Hand me down Model 70

My Father passed away late last year.

Fast forward to early March this year and my lad (12yrs) and I are on my Uncles farm helping to replace wheel bearings on his trailer.
Uncle goes over to his Ute and calls my boy over.
"You never met your grandfather, which is a real shame. But I would like you to have this, it was his and I think you can give it a good home. It needs a bit of work done, but I think you will appreciate it later on"
He then took a Winchester Model 70 .243 out of the back seat and handed it to my Boy.
"Would you like to clean this up and have it for yourself?"

You can imagine the reaction. His and mine both.
"One condition though lad, the first animal you shoot with it has to be with me"
A pretty cool moment.
Fast forward to today and we finally get a chance to pull the rifle out of the safe for a bit of TLC.

It had a fair bit of surface rust on the barrel and rings and it was in need of a decent clean up.
I had picked up a Birchwood Casey Bluing kit, so we read the instructions, read them again and made a start.

Scope and rings off, barrel and action removed from the stock.
A quick degrease and then on with the rust and blue remover.
A rinse off and out with the 600 grit and steel wool.
A number of hours spent sanding and polishing and the rings, bottom plate and barrel and action are starting to shine.
Mum gets home from work so time to pack it all away until tomorrow.

The rifle came with a 4x32 Nikko Stirling Gold Crown AirKing scope on it. My Uncle at age 73 reckons it is a shooter, He used it the morning prior to handing it my boy to drop a large boar at 125 yards. "not bad" he reckoned.
I will swap the scope for a 3-9x40 VX1 or a Nikon Monarch 2.5-10x42 once my boy has fulfilled his great uncles wish.

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Those Airking scopes are great on rimfire. If you are teaching him to shoot, perhaps Grandads scope on a 22 would be a plan. A 4x32 is not my first choice for a centrefire rig, but the Airkings are actually very under rated and really a very good scope.

Cool project, and great first rifle for a young fella .
Interested to see how it turns out and what the first animal will be .

Awesome!
:cool:I cant wait to see how it all turns out!

that is an awesome rifle..the stock is far nicer/more classy than most of its kin came out with...serial number isnt a long way off my old deceased one which would make it a early 80s model.... the triggers are super easy to adjust and cant off top of head think of any of these rifles that just wouldnt shoot well.
good on you for doing the restoration,that rifle will be a heirloom for generations to enjoy.

Thats awesome:cool:
I bet your young fulla was fair fizzing after that surprise:thumbsup:

What a great family project.

Thats the sort of story we all like to read, bloody great stuff. Good luck with the rifle Roktoy & son :)

Great job your doing there I look forward to the finished product and reading about the hunt.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

that is an awesome rifle..the stock is far nicer/more classy than most of its kin came out with...serial number isnt a long way off my old deceased one which would make it a early 80s model....

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This one is 1976,
according to https://www.winchesterguns.com/conte...ture-dates.pdf

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Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Great story. And way better than buying a random gun off the shelf for him.
We have a few firearms in our extended family with history like that.
We have set a rule that if the firearm is no longer wanted or needed, it gets passed to another family member.

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In the age of instant gratification that is a VERY good rule for a family to have. Its almost impossible to unsell a rifle, especially a good'un.

I have tried that Birchwood Casey kit many moons ago, and was happy with the results. Will follow with interest.

The "boy" in this story is no stranger to the calibre, and will no doubt prove to be a very worthy recipient of such a lovely heirloom

Fantastic project for a young fella. I would make one recommendation when doing the bluing to avoid disappointment. CLEANLINESS. Go way further than you think is reasonable. Once you have the parts finished to where you like, clean them all thoroughly with a good degreaser (I really like CRC brakeclean) and then do not touch them with bare hands. Use nitrile gloves, and change the gloves whenever they become contaminated before touching the parts again. Degrease all the parts a second time, then wipe them down with acetone. I specifically recommend acetone rather than any old alcohol as it is very good at removing fine oil films and other contaminants. Lacquer thinner is also a decent option if you have that on hand.

