I have a Winchester Model 70 in .300wsm and I also have one in 7MMwsm that both need the stocks bedded to the action/barrel. I've been trying to get the .300 to shoot half way decient but its been all over the target. It has in the past been fairly accurate but this year it is trash. Now I bought this gun from Walmart if that means anything and the stock is more plastic than composite. I think that the stock just warped. I did take a wedge and put it between the barrel and the forend and took 3 shots today. The first 2 were touching and the third I called a flier and it still was within an inch at a little over a hundred yards where I shoot behind my house. (Some day I get a range finder and measure it for sure.) But if anyone can kind of talk me through a bedding job I'd greatly appreciate it. I can not afford to send it to a proffesional gunsmith so anything I get will be just fine. Thanks, John.
Can anyone help me with bedding a Model 70 .300wsm?
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If your gun shot good groups at one time and now does not I would venture to say that it is copper fouled and needs to be properly cleaned. You didn't say how many rounds that you have through it or what break-in procedure that you gave your new rifle. Keep in mind that the short mags are laying down copper into the grooves with 30+ tons of pressure and you just can't skip cleanings. On a new rifle you should NEVER exceed 10 shots without scrubbing the bore with copper cleaner. I just finnished setting up a friend's son's .300 win Mag that he had the same story are do you. It shot fantastic when I first got it and now it's terrible. I used Barnes copper cleaner and wore out 6 brushes getting all the copper fowling out of it. He finally fessed up that he had 300+ rounds through the rifle. He told me that he used a bore snake after every 20 or so shots. I told him to throw that at the neighbor's dog and get a real .30 cal rod and some good bronze brushes and Never go more than 10 shots without a thorough scrubbing. I brought his rifle back from 6" 100yd groups to hole touching groups at 100yds and 3/4" groups at 200yds. I used Winchester Supreme 780 powder and Winchester/Nosler CT 168gr BT. Your rifle is a high intensity and high pressure rifle. You can't treat it like a .30/30. If you use Barnes Bullets they are even more prone to copper fouling the bore. As far as bedding first try a cut piece of an old credit card with a hole drilled through it for the front action screw. Tighten the front screw down first then the rear screw. Try your groups. If that helped then you know where to procede from there. Check out www.6mmbr.com for the best blow by blow bedding instructions that I've seen. Also keep in mind that you have a sporter weight barrel and 3 shots is about all that you're going to get to touch holes befor the additional rounds start to walk around on the target due to the skinny barrel heating up and whipping like a noodle. Good Luck!
Mountainam thanks. After checking out the website I think my best bet is to buy a new stock. The ones that Winchester put on the guns that they sold to Walmart were of the cheapest quality I've seen. I know because I have 2 rifles that came from Walmart, my .300wsm that I bought and a 7mm wsm that I traded for. Both have identicle stocks and both shoot the same way. I noticed that Cabelas has a Hogue stock for around $130 and I think I'll give it a try. It has to be better than the plastic ones that came on these guns.
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I agree with the new stock if you can swing it. I would also think about the trigger some. The model 70 is on the easier side to adjust. I have 2 later model 70s before Winchester changed hands, the triggers were rather heavy. There are web instructions available or you could have it done. I'd get it down to 3lbs or so for hunting
I have an A-Bolt 300wsm. It's a little more than I desire for most deer hunting. I have even used mid level handloads for B bear hunting. Anyway your bedding job(new stock) & trigger adjustment would be worth trying.
O.K., Maybe in the interum you could just try to raise the barrel off/away from the stock with 'shims', pieces of cut up credit cards or whatever to get the barrel away/off the stock. Once you see improvement you could move over to a better stock. Since it's such a common rifle a replacement stock should be easy to find. I didn't do much with my A-Bolt, just lighten the trigger, zeroed it with handloads & shot a bear. I have heard some complaints about the last rifles to leave the Win factory before they shut down. I have 2 from that era though & they do fairly well.
I have an A-Bolt 300wsm. It's a little more than I desire for most deer hunting. I have even used mid level handloads for B bear hunting. Anyway your bedding job(new stock) & trigger adjustment would be worth trying.
O.K., Maybe in the interum you could just try to raise the barrel off/away from the stock with 'shims', pieces of cut up credit cards or whatever to get the barrel away/off the stock. Once you see improvement you could move over to a better stock. Since it's such a common rifle a replacement stock should be easy to find. I didn't do much with my A-Bolt, just lighten the trigger, zeroed it with handloads & shot a bear. I have heard some complaints about the last rifles to leave the Win factory before they shut down. I have 2 from that era though & they do fairly well.
Muskrat I've already worked on the trigger. After looking at some of the replys on Cabelas for their lower priced stocks I'm back to square one. Winchester will sell a replacement stock for $149 but then I'd be back where I started. Do you have any experience with freefloating or a gun thats be freefloated? I just can't figure out why I have 2 of the same type guns, both Winchester Model 70 Super Shadows, that shoot the same. All over the target. Now the .300 has shot fair and I've took several whitetails with it and in fact I love to get it shooting good. I can't afford to have it done and for some of the custom stocks you can just about buy a new rifle.
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John...johnpb said:
I have a late model 70....It's one of those Black Shadow models. When I first got it it shot like yours does. I bedded the recoil lug with JB Weld and free floated the barrel and the results were amazing. It now shoots as good as any rifle I've ever owned. Sub MOA at 100 and 200yds. A paint job on the stock and it makes it a decent looking rifle also...Mine was bedded with hot glue at the factory and the stock would creep around at every shot. It was a mess....Try it...It's a cheap fix.
