I have a Model 70 30-06 that was given to me by my grandfather. It is in average shape and shoots well. I am considering taking it to a gunsmith for pillar bedding, lapping, crown redo, free float, etc. Would it be worth $200 on an older gun like this or should I put the money towards another gun. I would try it myself but I don' t want to screw up " old faithful" .
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The harder you work, the luckier you get.
How' s it shooting now? Also, how many shots have gone thru it? It may just need to be cleaned really good to get out any copper fouling. Powder solvents won' t remove copper. If it' s been shot ALOT, you may need a new barrel, or have that one set back into the action a tad more to get the rifling closer to the loaded round. Throat erosion could be the culprit there.
Take it to a good gunsmith and just ask to have it checked out as to why it won' t perform as you expect. Let him tell you what he thinks is wrong with it. If you go in with a list of things for him to do, without explaining anything to him, he may do them for you and you' d be no better off if it doesn' t fix the " problem" .
$200.00 is very reasonable for all that. Might check on truing up the action and lapping the bolt lugs too.
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Danny
Life Member, North American Hunting Club
Life Member, National Rifle Association
Life Member, Buckmasters
Oklahoma Hunter Education Instructor
Thanks for the input, sounds like great advice to me. I have no idea how many rounds have been through this gun or its history. Right now it shoots 2" groups. I was going to give it a thorough cleaning with copper and regular solvent this weekend before I re-sight it. I did a heavy duty cleaning job last year but didn' t use copper solvent. There was an article I read recently that said to alternate the two solvents to get layers of copper and lead fouling from the barrel.
The main reason I was investigating the gunsmithing work was for accuracy and climate stability. I really like this gun but want to be comfortable that a trip to the dry mountains or a -20* morning won' t affect it too much. I bowhunt a lot in November and don' t usually shoot my gun at less than 40* and medium humidity. This year my stand is still in the swamp but my visibility is up to 400 yds instead of 100 yds. I feel comfortable in my shooting abilities but 300 yds and 2 MOA is still 6 inches of play.
I will have someone look at it but I will have to ask around to find a good gunsmith. The two that I am aware of locally are either really expensive or marginal quality. What should a good accuracy job cost?
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The harder you work, the luckier you get.
That' s going to depend on what you have done. The last time I had any work done was on a Remington 700 BDLSSDM (stainless/synthetic, detachable box magazine). I had the crown recut, lugs lapped, barrel floated, and trigger adjusted down to 2 lbs. It cost me $225.00. (unfortunately, it didn' t help and I wound up getting rid of the rifle at a gun show). You could expect to pay another 75-100 for a bedding job.
In my opinion, the crown and a good trigger is the two things that affect accuracy the most, along with a dirty barrel.
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Danny
Life Member, North American Hunting Club
Life Member, National Rifle Association
Life Member, Buckmasters
Oklahoma Hunter Education Instructor
Unless you (or your grandfather) shot cast bullets in that gun there should never be any lead fouling in the barrel. Use a copper cleaner and use it with gusto.
I assume that it' s a pre-64 M-70 and I wouldn' t alter it for nothing.....
If you want to adapt it to a little better weather resistance, buy a new stock (McMillan comes to mind) and glass bed the barreled action to that stock for weather rersistance.
The two simplest accuracy enhancing techniques to begin with are to free float the barrel and bed the action. I have been handloading and shooting since I was about 12. Of all the rifles that I own and all that my Dad owns, simply free floating and action bedding usually cured any accuracy problems that we' ve encountered.
Free floating the barrel can be done with elbow grease and sand paper. So that is nearly free. Any compotent gunsmith can bed an action. Prices usually range from $40-$80. Ammo for the 30-06 is so plentiful that with some trial and error I am sure you can find some really accurate factory loads. I have had good results over the years with the Federal Premium load with the 165 gr. Nosler BT. I hope this info is useful.
For bedding the action, just buy an acraglass kit and follow the directions included. Its a bit involved, but if you have any mechanical inclination, its not difficult.
The firat thing I would do though is remove the barreled action from the receiver, and cut a strip from a business card to fit under the barrel just in front of the recoil lug and then reasemble the rifle. this should lift the barrel slightly off the stock, in efect, free floating it without any permananet modification. If this works, you might jus leave it alone, or remov some wood from the barrel channel.
Recrowning- don' t need it unless the rifle was cleaned from the muzzle end, the rifling looks rounded off or dinged, or the crown has a gouge or dent in it. At worst, it won' t hurt the rifle, but it may not help.
If it shoots well enough I would leave it alone. If you are going to spend $200+ on upgrading your rifle, you would be best served by putting a new aftermarket barrel on it- The best bedding, lapping, crowning job in the world isn' t going to help much if the barrel is rough on the inside or shot out. And like someone else said, if its a pre-64 model 70, you' d be much further ahead to spend the money on a new rifle than mess with what has become a collector' s item.
Another thing to consider- did your grandfather take alot of deer with the rifle? If he did, why mess with it?
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Making your rifle more accurate
