I received in a Win 70 Classic Safari Express for a customer. He needs to be tweaked and tuned for reliability.

So i'm looking over the rifle, the metal work looks good. It has a nice even matte blue job. And the action seems smooth too. But my god man what was Winchester thinking with their stock?!?

First off the checkering looks good, ill give them that. But the finish! It looks like it was dipped in epoxy shook off and hung to dry! There is not one flat surface on it! It has more waves than an ocean. And the guy that thought "hey lets stain walnut an even darker walnut then throw on a matte epoxy finish" needs to be kicked in the balls! This completely wipe out the grain of the wood and makes it look like some one shot it with brown paint.
OK lests start on the "factory beading" job. Crap my 5 year old apprentice can do a better job. The area around the recoil area was pre cracked from the factory. When I went to remove this crap from the stock. It popped out in once piece!
I have part of it striped right now and its actually a nice piece of wood under there!
You would have to figure that with the money spent on this rifle. They would at least give you a half way decent looking stock. And not this dog turd that came on it!

I am with you bud. Some of the new guns I see in the shop are pure crap for what they cost. The quality level has really went down on many models from both Rem and Win/Browning. Did you know that some new Browning A-bolts have a cheap plastic fake gold triggerIt's all about the bottom line anymore for some gun makers.

they're every bit as good as your spelling

Quoted: they're every bit as good as your spelling

Coming from you that's a complement! Thanks.

Winchester stocks don't work on my MP-661K.

It looks like it was dipped in epoxy shook off and hung to dry!

= mass production

I've noticed that they are staining everything really dark.  One of my Winchesters with the old redish stain does have pretty bad looking wood.  The dark stain would probably do it some good there.  On the other hand, I have seen some featherweights with the old stain that were absolutely beautiful.  Now they all look almost black.

The last Winchester I bought (375HH) will probably be my last.  It was not put together correctly (extraction problems), and when I sent it back to the repair shop they damaged the front sight.  It still does not function perfectly.  They have also changed the design and production of the gun in a few ways, all of which IMHO are problematic.

Just make my baby beautiful.

Yes they quite shitty looking
The rems look better stockwise but do not look like a express rifle should
the rugers are quite nice but cost about 40% more

The only factory-made express rifles worth the coin are made by Ruger and CZ, and the Rger is the best looking, by far.

Ruger


CZ

Quoted: Just make my baby beautiful.

Well I got her almost stripped down and ready to go.. Soon Very soon..

What exactly, is an "express" rifle? Does the express sight define the rifle?


Awaiting more firearm knowledge....

Quoted: The only factory-made express rifles worth the coin are made by Ruger and CZ, and the Rger is the best looking, by far. Ruger www.ruger.com/Firearms/images/Products/43H.gif CZ www.cz-usa.com/images/products/multi/50.1.jpg

IMHO, the CZ is a better rifle. Then again I dont like Ruger bolt guns.
CH

Quoted: What exactly, is an "express" rifle? Does the express sight define the rifle? Awaiting more firearm knowledge....

kinda intangible  my short defnition  , 375 or larger, 1/4 rib , express leaf  sights and a forward on the barrel sling swivel
ruger has all of the above qulities  , CZ has 2 , Winchester has 3 , remington has 1

Quoted: Quoted: What exactly, is an "express" rifle? Does the express sight define the rifle? Awaiting more firearm knowledge.... kinda intangible  my short defnition  , 375 or larger, 1/4 rib , express leaf  sights and a forward on the barrel sling swivel ruger has all of the above qulities  , CZ has 2 , Winchester has 3 , remington has 1

Actually its not about features so to speak. An express rifle is a rifle built for close in fast handling work. Its not defined by whether it has this or that. The features you list are items commonly found on some rifles referred to and express rifles, but again dont in themseves define it. Thank Purdy for hte catchy name though!

Quoted: Quoted: The only factory-made express rifles worth the coin are made by Ruger and CZ, and the Rger is the best looking, by far. Ruger www.ruger.com/Firearms/images/Products/43H.gif CZ www.cz-usa.com/images/products/multi/50.1.jpg IMHO, the CZ is a better rifle. Then again I dont like Ruger bolt guns. CH

The Ruger Magnum is beautiful, but I think my next big bore will be the CZ 550 Magnum.  It'll take some work as well, but that's down the road.  After a lot of going back and forth between the brands and calibers, I went with the Winchester Model 70 in 416 Rem for my first big bore.  I figure I can go bigger or smaller as I get used to it.  All of the brands require some work.

If you haven't checked them out already, accurate reloading is a pretty decent forum for bigger bores.  It's got its elitists and trolls like this place, but also a lot of good folks.

I can't wait to get down to Medford so I can shoot this thing!!  It's my new varmint gun.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: The only factory-made express rifles worth the coin are made by Ruger and CZ, and the Rger is the best looking, by far. Ruger www.ruger.com/Firearms/images/Products/43H.gif CZ www.cz-usa.com/images/products/multi/50.1.jpg IMHO, the CZ is a better rifle. Then again I dont like Ruger bolt guns. CH The Ruger Magnum is beautiful, but I think my next big bore will be the CZ 550 Magnum.  It'll take some work as well, but that's down the road.  After a lot of going back and forth between the brands and calibers, I went with the Winchester Model 70 in 416 Rem for my first big bore.  I figure I can go bigger or smaller as I get used to it.  All of the brands require some work. If you haven't checked them out already, accurate reloading is a pretty decent forum for bigger bores.  It's got its elitists and trolls like this place, but also a lot of good folks. I can't wait to get down to Medford so I can shoot this thing!!  It's my new varmint gun.

Been a member of the AR forum for many years. Lots of good info there.

The stock on my Stealth II is pretty much good as hell........

He needs to be tweaked and tuned for reliability.


How does one tweak and tune a customer for reliability ?? hit them with the hammer of dead

I have a Classic Safari Express that is two or three years old. Other than being uninteresting straight grained walnut, the stock is really nice. Fit and finish are on par with anything out there.  Winchester has been bought by FN/Browning in the last couple of years, maybe something changed.

Quoted: The only factory-made express rifles worth the coin are made by Ruger and CZ, and the Rger is the best looking, by far. Ruger CZ

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.......................416 Rigby for mine please!

Quoted: He needs to be tweaked and tuned for reliability. How does one tweak and tune a customer for reliability ?? hit them with the hammer of dead

I use a LART..

Quoted: Quoted: What exactly, is an "express" rifle? Does the express sight define the rifle? Awaiting more firearm knowledge.... kinda intangible  my short defnition  , 375 or larger, 1/4 rib , express leaf  sights and a forward on the barrel sling swivel ruger has all of the above qulities  , CZ has 2 , Winchester has 3 , remington has 1

And most importantly, CONTROLLED ROUND FEED.

Which leaves Remington out of the party.

Personally I like the CZ.  None of them are perfect out of the box though.