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Thin Factory Barrel Accuracy/Model 70 review

First…..I haven't read each and every post, but have read enough to justify my comment!


I don't buy many firearms…..so this doesn't get done very often.

My process, done with every new rifle , even with a Contender chambered in a rifle cartridge……unless the rifle has a custom, match grade/target barrel.

I polish the bore of every rifle, whether bought new or used. I use automotive polishing compound…… it was what I had on hand for my first polishing attempt. Likely similar to those products made specifically for this purpose. This may be a waste of time…….perhaps only satisfying my OCD. However, I've seen this do wonders on a rifle that shot terribly. While the improvement was dramatic……it was never anything to brag about. While it may not help……I don't think it will hurt anything.


Once this is done, and all of the normal compulsory items are checked….then some shooting! From this point, what is done to the firearm is determined by my expectations for that firearm! memtb
 
rickjoty said:
I have my father's 1954 M70 30.06 Featherweight. The first gun that gave me 100 yard three shot one hole. I bought a 70's vintage Safari grade 7rem mag. It shot very well but I kept getting flyers. So then I'd spend hours working and weighing my brass, weigh sorting bullets, weighing powder to 0.1 grains, etc. Still did the same thing. So, I took it to my favorite smith and had them free float, bed, trigger work, blue print the action, etc. Then it went from an occasional flyer to a 4" spread. The smith bought it from me for retail price and I moved on. Still love the 1954 Featherweight. I kind of wonder if these guns were not designed to be free floated, if that makes any sense.
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Rickjoty
The featherweights do pretty well when floated. They lack that barrel screw so you don't have to deal with that. I have a featherweight I bought when I was 19 years old. That was a long time ago. It's been pillar bedded and free floated and will shoot most handloads into an inch or better. The key with model 70s is the guard screw tension. I have found that the middle trigger guard screw can't be too tight. Just tight enough to allow the floor plate to latch is good enough. If it's too tight it can affect/change the accuracy. I have a bunch of pre 64s and they all act about the same when that screw is too tight.
I really like my 70s and most will shoot pretty well.
Namibia 030.jpg
 
memtb said:
First…..I haven't read each and every post, but have read enough to justify my comment!


I don't buy many firearms…..so this doesn't get done very often.

My process, done with every new rifle , even with a Contender chambered in a rifle cartridge……unless the rifle has a custom, match grade/target barrel.

I polish the bore of every rifle, whether bought new or used. I use automotive polishing compound…… it was what I had on hand for my first polishing attempt. Likely similar to those products made specifically for this purpose. This may be a waste of time…….perhaps only satisfying my OCD. However, I've seen this do wonders on a rifle that shot terribly. While the improvement was dramatic……it was never anything to brag about. While it may not help……I don't think it will hurt anything.


Once this is done, and all of the normal compulsory items are checked….then some shooting! From this point, what is done to the firearm is determined by my expectations for that firearm! memtb
Click to expand...
Well I have bought a lot of firearms, kinda my hobby trying to get them to shoot sub moa out of the box, or in a lot of cases out of the gun case. Many years ago now, I was working at Cabelas in the firearms department. Of course Cabelas sold firearms, but bought them too. I was always curious about the Tikka and their sub moa guarantee. One day a guy came into the Gun Library with at Tikka T3 in 30-06 to trade in. His comment was that it wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn if you were in it. Of course with the owners endorsement like that he did not get a premium price for his trade. I immediately bought the rifle at the employee price, which since they didn't pay a lot for it, neither did I. Took it home, put an inexpensive scope that I had laying around on it then proceed to the local range. Shooting Sig Sauer 165 gr factory ammo the rifle grouped 0.7 moa. Been a fan of Tikka's ever since and have more than one in my gun vault, other than that T3, all T3x bought new. Moving on. The Tikkas have bores that are smooth and shine, and shoot like it. Conversely I have had rifles with bores that looked like 10 miles of bad road that also shot sub moa. Then there were those that looked good until you shot them and despite how good they looked could not shoot a 6 moa group.

I don't know if polishing is the answer, never tried it. I can think of a few over the years that it might have helped, but then again might have been an exercise in futility. I am old and retired but still can't see wasting time trying to make a diamond out of a rust spot. I have friends who readily buy rifles I have tried, even bad ones, but they know what to do to fix them when they take possession. Most involve barrel changes, something I don't deal with.
 
Tim Sharp said:
Hello AZ82,

Here is link to a YouTuber with similar issues in a similar rifle. It may provide some clarity to what other shooters are doing to correct accuracy problems with a new M70. Might be something to try before throwing in the towel on your original barrel, not to mention the bedding of the action and the scope rail should be beneficial in the future.

Click to expand...