Once your parts are clean, do your best to keep them that way through the whole process, don't put them down on the bench, put them on a clean cloth, don't pick up a screwdriver or something with gloved hands and then pick up the parts.

Might seem over the top, but it pays off on the final product.

Preheating the parts with a heat gun can help depending on the steel, and I tend to leave the paste/solution on far longer than recommended, to the point it starts to grow a little "fur". I then burnish this off with a clean cloth or 0000 steel wool (degreased and washed with acetone). 5 or 6 cycles of this should have the parts looking mighty fine.

There is so much info on cold bluing out there and everyone has their own methods, many of which work extremely well. One thing that is universal is to have the parts absolutely clean.

What a way to fill in a day.
@SixtyTen you almost had my day pegged.

So many pairs of gloves later.
Sand, apply solvent, clean, sand, wire wool, clean, repeat.
Split the bolt in two, and gave it the treatment this morning. The bolt had a jeweled finish but it was so badly pitted on one side, we decided to go all out and sand it smooth and go for a blued finish.
Sling studs, bottom plate and scope rings were all given a massive tidy up and set aside. Barrel and action saw another hour or so of sanding and cleaning. There was still quite a bit of pitting showing in places on the barrel but it was clean pitting and showed no sign of corrosion by the time we had finished.
Lad spent several hours beside me at the table helping clean and sand, and making coffee (crucial to the process if you read the instructions).
2pm and its time to try bluing. It was now I became a bit apprehensive as the instructions say to leave the solution on the steel for no more than 60 seconds.

So with a lot of caution we decided to tackle a scope ring first. Instant colour change as we wiped the solution on. 60 seconds and into the sink and rinsed off, looking good we dried it off, hit it quickly with a hair drier to ensure it was completely dry.
Wow, I'm impressed already.

Everything got a minimum of three coats, 4-5 in high wear areas, the bolt handle got a few more just for good measure. After each coat we wiped the steel down with a paper towel and used a hair drier to ensure it was completely dry, then set aside as the next part was done. Before the next coat a quick rub with steel wool to remove the oxide build up and then cleaned, dried and treated.
The 60 second rule was bugging me as there was no way to coat the barrel quick enough to allow it to work evenly over the whole surface so we dealt to the action first, no way I could coat that area itself in 60 seconds let alone the whole barrel as well. so 60 seconds went out the window and we went for it. Barrel coated and we just watched the colour change until we thought it was time to rinse.

It turned into quite the process, as this essay shows...

All the parts got set aside for an hour as tea time arrived.

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Tea done and a movie on the go, we both set to with the supplied anti rust wipes, going over all treated areas removing the last of the oxide build up and cleaning up the bluing.
While I started re assembling the bolt and the floor plate, and fitting the scope mounts to the action etc. The young fella tackles the stock giving it a grand old cleaning. He refits the butt plate and the sling studs to the stock before we start to rebuild his rifle.

Re assembly was quick and painless.
Looking Good. Really Good. I may have reminded him that due to me being the license holder his rifle may have to become mine. "Nope Dad, not happening".
We slip the Nikon scope into the ring bases and it looks the part, the matte finish looks good on top of the fresh bluing. It just clears the barrel, ideal.
Uh oh, can't fit the bolt past the ocular lens. Bugger.
On with the Loopy VX1 and we are all GO.

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Very very happy with the end result. No pitting marks are visible through the bluing. A good even even colour all over.
I honestly didn't think it would tidy up this well.
One very happy Son, and he can't wait to show his Great Uncle and line up a hunt with him.
Me? nearly jealous, as it has come up a treat.

Used some BC super blue on some smaller parts a while back including the end of the barrel where I had to hot wipe some solder for a long gone front sight.
Did pretty much what you did. Think i may have used hot water on the parts to get them warm then wiped with brake clean but cant remember.
Went away to work for the week and came back to one of the smaller bits that had gone rusty. Argh
Wire wool sorted it and to be fair that was probably the best blue of all of them lol

Looks good.
Cleaning up works wonders.
That stock would come up well if you did the whole strip back, wet, sand and refinish with a linseed oil.
Mind you takes awhile and I imagine the young fella wants to use it.