Zen
bedding
Zen You might want to consider installing/bedding in pillar posts before you actually do the glass bedding. I think the posts do as much as the bedding. I always do both. Probably just me but I have never been able to achieve the kind of accuracy I know you want with out hand loading. Searching all the ammo mfg. and thier different bullet weights trying to find the right ammo for subMOA accuracy is expensive. The cost will make a good downpayment on a handloading set up.
Wayles
Zen You might want to consider installing/bedding in pillar posts before you actually do the glass bedding. I think the posts do as much as the bedding. I always do both. Probably just me but I have never been able to achieve the kind of accuracy I know you want with out hand loading. Searching all the ammo mfg. and thier different bullet weights trying to find the right ammo for subMOA accuracy is expensive. The cost will make a good downpayment on a handloading set up.
Wayles
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Re: bedding
Wayne ....
You're right about the pillars...This rifle [270 Win] was a $300 Pawn shop special I picked up to play around with. I never expected much out of it so I didn't want to do much with it. I've never seen a Model 70 shoot this well, old or new. It was a stroke of luck in finding the right load for it. I had some H4831sc, RL22 and some 130gn Sierra Boatails and some 130gn Hornady Interlocks laying around and loaded some up. 60gns of the H4831sc , 58gns RL22 and some of each of the bullets. The Hornady's won hands down in the accuracy department with the 4831 and the RL22 shooting equally well. My son in law killed a decent whitetail with it last year and laid claim to it.
. If you keep the barrel cool it will shoot 1/2"-3/4" at 100yd and 1 1/2" at 200yd. I just bought another $300 special [270 Win/700 Remington this time] and I'm planning on seeing what I can get this one to do. I like those 270's.....It's starting to cool down a little so I'll be coming your way pretty soon. I've got a bunch of loads ready for my .45 Savage/Pac-Nor and I'm ready to do some shooting.
Zen
wayles said:
Wayne ....
You're right about the pillars...This rifle [270 Win] was a $300 Pawn shop special I picked up to play around with. I never expected much out of it so I didn't want to do much with it. I've never seen a Model 70 shoot this well, old or new. It was a stroke of luck in finding the right load for it. I had some H4831sc, RL22 and some 130gn Sierra Boatails and some 130gn Hornady Interlocks laying around and loaded some up. 60gns of the H4831sc , 58gns RL22 and some of each of the bullets. The Hornady's won hands down in the accuracy department with the 4831 and the RL22 shooting equally well. My son in law killed a decent whitetail with it last year and laid claim to it.
. If you keep the barrel cool it will shoot 1/2"-3/4" at 100yd and 1 1/2" at 200yd. I just bought another $300 special [270 Win/700 Remington this time] and I'm planning on seeing what I can get this one to do. I like those 270's.....It's starting to cool down a little so I'll be coming your way pretty soon. I've got a bunch of loads ready for my .45 Savage/Pac-Nor and I'm ready to do some shooting.Zen
zen
Zen Should have guessed you were a handloader. I had similiar luck with a $ 250 dollar gunbroker rem. 700 bdl. Three inches when I got it. After I put pillars ,bedding, and RL19 and 150 gr accubonds and a good day for me its sub moa most of the time depending on the operater of course.
Always wanted a 270 , fact is I was going to turn the $250 bdl into one. KD was going to rebarrel it for me . Couldn't stand to do it after I saw how the 30-06 shot, foiled agin!
Zen Should have guessed you were a handloader. I had similiar luck with a $ 250 dollar gunbroker rem. 700 bdl. Three inches when I got it. After I put pillars ,bedding, and RL19 and 150 gr accubonds and a good day for me its sub moa most of the time depending on the operater of course.
Always wanted a 270 , fact is I was going to turn the $250 bdl into one. KD was going to rebarrel it for me . Couldn't stand to do it after I saw how the 30-06 shot, foiled agin!
The plastic Win stocks aren't bad but there is so much oil in them the factory bedding tends to pop loose easy. Hog the bedding out front and back and really rough the area up with a rotary rasp on a dremel tool to make the area "hairy" and give the epoxy lots to hold on to. Hog out the barrel channel if it needs it and bed the action at the recoil lug and rear tang. Make sure that the mounting bolts are free and clear of epoxy so they don't become a recoil lug themselves.johnpb said:
The plastic Win stocks aren't bad but there is so much oil in them the factory bedding tends to pop loose easy. Hog the bedding out front and back and really rough the area up with a rotary rasp on a dremel tool to make the area "hairy" and give the epoxy lots to hold on to. Hog out the barrel channel if it needs it and bed the action at the recoil lug and rear tang. Make sure that the mounting bolts are free and clear of epoxy so they don't become a recoil lug themselves.johnpb said:
Thanks everybody, I've got some good ideas to work with. As far as "factory bedding" there is none what so ever in either stock. This may very well be the reason that neither gun shoots worth a darn. I'll know in a few days whether I've done a good job or not. I've already ordered more ammo from Cabelas and as soon as it gets here I'll give both of them a try.
Thanks everybody, I've now got some good ideas to work with. As far as "factory bedding" there is none what so ever in either stock. This may very well be the reason that neither gun shoots worth a darn. I'll know in a few days whether I've done a good job or not. I've already ordered more ammo from Cabelas and as soon as it gets here I'll give both of them a try.