Yep, I watched it.

Notice, when he was was finally shooting good groups he said that he was allowing "plenty of time for the barrel to cool between shots".

He had the same experience as me and came to the same conclusion.

Details matter, pay close attention.
 
Teri Anne said:
Well I have bought a lot of firearms, kinda my hobby trying to get them to shoot sub moa out of the box, or in a lot of cases out of the gun case. Many years ago now, I was working at Cabelas in the firearms department. Of course Cabelas sold firearms, but bought them too. I was always curious about the Tikka and their sub moa guarantee. One day a guy came into the Gun Library with at Tikka T3 in 30-06 to trade in. His comment was that it wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn if you were in it. Of course with the owners endorsement like that he did not get a premium price for his trade. I immediately bought the rifle at the employee price, which since they didn't pay a lot for it, neither did I. Took it home, put an inexpensive scope that I had laying around on it then proceed to the local range. Shooting Sig Sauer 165 gr factory ammo the rifle grouped 0.7 moa. Been a fan of Tikka's ever since and have more than one in my gun vault, other than that T3, all T3x bought new. Moving on. The Tikkas have bores that are smooth and shine, and shoot like it. Conversely I have had rifles with bores that looked like 10 miles of bad road that also shot sub moa. Then there were those that looked good until you shot them and despite how good they looked could not shoot a 6 moa group.

I don't know if polishing is the answer, never tried it. I can think of a few over the years that it might have helped, but then again might have been an exercise in futility. I am old and retired but still can't see wasting time trying to make a diamond out of a rust spot. I have friends who readily buy rifles I have tried, even bad ones, but they know what to do to fix them when they take possession. Most involve barrel changes, something I don't deal with.
Click to expand...
I think Tikka and Sako make the most accurate factory rifles around.

I have 4 S20's and they feed, function and shoot every bit as well as my 15 plus custom rifles. Maybe even better in some cases!
 
AZ82New said:
Yep, I watched it.

Notice, when he was was finally shooting good groups he said that he was allowing "plenty of time for the barrel to cool between shots".

He had the same experience as me and came to the same conclusion.

Details matter, pay close attention.
Click to expand...
What a lot of less informed folks don't realize is that barrel heat related stringing is an indication of other issues, some of which can be resolved. It can often be related to a bedding issue. Resolving some of these issues may allow a longer shot strings without compromising shot dispersion. Kind of like blaming a car for bad handling when the tires are bad.
 
AussieWriter said:
Op probably regrets the thread now. These type of threads are usually looking for praise for their decision to rebarrel and the choice of barrel.

The internet can be a tough world.
Click to expand...
I do not.

I think most of the comments are just standard "try this" advice. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate it.

I do also think, based on owning a lot of rifles, that with groups this big at 100 yards, the core issue has not been addressed in the comments. Specifically, IF you let this barrel cool down, it shot pretty darn well for a factory rifle. To me, that rules out bedding which has been mentioned several times. It also rules out harmonics. It rules out scope rings and the scope. It also rules out the trigger (never heard that before).

It does however strongly indicates the relationship with that factory barrel and heat.

I would say it actually proves that.

I remain completely open to alternate explanation but I do not believe one has been proposed.
 
Taj said:
What a lot of less informed folks don't realize is that barrel heat related stringing is an indication of other issues, some of which can be resolved. It can often be related to a bedding issue. Resolving some of these issues may allow a longer shot strings without compromising shot dispersion. Kind of like blaming a car for bad handling when the tires are bad.
Click to expand...
This is interesting.

How is the barrel heat associate with say a bedding issue? When cool, it's shooting to the same point of aim. Is the entire action flexing with the heat???

I can try bedding the action but if I'm going to do that, I would have to redo it when I rechamber it.
 
AZ82New said:
This is interesting.

How is the barrel heat associate with say a bedding issue? When cool, it's shooting to the same point of aim. Is the entire action flexing with the heat???

I can try bedding the action but if I'm going to do that, I would have to redo it when I rechamber it.
Click to expand...
There a lot of factors with less than optimal bedding that can affect accuracy. Even little things like guard screws touching the stock where they pass through the stock or a bolt handle touching, can cause issues. You talk about barrel harmonics, and all of these things can factor into it. If the barrel is touching the barrel channel anywhere it can cause erratic shot stringing. Any heat in the barrel or action causes expansion. That combined with bad bedding can change guard screw tension. I've been building rifles for almost 50 years now, and I think there are guys on here doing it longer than me. We always recommend doing the cheapest, easy things first before jumping into a new barrel, and finding out that wasn't the problem. Simple things like bedding, recrowning, or even lapping the lugs are fairly easy operations. If that doesn't fix the problem, move on from there.
 

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