Ok so this is my second post about this rifle, I inherited a Winchester model 70 chambered in .300 win mag from a relative and my goal ultimately is to turn it into more of a tactical rifle. It's something of a fancy hunting rifle at the moment. I've found a chassis and stock for it and I already have a scope that I'll either sell, trade for a matte black scope, or if all else fails very carefully coat matte black. Unfortunately I've been trying and failing to find a barrel for it and eventually some kind of muzzle brake too. I've even looked at custom barrel sites such as Krieger barrels and can't find anything for .300 win mag. This could be due to my inexperience with guns, this along with an ar-15 has been kind of an introduction further into guns than just shooting them now and then once or twice a year with my dad who was in the marine corps and did all the maintenance and management of the guns we own. So if you have any suggestions or info for me I would greatly appreciate it!
- Thread starter ArtoriosVII
- Start date
If your requirements for a scope is that is matte black, then I really dont have any advice to give.
Why do you write both of a stock and a chassis? Either would do, you dont really need both.
Why do you write both of a stock and a chassis? Either would do, you dont really need both.
Last edited:
I thought technically the chassis does not necessarily include a stock as the one I was looking at I can buy without the stock and instead with an ar-15 butt stock adapter which would increase my options. So I didn't mean to be talking about a full stock. Either way what Im currently having the most trouble with and looking for suggestions on is the barrel.
Any .308 caliber barrel with a big enough barrel shank and the appropriate profile will work on your rifle. The bore is the same, no matter if you have it chambered in 300 blk all the way up to a .300 Norma Magnum.
Talk to a gun smith, like LRI and they will get it done for you.
Read here and on other good sites, since it souds like you have a lot to learn. And with knowledge comes better decisions (hopefully).
Talk to a gun smith, like LRI and they will get it done for you.
Read here and on other good sites, since it souds like you have a lot to learn. And with knowledge comes better decisions (hopefully).
This thread has potential to go downhill quick, so I’ll start it off by saying welcome to the hide, you found a good place to get information about shooting rifles of all types. Is the rifle currently a .300 WM? If not, what cartridge is it? The barrel will probably be the least of your concerns. The Winchester model 70, particularly the controlled round feed models produced before 1964 is an iconic platform but it is not a design that lends itself to easy customization or the “black rifle” treatment. It can definitely be done, the FN SPR is a great example, but the m70 is not heavily supported for tactical or prs match style shooting, and you will probably wind up spending a good deal of money to get this rifle to be what you want it to be. There are two main questions that are going to be asked on here that you should give serious thought to; what is your intended use for the rifle, and Do you have a set budget for what you are trying to do? If the rifle is not currently a .300 WM, I would urge you as a newer shooter to pick a different cartridge. Lots of guys pick the .300 win mag because it is very capable at long range and it is so bad ass but it can ruin a new shooter and develop a flinch when pressing the trigger that you will have a hard time overcoming with training later on.
It would be good if you could post some pictures of what you have now so that people on here can offer advice on how to move forward. if it is a pre 64 rifle with nice looking wood furniture I think most on here would strongly recommend leaving the rifle as is to cherish and buying a different rifle to learn to shoot long range. A Tikka T-3 in 6.5 creedmoor, .308 Win or even 7mm-08 can be purchased for much less than you will spend on a chassis or decent stock for this model 70, and will teach you marksmanship fundamentals without all of the punishing effects of 300WM recoil. Tikka makes an excellent rifle that can spoil new shooters easily, when many of us started out the choices were Remington and savage and it took a fair amount customizing and gunsmithing to get an accurate rifle. Tikka started off with one of the best feature packed platforms with good matching and now There is a ton of aftermarket equipment available, If I could buy my first rifle over again, I would buy a T3 and put it in a KRG bravo stock and call it a day.
Then you will want to consider a decent Quality scope to go on top of the rifle. New shooters almost always gravitate toward a cheap bottom line scope and expensive rifle, but reality and experience will show that a well practiced rifleman is much better served by a cheap rifle and a repeatable scope. There are plenty of threads in this forum about reasonably priced scopes with good quality, I suggest using the search tool or spending some time poking around in the riflescopes forum on here. There will be many on there who will advocate for spending $2-4000 on a scope, you won’t need that starting out but be prepared to spend somewhere around $7-800 at a minimum to avoid buyers remorse in the future.
I hope you can find what you’re looking for on here, don’t be afraid to ask questions on here but definitely use the search feature first and have a thick skin, it can get brutal when there’s blood in the water. Also you might want to consider posting questions like this in either the gunsmithing section or the bolt action rifles section, you may get more responses.
