I picked up the above rifle recently. It looks like one of those rifles that all it ever did was go deer hunting here in Pa. The first thing I did with it was load up some of my tried and true 180gr. 307 Saeco cast and head for the range. I relearned another lesson. Always make sure the scope mounts and scope are tight. They wearn't and it shot terrible. I wonder if that was the reason the owner got rid of it.
I brought the gun back home and took it apart. Now I have dissasembled lots of bolt actions and ” tuned them up ” but never a pre 64 model 70. Pre 64's were always something Jack O'Conner and gun writers wrote about or I saw in the out of my leauge rack at the gun stores. Until this one came along.
Taking it apart, the 4th screw that goes into the lump on the barrel raised a question. How tight should one tighten it? It seems to me that screw could cause problems. I didn't see any evidence that the rifle had ever been apart before. The screw was “scary tight". The rest of the action screws were reasonable.
I guess what I'm asking is: Does any one have some experience with problems associated with that 4th screw?
The second question I have is: Were these model 70s factory drilled and taped for scope mounts? The serial number is in the 310xxx range. It does look like it was factory drilled for a reciever sight.
Anyhow after tightining up the scope I took the rifle back to the range and got a 2 inch 100 yard group using the 307 Seaco and 36 grains of Varget. Maybe I shouldn't worry about the screw. I was also able to hit the 8 ” gong at the range 3 out of 4 times offhand at 200 yards. There is something about the old rifle. No wonder they call it the riflemans rifle
Flashman