The first and last time I shot it here must've been in 2010, with .310 164gr boreriders over "The Load", going through a used up Krieger. I recall shooting between Sharpshooter and Expert, whereas I was a solid Expert with an A2.



Timestamps:
1:17 - Standing
7:55 - Standing result
8:13 - Sitting Rapid Fire
10:26 - Sitting Result
10:43 - Prone Rapid Fire
12:38 - Prone Rapid Result
12:44 - Prone Slow Fire 1
18:59 - PS1 Result
19:05 - Prone Slow Fire 2
24:41 - PS2 Result
24:47 - Summary Target
24:54 - Scoreboard

For this month Dad and I were gonna have a .30 cal bolt action duel. Him with the M70, me with his M1 vented for straight pull.

Might wanna change your claw extractor before 25k-30k rounds. This one broke while dryfiring with dummies the night before the match.

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Dad finally got the extractor and all the proper conversion parts. It took a while to tune them.

Anyways, I did a quick load test Sunday: https://www.ar15.com/forums/Armory/The-Load-equivalent-update/42-501030/

https://www.ar15.com/forums/precision-rifles/The-Load-Mod-2-short-range-reduced-recoil-precision/10-9778/?r=130897

I'm gonna see about borrowing a post '64 M70 in .223. The last two times I saw it with two different shooters, there was a double feed. Hopefully I can find out why and correct it before the next match.

7-8gr of N32C under 50gr VMAX ought to do.

In for the range report.

Wondering if you found the cause of the problem?

I need to find my other dummies. With two, no issue so far. I have detected an occasional catch during feed which I think is due to the ejector sticking proud of the bolt face a little.

I gave it a moderate cleaning just to make me feel better. It wasn't as bad as the 4H .22s, but it took a couple paper towels and handful of cotton swabs to get everything I could without removing the stock.

Hm. Seems the ejector was given a relief cut where the case rim contacts and a relief cut where the retaining pin holds it in, for about 40 thou of pride beyond the bolt front. The tension is still stiffer than my A2's. I guess an M14 shooter had complained about the bolt gunner raining brass on him.

Also the bolt face and firing pin tip shows signs of prior gas pocking. I'm guessing loose pockets or Winchester primers happened. My priming tool doesn't push much if any below flush and one side of the firing pin hole digs into primers.

On a positive note, I've found the magazine can hold 6 rounds with room to manually override the bolt.

Firearm: Winchester Model 70 Heavy Varmint in .223 Remington (rather long throat though) with Redfield International sights.

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The owner hadn't found the clips for this gun, so I tried military clips. The bumps on the sides are smaller and closer to the middle, so the clip just pushes into the magazine until the bumps finally engage the Mo Defina slot. I cut off one end so the clip stops when it reaches the feed lips. Some clips need some relief or breaking in as they're either stiff going into the slot or resist stripping rounds off, but they're functional. I do miss having a thumb cutout in the receiver.

Yesterday I got to load test at 100yds. I forgot to bring the standard SR-1 or MR-31 targets, so I borrowed some B-19 targets that have a white center. Must be relics from before red dots succeeded scopes in Bullseye Pistol. The white dot was a nuisance.
Weather: 90*, humid, <5mph, rolling cloud shade during the last group.

Loads:
50gr VMAX, wet moly'd
Vihtavuori N32C, 7.0gr, 7.5gr, and 8.0gr
Winchester 5.56 case, 0.218" ID, 0.244" OD, flash hole deburred
CCI 450
OAL 2.255"

I fired a couple of the 7.0gr loads through my 16" carbine just to make sure it won't immediately blow up. They hit about 6 MOA lower than the standard 25gr H4895 load as expected. The 25gr H4895 loads were measured at 3100fps, so I think the chronograph is again reading 100fps fast.

I fired a couple H4895 foulers through the M70 ("3400 fps"), then a couple of 7.0gr loads. It didn't blow up and there weren't any other warning signs.

I proceeded to shoot 10 of each charge, with a break in between to photograph the group. There was a couple of light strikes that required one or two more cocks to fire. I may have some magnum pistol primers to substitute the magnum rifle primers. Gordon's Reloading Tool predicts about 30k PSI, so that shouldn't be a problem.

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7.0gr N32C
The bore may have been fouling in, or I was getting used to the gun. With limited data, I say this is shy of a node.
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1778, 1907, 1905, 1897, 1892, 1878, 1890, 1856, 1904, 1876
Avg: 1878 fps
ES: 129
SD: 38


7.5gr N32C
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1978, 1955, 1988, 1991, 2003, 1978, 2015, 1998, 1966, 1997
Avg: 1987 fps
ES: 60
SD: 18


8.0gr N32C
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2043, 2106, 2136, 2122, 2092, 2087, 2098, 2084, 2068, 2079
Avg: 2092 fps
ES: 93
SD: 26


Both 7.5 and 8.0gr were great. I think I'll split the difference and use 7.7gr for this Saturday's match. Now to get some position practice in...

I have one of those Winchester M70s, but mine is a .308. It was the Varmint rifle with an HS Precision stock that was modeled on the Winchester marksman stock and they made them around the late 90s.  I put some bedding compound in mine, fire lapped it and put a Jewel trigger in it. The thing is stupid accurate.

Tell me do your cases fully seal in the chamber with the pistol ammo? In other words do they come out clean with no soot past the neck?

B

I like those M70s. They are amazing to shoot.

What is "The Load" with .308?

C.E. Harris is the name to look up.

For modern guns (generally post 1898) with a case capacity of at least .300 Savage or .303 Brit and caliber of at least .30, 13gr Red Dot and "normal" weight bullet for cartridge/caliber, or lighter. So ~150gr in .308 Win. ~175gr in .30-06. 200gr in 8x57. Etc.

In the OP, it was in .30-06.

The headspace happens to match my AR and I don't have a neck die, so the cases have about 2 thou clearance. The 7.0gr load had soot to the bottom of the shoulder. The 8.0gr had soot just below the top of the shoulder.

This rifle is bedded. Dunno about the trigger.

The video may be a couple weeks away so I'll go ahead and post the targets.


I found some old Federal 100s to use. No light strikes or pinholes. The primers look flatter, but I think they were made with a shorter radius. They seated a little deeper in the pockets than most rifle primers. Seating effort felt the same though.

Standing, 92-1x. I fought the front weight bias of the gun, but shots were still close to my calls. The semi pistol grip didn't let me pull in like I prefer to counter the bias.

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Sitting Rapid Fire, 94-2x. If I didn't have to cant clockwise, or memorized the sight adjustment for cant, this might've been a clean. The cut military clips weren't the smoothest, but worked well.

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Prone Rapid Fire, 91-1x. The 0.5 MOA adjustment to the right during the earlier sighting period bit me. A couple Dammits ruined a good target.


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Prone Slow Fire, 190-7x. I did good for having a 2 MOA pulse wobble. Except that 7 at 8:00; that was the only wonder. Everything else was close to call. The front aperture is bigger than I prefer, so my eyes fatigued a bit.

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Aggregate: 467-11x.



Muzzle after 90 rounds. Bore looks normally clean to the MkI eyeball.

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Great outing and nice report.

Timestamps are in the description on YT.

ETA: I was breaking in a new Brownells sling, hence the adjustment in the middle of PS.

Very impressive, dare I say inspiring!

Nice camera work, thanks for sharing.

This was quick and lazy phone camera work.

My friend with GoPro and 3D printer hasn't been cooperative.

As-is I'll see if my laptop can serve as a 2nd camera angle. I've been wanting to try that again since my first straight pull AR video. With Davinci Resolve, I shall sync them separately and on screen together.