Winchester 70 base

rickdavis81

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2009
Messages
217
Location
SW Missouri
Won an early 90's model 70 heavy varmint auction. Shopping for scopes and trying to decide if I want to keep the leupold mount that's on it. It'll be a varmint bench rifle. How well do these hold zero vs a quality picatinny rail and quality ring setup? And why am I only seeing 1 rear screw?
540A3E44-AF06-4B3D-B64E-0DEBEFED7B35.png
 
I would pitch that base in the trash, if you are looking for a reliable mount. There should be 2 screw holes.

Maybe this EGW??

 
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There are 2 screw holes for the rear mount its just that its under the mount and you cannot see it which was quite common with these one piece bases of that era another thought would be to use leupold dual dovetail bases, but as soon as you remove that base you will see the second hole
 
Won an early 90's model 70 heavy varmint auction. Shopping for scopes and trying to decide if I want to keep the leupold mount that's on it. It'll be a varmint bench rifle. How well do these hold zero vs a quality picatinny rail and quality ring setup? And why am I only seeing 1 rear screw?View attachment 301633
Is it a WSM or standard short action? The reason I ask is because the one piece rails are different depending on which one you have. The screw holes are spaced different.
 
Just mounted a Murphy Precision 20 MOA titanium picatinny on a new LR Cooper .300 WM. Machining, appearance is like a work of art. I'm sure there are other brands that are equally nice but you ought to check them out.
 
The old Steel Redfield JR one piece mounts and the Steel Leupold One piece mounts always came with one rear screw hole. , I never understood exactly why. Mounted several when I worked in a gun shop. I have had three of these bases on hunting rifles. Never had a problem . One at a Time I changed them out to Steel Dual Dove Tail 2 piece mounts. They are strong and secure with no possibility of windage shifting. If I ever had a heavy magnum caliber, with severe recoil, I would seek out a Custom One Piece Steel base with four screws instead of three, and also Increase the screw size, and re drill and tap the receiver to accept the Larger Diameter Screws. Just as an aside , the most beautiful metal work I ever saw was a Magnum Length Griffin and Howe Mauser Action, with a One Piece Base welded to the action. It was blended so beautifully that it looked like it was all machined from one block of steel. It was in the white with a High Polish. It was simply perfect and left a life time impression on me. It may be difficult now to find a Gun smith, that can machine the custom Base to perfectly blend with the action , and can also weld to that High degree of precession and finesse.
 
I have had these one piece bases on Model 70 and Rem. 700's in 300 magnums, 338's 375's and a couple of458's. Also have used the 2 pc. bases with the windage adjustable rear base on same caliber rifles and never have had a problem with the zero changing. Prefer the 2 pc. bases for easier loading of the cartridges. You should not have any problems on a varmint rifle.
 
I have had these one piece bases on Model 70 and Rem. 700's in 300 magnums, 338's 375's and a couple of458's. Also have used the 2 pc. bases with the windage adjustable rear base on same caliber rifles and never have had a problem with the zero changing. Prefer the 2 pc. bases for easier loading of the cartridges. You should not have any problems on a varmint rifle.
I have just removed a 2 piece 1 inch mount from my m70 hv 223 and installed a 2 piece Burris xtreme tactical steel base and will add a set of 30mm XTR Signature rings and a leupold mark 4 4.5 x 14 scope this weekend.
I like the look of the 2 piece mount over the 1 piece variants.
 
My M70 with Dual Dovetail 2 piece mount with 1979 Weaver T16. I have two other M70s with the same mount on your rifle, one is a 270 Winchester and the other a 1990 Supergrade in 338 Win Mag. I have had zero issues with any of those mounts or the old two screw rings. You don't need 4 or 6 screw rings, unless you want to look "Tacticool". The M70 Varmints don't recoil enough to require heavy duty bases or rings.
M70 Varmint.jpg
 
My M70 with Dual Dovetail 2 piece mount with 1979 Weaver T16. I have two other M70s with the same mount on your rifle, one is a 270 Winchester and the other a 1990 Supergrade in 338 Win Mag. I have had zero issues with any of those mounts or the old two screw rings. You don't need 4 or 6 screw rings, unless you want to look "Tacticool". The M70 Varmints don't recoil enough to require heavy duty bases or rings.View attachment 301782
I am not so much interested in tacticool as being able to to have adjustable slope. I hope to shoot at 500 yd plus and never tried my scope at anything over 100 yds. Thought the ability to adjust the rings could provide a cushion if needed. Being brand new to rifle shooting, I don't have a lot of resources other than a few forums I read.
 
If you get a scope with enough adjustment you should not need a slanted base. we used to shoot prairie dogs out to over 700 yards with regular scopes, but they did have cheater marks in them as my friend called them. I have Zeiss scopes that have elevation marks out to1000 yards.
 
njwoodworker. My 220 Swift has made shots out to 500 with the scope elevation adjustments only, no need for a 20MOA mount. If your 22-250 is a 1-14 twist as is my 220 Swift it will be difficult stabilizing bullets out past 500 yards. The 55 Sierra Spitzer FB Varmint does a great job getting out there, most boat tail bullets of 55 grains and up only have marginal stability in the 1- 14 twist due to their length. The Berger 55 FB Target is another good choice and works really well in my rifle.
 
njwoodworker. My 220 Swift has made shots out to 500 with the scope elevation adjustments only, no need for a 20MOA mount. If your 22-250 is a 1-14 twist as is my 220 Swift it will be difficult stabilizing bullets out past 500 yards. The 55 Sierra Spitzer FB Varmint does a great job getting out there, most boat tail bullets of 55 grains and up only have marginal stability in the 1- 14 twist due to their length. The Berger 55 FB Target is another good choice and works really well in my rifle.
 
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