It would be good if you could post some pictures of what you have now so that people on here can offer advice on how to move forward. if it is a pre 64 rifle with nice looking wood furniture I think most on here would strongly recommend leaving the rifle as is to cherish and buying a different rifle to learn to shoot long range. A Tikka T-3 in 6.5 creedmoor, .308 Win or even 7mm-08 can be purchased for much less than you will spend on a chassis or decent stock for this model 70, and will teach you marksmanship fundamentals without all of the punishing effects of 300WM recoil. Tikka makes an excellent rifle that can spoil new shooters easily, when many of us started out the choices were Remington and savage and it took a fair amount customizing and gunsmithing to get an accurate rifle. Tikka started off with one of the best feature packed platforms with good matching and now There is a ton of aftermarket equipment available, If I could buy my first rifle over again, I would buy a T3 and put it in a KRG bravo stock and call it a day.
Then you will want to consider a decent Quality scope to go on top of the rifle. New shooters almost always gravitate toward a cheap bottom line scope and expensive rifle, but reality and experience will show that a well practiced rifleman is much better served by a cheap rifle and a repeatable scope. There are plenty of threads in this forum about reasonably priced scopes with good quality, I suggest using the search tool or spending some time poking around in the riflescopes forum on here. There will be many on there who will advocate for spending $2-4000 on a scope, you won’t need that starting out but be prepared to spend somewhere around $7-800 at a minimum to avoid buyers remorse in the future.
I hope you can find what you’re looking for on here, don’t be afraid to ask questions on here but definitely use the search feature first and have a thick skin, it can get brutal when there’s blood in the water. Also you might want to consider posting questions like this in either the gunsmithing section or the bolt action rifles section, you may get more responses.
Ok, I had kind of wondered if this was the case as I've seen plenty of rifles chambered in 300 win mag, but not any barrels specifically for it, I will definitely look into LRI. And yes I have a ton to learn. I appreciate the help!
Like the other posters said, you won't find a barrel that is chambered for a 300 win mag for your rifle. It needs to be fit to your particular rifle.
Get a .308 caliber barrel in whatever length/contour/twist rate you want and have it chambered for 300 win mag and fit to your rifle.
You will have a lot more options than 300 win mag though. There may be better choices nowadays...
I'll post pictures as soon as I get the chance. My dad is pretty sure it was made sometime in the 80s but he's not totally sure on that. If I remember right it's a Win M70 either xtr or xpr, I don't remember and I'll look at it again when I have the chance to take a couple pictures. It IS already chambered in 300 WM. My only plans for it's use right now is as a long range target practice rifle. (I'm also kind of hoping I can use it to show up my friend's 6.5 creedmoor that he never shuts up about.) The wooden stock on it is in great condition, in fact the whole thing looks like it came straight out of the factory, however I absolutely abhor the shiny wooden finish on it. I suppose I could sell it and buy a different gun more suited to what I'm looking for with the money, but I really would prefer to keep this one and redo/remake much of it. I'm kind of using this as an excuse to learn more about guns in general as well.
If you don’t have any real emotional attachment to the rifle and it is an m70 XTR, you might want to consider selling it if it doesn’t run afoul of your family. find the model number and look around online to get a rough idea what it would sell for. I think the XTR was a push feed rifle and not like the pre-64 or classic rifles with controlled round feed so nothing special for collector value. You can get a gunsmith to put a new barrel on it and true up the action a bit but it isn’t the most cost effective option.Savage, Remington, Ruger, and Tikka all have designs that you can rebarrel yourself with a barrel nut in any chambering you’d like without any machining. I will say that modifying a hunting rifle into something for a match style rifle is often really expensive you’ll have somewhere around $1000 for a match style stock or chassis (if you can find it), probably around $1000-1500 to rebarrel true the action and tune the trigger, and then you’ll still need a scope ($700-1500) and mount($100-400). After all that you still have a mediocre push feed action with a 90 degree bolt throw that won’t fit any popular chassis system . If you sell your rifle, you can apply that cash to buying something that is already close to what you’re looking for, and will be easy to modify to your liking later. A Remington 700, Ruger rpr, tikka T3, or even a dirty savage model 10 will be available for anywhere between $350 and $1500 depending on the model and sales and then all you would need is a scope and rings, you will spend the same amount or more to make a model 70 into a long range precision rig, and you may have screwed up a pretty fine hunting rifle. Try this; Buy a box of 6.5 and a box of 300 win mag, ask your buddy if you can shoot his rifle to compare the two, shoot 4x 5 shot group with your buddies rifle first ( that parts important) then shoot 4x 5 shot groups with yours and compare the group size. Then you can decide if you really want to drop $2500 into a $500 rifle that hurts to shoot. Any of those rifle platforms mentioned will get you plenty of accessorizing potential and a pretty accurate starting point, and they’re all offered new in the tacticool black or tan outfits that everyone likes so much these days. You could always keep the m70 for hunting and buy another rifle, there aren’t any limits on how many you can own (if there are, they aren’t constitutional).
