Winchester 70 Stainless Rifle Find

[TOBY458]

I picked up this Winchester 70 stainless 7mm Rem Mag today. Included a Nikon Monarch 3-9×40 scope, Limbsaver recoil pad and rifle strap. All in excellent condition, other than the DIY paint job on the stock.The action is a New Haven with CRF and claw extractor. Got it for $500.00. How did I do?
Thinking of making a 416 Ruger Out of it......

 

[Hogpatrol]

I picked up this Winchester 70 stainless 7mm Rem Mag today. Included a Nikon Monarch 3-9×40 scope, Limbsaver recoil pad and rifle strap. All in excellent condition, other than the DIY paint job on the stock.The action is a New Haven with CRF and claw extractor. Got it for $500.00. How did I do?
Thinking of making a 416 Ruger Out of it......

Unknown previous treatment of a barrel in that cartridge is a HUGE red flag but the action is probably worth that. I've seen way too many at the ranges that were severely abused but how does it shoot? If it's a turd, rebarrel it to a cartridge you like. Aside that, you got a winner.

 

[Bullthrower338]

Score!

 

[Edge]

Great find!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Hmmm...looks like it needs to be set up for a lion hunt to me!

 

[TOBY458]

Unknown previous treatment of a barrel in that cartridge is a HUGE red flag but the action is probably worth that. I've seen way too many at the ranges that were severely abused but how does it shoot? If it's a turd, rebarrel it to a cartridge you like. Aside that, you got a winner.

I know the guy who bought it new. It's had around 200 rounds shot through it. Bore is excellent and shoots under 1 moa.
He was going to sell it for Christmas money either way, so I scooped it up. The scope sells for $300 new, so the action alone has got to be worth over $200.

 

[IdaRam]

You definitely came out on the right side of this one

 

[mdwest]

If you decide you have any buyers remorse tomorrow, let me know... I’ll send you $500 for it immediately!

You got an awesome deal dude...I would have snatched it up immediately too...

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Nice rifle.

 

[Shootist43]

The expression" are you Jessie James" comes to mind, inferring it was "stolen." Some things you just can't pass up.

 

[TOBY458]

The expression" are you Jessie James" comes to mind, inferring it was "stolen." Some things you just can't pass up.

Absolutely true Art!

 

[TOBY458]

If you decide you have any buyers remorse tomorrow, let me know... I’ll send you $500 for it immediately!

You got an awesome deal dude...I would have snatched it up immediately too...

Well now it would take $550 since I put the new scope mounts and rings on it. LOL!

 

[TOBY458]

The only thing I've found that I don't like about it, is the front sight base that he put on it "for looks" has the screw hole running all the way into the bore. He drilled it too deep! But the thing still shoots under 1 moa, and there don't appear to be any burs in the bore. A tight patch ran down the barrel doesn't show any signs of roughness at that point. I'd have to cut the barrel back to 23" in order to get back past the hole, and to me 24" is about optimal for a 7mm mag.

 

[Shootist43]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[jacques smith]

Yup Jesse James seems accurate one of my all time favorite calibers. Jacques

 

[Milehighshooter]

On the common market that gun with that scope would be about, oh ....... 750-900. So yea, ya done REAL good.

Ive picked up several CRF M70's close to that price, but never in stainless, and never with a quality scope.

416 Ruger would do just fine.

You leaving the plastic or switching out to wood or fiberglass?

 

[TOBY458]

On the common market that gun with that scope would be about, oh ....... 750-900. So yea, ya done REAL good.

Ive picked up several CRF M70's close to that price, but never in stainless, and never with a quality scope.

416 Ruger would do just fine.

You leaving the plastic or switching out to wood or fiberglass?

Yea I think I did ok. I sighted in the scope today with the mounts I installed, and the first group at 100yds was about 3/4". I guess I'll leave it in the plastic stock. He glass beaded the action and since it shoots so well, I figure why mess with it? If I re-barrel it to 416 Ruger I may put a fiberglass stock on it. My goal would be to end up at around 8 1/4 lbs with the scope and mounts installed, and with a 21" barrel. Basically a 416 Ruger guide gun, with Winchester action and a nicer stock.

 

[TOBY458]

I took the front sight ramp off of it today polished the barrel and installed a filler screw. Looks much better now. What do ya think?

 

[Hogpatrol]

If you like it, that's all that counts. What grit paper did you use. IIRC, most aftermarket barrel companies use 320 which gives less of a shine.

 

[TOBY458]

If you like it, that's all that counts. What grit paper did you use. IIRC, most aftermarket barrel companies use 320 which gives less of a shine.

I used 320. It seemed to blend just fine. The guy had epoxy'd the sight on before he drilled the hole, so I had to heat it up a little bit to get it broke loose. Then I had to scrape off the excess epoxy and smooth the top of the screw hole. Once I got it all sanded down and the filler screw in, it looks pretty good. Like I said earlier in this thread, it shoots under MOA, so for a total investment of $550 with new scope rings and mounts I installed, I'm still doing pretty good I think. I was going to convert it to 416 Taylor, but I ended up buying a Ruger Alaskan 416 Ruger, so I guess I'll leave it as a 7mm Mag.