Winchester Model 70?

[bowhunter79deer]

I have a Model 70 300wsm. It has the 3 position saftey and is hard to change to different positions. I bought the gun offthe internetin Jan. and has been sitting there ever since. Its a new never fired gun so I didnt check everything.(my stupidity) Well Im headed to Colorodo in October to Elk hunt and figured it was time to start shooting. At first I thought it might be a little frooze up from sitting so Itook my time andcleaned it up took the fireing pin out of the bolt and everything. No rustthatI can see and to no avail will the saftey move easily. Was wondering if anybody has had aproblem like this at all.Any help would be app.
Thanks

[oldelkhunter]

You should have been shooting all summer at the minimum and had the gun looked at last spring. I had the same exact gun and problem you had and it got worse after a localgunsmith did the trigger on it. I ended up selling mine but I believe a gunsmith that knows winchesters could fix it easily . Without looking at the gun, I believe it is just the sear engagement that has to be set correctly and a good gunsmith that knows winchesters will fix it.

[bigbulls]

It is actually very easy to fix. Take the firing pin out of the bolt bodyand thenremove it from the bolt shroudand at thefront right of the cocking pieceyou will see a "cut out" in the cocking piece where the safety engages it and pulls it off of the sear. Mark the "cut out" with magic marker and reinstall it in the gun and work the safety back and forth. It will wear away the magic marker. Take it back out andwhere the marker is worn away is where you will need to use a fine file and ceramic stone to very gently enlarge the "cut out". It will only take a few thousandths of an inch of material removed to make it work properly.

Shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes.

If you do not feel comfortable messing with the safety let a gunsmith do it for you.

You DO NOT want to remove too much steel.


This is an aftermarket part but you can see where the cut out is in the pic. The arrow is where you want to remove material. The safety is likely hanging up right on the edge.

[bowhunter79deer]

Thanks for the help guys. I do shoot all the time this gun is expensive to feed though so I choose to shoot guns with less expensive rounds. At $45 bucks a boxI cannot afford to be shooting it all the time. My 204 and 22s are a lot less expensive.

[thndrchiken]

The point is to shoot with the gun you'll be hunting with.

[bowhunter79deer]

Dropped the gun off at a respected gunsmith today. He is going to take care of the issue. Thanks big bulls the gunsmith explained to me that the problem you stated was likely the cause without telling him anything. At least I knew what I had ahead of me before I went in. Thanks again for the help fellas.

[Retaks]

Ive shot close to 600 rounds through my Tikka T3 in 300 WSM this year alone. The only gun i dont practice with alot is my shotgun with slugs and buckshot. Every other of my guns gets shot on a reguler basis.

[bowhunter79deer]

Retaks Im happy for you. You must have a lot more time and money then me. $1200 on rounds just for your 300 thats a lot of money. I have flung well over 10000 aroows this year. Shooting agun is easy. Archery now thats a chalenge.

[Rammer]

My Coyote Lite model 70 was doing the same thing when I got it. One nite I got bored and sat in front of the TV flipping the safety back an forth to all positions and it fixed itself for me.

[oldelkhunter]

Bigbulls, thanks for the update. I thought the "GUNSMITH" that worked on my 70 had knocked something out of wack adjusting the trigger. I meant to bring it to my regular gunsmith to look at but it was sold before it made it there. Good Information thanks