Sure has come up good, a rifle to be proud of especially with it's family history. Can't wait to see the results of the first hunt. great job both of you.

Great work mate, what a great gift for the young fella. A rifle and an experience in restoration which will stay with him.

Good parenting right there Roktoy

Looks great, nice job.

Its amazing what a little work can do to an unloved rifle.

I got a call from my Uncle early Saturday afternoon. "I'll be on the big farm tonight, bring your boy down".
"Yep, Cool". Shit, the rifle is ready to roll but I haven't had a chance to sight it in since fitting the VX1.
I gave the Penguin a call and rolled out to his and lobbed a few rounds down range. We fought the scope a bit but got it under control and I was back on the road, Back past home to grab the boy and some winter woolies for the evening.
Pulled into the Farmhouse just after 7.30, A good clear sky, a bit of fog and a swirling breeze, not ideal.
Geared up, torches fitted onto scopes and away we went into the night.
This is only my second time on the property and my first at night, Lets hope ol' Uncle knows his way around...
This place is rolling to steepish terrain, so up and up and back down again we we go.
My Uncle stopping to scan gullies and crop paddocks with his thermal.
Nothing seen bar a couple of rabbits, the neighbours bulls and two horses. An hour and a half in and half time is called, we slowly start back to the farmhouse for a hot cuppa.
Halfway back and we stop on a high knoll and the old boy scans the back fence line. "Oh, ... you beaut"
"There's three deer on that clearing, no four, five deer. We need to get closer, come on boy" I wasn't sure if that reference was aimed at me or my lad.
We hug the bush line, lights all off, and slowly move in, Sixty metres out we drop to the ground and crawl the last fifteen metres up onto the crest of the rise. A quick scan with the thermal shows two yearlings, three hinds and an average stag. They are slowly feeding down off the skyline towards us.
We wait five minutes (maybe two) then light up the hillside with torches and, Nothing, they are gone.
Uncle scans off to the right and we see the stag jump the fence into the Native and disappear. Bugger.
Coffee is still calling, so we quietly amble away towards the farmhouse.
Stopping off in the Orchard near the house, three Possums are spotted, so we dive off to the house and the .22 comes out, Young fella quickly drops the two bucks we can locate with our head torches.
A hot drink and a biscuit sees us ready to head out again.
Into the ute and a quick spin down to the other end of the farm, The airstrip and a few paddocks of turnips are all clagged in and nothing can be seen bar a lone Weka.
Sorry boys, we are done.
Midnight sees us pulling back into the farmhouse.
Rifles made safe and put away. A quick yarn and we hit the road for home.
Driving home and my boy is on a high. A bit disappointed he didn't get a deer down, but he has had a good night out. A couple of possums down, several deer seen through the thermal, a first for him. And a good night out on the hills with his Great Uncle.
Plans are already a foot for another visit.

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Exciting!
Cant wait for the next installment.

great stuff.
two things to check (issues had with mine) front sling screw MIGHT be touching barrel....
front action screw can go in deep enough it will enguage one lug of bolt....slight file off of the end of screw and all good again....

and after wrestling match with scope did you manage semi respectable grouping???

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

great stuff.
two things to check (issues had with mine) front sling screw MIGHT be touching barrel....
front action screw can go in deep enough it will enguage one lug of bolt....slight file off of the end of screw and all good again....

and after wrestling match with scope did you manage semi respectable grouping???

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Good enough for the evening, as we were likely to be under 100m with the night vision, but not good enough to keep it the way it is.
Good initial grouping at 50 to get on paper but got a bit weird out at 100M. Scope was fine on windage but not so on elevation adjustment.
The rifle is coming apart to be checked before I swap out the scope. The front action screw is clear, checked that after the re-blue. Will definitely check the front sling screw. Cheers for the input.

Cool hunt, it will only make the young fella keener to get out there, look forward to the next outing.

Best read I’ve had for ages. Cool stuff! Post some more soon!