If you go that route and end up buying a new rifle, ask yourself a few questions before you pick a cartridge. How long is the longest range available in your area? Do you have any interest in reloading ammunition? Do you have any thoughts that you might like to hunt with it? 300 win mag is a great round and it is very versatile for long range target shooting Out to a mile or more and hunting anything in North America but if you live in the southeast and only have access to 300-500 yard shots, that level of overkill gets really expensive and painful to shoot enough to get in good developmental practice, while A .308 , 6.5 creedmoor, or even a .223 give you a lot of cheap practice with factory Ammo and you won’t have a flinch after shooting 50-100 rounds on a Saturday. A 6.5 is hard to beat for new shooters, the recoil is pretty mild and there isn’t much the round can’t do. .223 certainly has an edge for cost and low recoil but downrange energy suffers for hunting and that low recoil can cause problems down the road if you develop bad habits for recoil management.
If you go that route and end up buying a new rifle, ask yourself a few questions before you pick a cartridge. How long is the longest range available in your area? Do you have any interest in reloading ammunition? Do you have any thoughts that you might like to hunt with it? 300 win mag is a great round and it is very versatile for long range target shooting Out to a mile or more and hunting anything in North America but if you live in the southeast and only have access to 300-500 yard shots, that level of overkill gets really expensive and painful to shoot enough to get in good developmental practice, while A .308 , 6.5 creedmoor, or even a .223 give you a lot of cheap practice with factory Ammo and you won’t have a flinch after shooting 50-100 rounds on a Saturday. A 6.5 is hard to beat for new shooters, the recoil is pretty mild and there isn’t much the round can’t do. .223 certainly has an edge for cost and low recoil but downrange energy suffers for hunting and that low recoil can cause problems down the road if you develop bad habits for recoil management.
Ok, I mean I'll look into buying something else. I really really would like to redo this rifle however, despite the expenses. Perhaps for now I'll just stick to leaving this rifle alone till I know absolutely 100% what I want to do. I wouldn't push this so far normally, there's just something appealing to leaving a part of my grandpa's gun in it but still kind of remaking it as my own, I'm not totally sure how to describe it and make it understandable.
I live in southern Minnesota and have a huge backyard that has a grass strip running down the center of two fields that my dad and I use as a gun range. The fields on either side are ours and there is a hill between the end of it and any houses so it's plenty safe. I'd say it's around 1000 meters long, maybe a tad under, eventually I'd love to reliably hit targets at the end of said grass strip/range. I'll probably have to buy a new scope to do it reliably though too. I was looking at the scope as I was I believe getting a little disgust/disbelief that I knew so little about scopes that I just wanted a matte black scope. It was understandable at least, I've done a little research and I've looked at mine which is only a 3x-9x scope which is from what I understand a bit low power for 1000 meters.
I also understand how or why someone would develop a flinch from the 300 WM, I have a lovely picture somewhere of myself with a cut above my eye due to being unprepared for firing the M70. I would still like to try to master the recoil the 300 WM creates however.
My dad has encouraged me to just wait a while and look at my options as well, although I can tell he really does want to redo it. I think the more I explain to him what you guys are telling me the more he sees it as a challenge.
Also I know it's set up as a hunting rifle, however I really don't hunt anything larger than rabbits as I just don't enjoy it so I don't see a great reason to keep it as a high quality hunting rifle. Unless I sell it of course.
Does it shoot decent groups With the barrel it has right now,?If it is a tight shooter you could put a Boyd’s laminate stock on it and bed it, they have a “pro varminter” that looks a bit snipery, and they offer a textured paint finish that’s pretty decent, would run about $175.00 and you could bed it yourself. You won’t have the ability to use detachable magazines or anything but it might fit your style better, plus they’re heavy, that always helps with recoil. A good recoil pad works wonders. Most thin barrels tend to open up group size the more you shoot and move your point of impact around relative to your point of aim. That barrel could be serviceable for slow fire as long as you don’t want to put 5 rounds down range in under10 seconds. That way you can spend your money on a good scope and rings. There’s reduced recoil loads you can shoot and work your way up so you can avoid a flinch and learn to read the wind. Poke around the gunsmithing forum here and read about bedding Boyd’s stocks, it’s something people used to have to do before all these chassis and stocks became available . Plenty of advice and videos here on how to do it well and make it look good. Save gramps’ stock for later.
To be honest I haven't had the time lately to see how great the grouping is, my dad has been pretty impressed when he's shot it lately though which says a lot in my book anyways, I don't think he was shooting further than 100-200 yards however. Have a wheel I gotta take out and measure the distance one of these days. Don't think I could put 5 bullets down range in 10 seconds if I wanted too, It only has the capacity for three and I'm not quick enough with loading it yet.
Similar threads
Accessories
7mm-300 win mag barrels
