Win M70 Refinshed

[smith357]

About a year ago I picked up a nice 1979 Model 70 in .30-06 for a hunt.

She was in pretty good overall condition though she had obviously been used on a few hunts. The stock had a number of small scratches in the finish along with a few small dings in the walnut. The plastic fore end tip butt plate and grip cap had shrunk a bit from age so I decided it was time for a refinish.

I first stripped the finish with Formby's refinisher using a soft cloth and a nylon brush in the checkering. Next step was to steam out as many of the dings as I could. After masking off the checkering with blue tape and a razor I used a fine mill file and leveled the wood to the plastic end caps. A little sanding with some 400 grit and a light coat of dark walnut stain made it ready for about 6 coats of tung oil. After pulling the tape from the checkering I used a tung oil coated artists brush to spread a tin layer of oil on the checkering. After three days to cure in the heat of the garage the finish was finally hard enough to put the rifle back together and snap a few quick shots.

[fm2176]

Nice! I need a hunting rifle eventually; while I don't really hunt, it would be nice to have my own if/when the neighbor takes me to his camp during deer season.

[smith357]

I'm not much of a hunter myself, I just like get out in the woods. I really don't care too much if I bag anything or not.

[crunker]

That is seriously impressive. Nice work as always, Meesta Smith. What kind of accuracy are you getting with the current setup?

[smith357]

I'm getting right at 1 MOA with hand loads which is good for an 8lb. hunting rifle it's defiantly not a one hole target rifle but if I do my part the Winchester should not have any problem making a good kill shot on deer sized game out to 300 yards.