I seeked advice from many folks before making this decision but I decided to buy a long action. That way I could load pretty much whatever length bullets I want to. I bought the .30-06.

So to specify it's the Winchester M70 Extreme Weather in .30-06.

I picked it up yesterday. This is the third Extreme weather that I've seen. I looked at a .270Win another .30-06 and then the .30-06 that I bought. The first .270Win had the lightest trigger, I just wasn't interested in a .270. The first .30-06 had forearm flex that allowed it to touch the barrel. The last one, .30-06 was the winner. The trigger was crisp but not the lightest and the forearm cannot be flexed to the barrel.

Fit and finish: A+
Smoothness of the bolt: A
Trigger weight: B+
Length of pull: A
Fit of the recoil pad: A+
Allen screws instead of flat: A+++++

This morning I took apart the rifle to adjust the trigger. It was really nice to have the allen screws and not the flat screws. One of the things I noticed is that the action screws took little to no effort to remove. I'm going to monitor them. They may need some different form of loc-tite. The adjustment screws for the trigger are caked in some form of hardend glue. I removed it with a small screw driver and dialed the screw completely out of the housing. That is the lightest setting for the trigger. If you are a guy that usually has custom triggers put in your rifle or you have either winchester or remington triggers smithed to be made light then you might be very slightly disappointed. The trigger is light but right on the cusp of where I like them to be. If you're just a regular joe and buy and use rifles off the shelf you're going to be blown away. I won't be changing the trigger on the rifle but I would like it about a 1/2 lb lighter than it is. There is 100% zero creep in that trigger. Bet on that. It is 100% true. In the creep department it gets an A++.

The pillars are machined nicely and the underside of the action is finished just as nicely as the top. The reports of rubber in the stocks and what not is false. There is nothing in there but a piller and the stock. You can see the aluminum block for the stock, which looks pretty cool. The stock is a Bell and Carlson Medalist. I'm very happy with the stock at this point. The recoil pad is the pachenmeyer and it's real nice.

I'm going to see how she shoots before I have her glass bedded.

Ok here's the best part. I checked the rifle with the oal guage and I will be able to load 180gr and 165gr bullets to the lands and still fit them in the magazine. The freebore in this rifle is nice and tight. I have about .04" to spare on the 165gr and .07" to spare on the 180gr. I check Nosler Partition 180gr, Sierra GK 180gr, Nosler BT 165gr.

Honestly I don't know that I could be happier with this rifle right now. The only thing I would change out is the trigger to a traditional Winchester M70 trigger than a smith could easily turn down to 2.5-3lbs. Or less even. Funny the trigger is the part they advertise the most. Guess most guys buying guns don't care about all the other goodies they packed into this thing.

My opinion one of the nicest rifles under $1k on the market today.

Ordering the rings and bases today. Should have a range report with some pics in the next couple of weeks.

Tom