calibers for which the Model 70 was chambered was legion. With inexpensive surplus guns easily available, new—gun makers had to modernize the bolt—action to remain relevant.
A few manufacturers tried to thread the needle with new models constructed of technology leftover from wartime production. The Model 20 was the first bolt—action sporting rifle offered by a major American arms company. In , Remington released its Model 30, which was a commercialized version of the cock—on—close Model , a rifle the company built during the war.
These two examples took advantage of existing manufacturing infrastructure, but they suffered from the shortcomings of their military templates. Their service—grade triggers had lots of take—up, creep and sometimes heavy pull weights.
The receivers were also bulky, and the ignition systems were designed to set off hard military primers. The actions had a lot of firing—pin fall and slow lock times. Designing the Model 54 took three years, becoming commercially available in The Model 54 was designed around the.
Its bolt, extractor and safety were modeled after the Model 98 Mauser, and the ejector was replicated from the Newton rifles. The Newton rifle functioned without needing the inboard bolt lug to be slotted. The Model 54 sold well, and sales continued to climb year—over—year until the Great Depression in Winchester, under new management, began designing its flagship rifle in The company learned a lot from the Model 54 regarding what the market wanted. A short list of goals was developed for the rifle that became the Model The first design objective was to improve the accuracy of the Model Winchester quickly realized the best way to do this was to design a new trigger.
The resulting mechanism better isolated the sear from the trigger and the cocking piece while simultaneously removing the bolt—stop function from the trigger assembly.
Winchester also made the new trigger adjustable for weight and overtravel. The outcome was a lighter, crisper trigger than that of the Model Another accuracy improvement was the relocation of the front action screw. The combination of tension from the action screw and the focused beating during recoil could be too much for the lug, and could cause accuracy to deteriorate. Additional improvements on the Model 70 included a couple mechanical changes that made the rifles scope friendly.
The second change flattened the safety lever on the bolt shroud so that it, too, would avoid the ocular housing. Winchester also redesigned the stocks available at the time. As it turns out, price mattered. The argument between controlled—round feed and push feed is never ending. Winchester continues to improve the quality and consistency of those processes, though many decry that Model 70s made since are assembled in Portugal and imported by Browning in Morgan, Utah.
Depending on model, modern Model 70s can be had with either machined—from—barstock or forged receivers.
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