# Model 70 project ...



## wareagle5.0 (Sep 29, 2013)

Ok so, i got this rifle from my uncle several years ago. Long story short, the gun was stolen, the perps got scared and ditched the gun in the woods where it lay for several weeks. The barrel was ruined as was the stock. The action was intact though and i saw some potential. The rifle was originally a "Westerner" which was a push feed economy model with a blind magazine(no bottom metal). My first thought was that i wanted to use a Shilen barrel and build a 338-06 but i found a good deal on a take off barrel and decided i would try to do this on the cheap. I found a good deal on a new featherweight stock and ordered new bottom metal(aluminum) from PT&G. I ordered Talley lightweight rings and a Burris 3-9x40. All the metal was bead blasted and duracoated and the action was glass bedded. I think it turned out ok. I wound up with about 450.00 in it so i dont think i did too bad. Pics coming up soon....


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## wareagle5.0 (Sep 29, 2013)

just after bead blasting


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## wareagle5.0 (Sep 29, 2013)

Prepping for bedding


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## wareagle5.0 (Sep 29, 2013)

Pray it comes apart...


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## wareagle5.0 (Sep 29, 2013)

All back together...


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## wareagle5.0 (Sep 29, 2013)

Duracoated and back together...


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## wareagle5.0 (Sep 29, 2013)

I learned alot doing this project and im happy with the end result. I dont have any target pics yet but i got a 2.5" group first time out with Rem 150 grn Cor-lockts. Thats fine with me but i think it will do better if i try some hand loads and/or different bullet weights. Any comments are welcome, good or bad, i can take it.


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## cmshoot (Sep 29, 2013)

Nice!  Great to see an abused firearm put back into use. 

.30-06?


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## WGSNewnan (Sep 29, 2013)

what more could you ask for. I have always found that the ride is always better than the arrival. Great Job. Love to see projects come to fruition.


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## Flaustin1 (Sep 29, 2013)

What caliber did you decide to go with.  Id love to have a .338-06 or .338 federal myself.


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## wareagle5.0 (Sep 29, 2013)

yeah me too, and i will one day but i just went with the 30-06.


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## BriarPatch99 (Sep 30, 2013)

Good looking restore!!


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## wareagle5.0 (Oct 1, 2013)

Thanks yall. The only thing i wish id have done different was that i shoulda filed off the pits left on the bolt knob after bead blasting. And next time i think ill try Cerakoat.Im a little disappointed with the durability of the Duracoat. Ive already got some scratches on it.


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## cmshoot (Oct 1, 2013)

If you're going to coat it, you could fill the pits in first. You could weld or solder. I've used steel putty with success, as well. 

You could replace the bolt knob with an aftermarket.


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## wareagle5.0 (Oct 1, 2013)

I wanted to do just that but i got in a hurry cause the airbrush i was using was borrowed from a gunsmith buddy of mine and i didnt want to keep it too long.


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## cmshoot (Oct 1, 2013)

Don't think of them as pits........thinks of them as texture to aid in running the bolt. 

Again, good job on the rifle. Great caliber.......ain't sexy but the .30-06 is hard to beat as an all-around cartridge. I've always loved the Featherweight stock, the rifle turned out great.


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## NE GA Pappy (Oct 1, 2013)

that stock design was contracted to a Georgia gunsmith. Frank Wood.  I remember going by his shop in Toccoa in the late 70's or early 80's and watching him work a piece of walnut as a pattern for the stock. I bought a featherweight when the became available in 243 and love the gun. Only thing, I wish they had made a short action model for the shorter cartridges.


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## wareagle5.0 (Oct 1, 2013)

Haha the truth is if you didnt know it was rust you would think the bolt knob had been stippled or something. Had one of my buddies ask me how i did the texture. Thanks for all the comments.


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## wareagle5.0 (Oct 2, 2013)

Thats interesting about the stock. I dont think they started making true short actions till the late 80s or early 90s if i remember right. But i do love the featherweight stock a lot.


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## NE GA Pappy (Oct 2, 2013)

Frank moved off from Toccoa, and I have lost contact with him over the years.  He was a good guy and taught a few classes on gunsmithing at the trade school in Clarkesville.  After 2 or 3 nights, he moved the classes to his shop and let us students use all his shop equipment for whatever we wanted to work on.  I rechambered a Ruger #3 from 22 hornet to 22-250 and re-worked the stock to keep it from being so bulky.  I jeweled the falling block, and reblued the action and barrel.  I still have that gun. I ought to get it out and shoot it some.


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## lonewolf247 (Oct 2, 2013)

Nice job on bringing this one back to life!


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## DeweyDuck (Oct 2, 2013)

Did you free float the barrel? I've heard that factory win 70's have the forearm touching the barrel to reduce barrel deflection and improve accuracy. I think the prob is on the synthetic stocks like mine which are extremely flexible; not stiff enough.


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## wareagle5.0 (Oct 2, 2013)

I full length bedded it. May have been a mistake doing that but thats what my smith advised. I can always grind it out if it wont group but i think itll be ok.


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## wareagle700 (Oct 2, 2013)

Nice job. Glad to see it come back to life!


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## wareagle5.0 (Oct 3, 2013)

Thank you sir.


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