FiveInADime
New member
I have a Winchester M70 'Black Shadow' from somewhere around 99-00 that I received for high-school graduation, so there's no way I'm selling it. This one was ordered from Winchester and is not like the ones sold at Wally-World at the time. It has a matte finish but it's done well, has an extremely smooth jeweled bolt, has a hinged floor-plate, and the action/bottom metal fit very well in the stock. It's chambered in 7mmRemMag with a 26" barrel and was originally intended for mountain deer/elk hunting, but I just don't rifle hunt anymore.
I reload for all of my other rifles but I have held off buying dies for this gun because I just haven't shot it much since just after I got it. I put about 300 rounds of factory ammo down the tube and since about 3 years ago it's been sitting scopeless in its case. The rifle shoots about 1.5 inches at 100 yards with most factory loads. Some have done a little better but at $1.50/shot and with stout recoil in this relatively light rifle with a crap recoil pad, I didn't experiment that much.
I have thought several times of getting a nice stock like a B&C, getting a muzzle-break installed, and upgrading the scope but I just keep putting it off and working on other rifles, instead. I have also thought of using it for a custom build and scrapping the factory barrel. That would be a long-term project seeing as I don't have a huge yearly gun/scope budget.
If I did decide to do a custom build, what cartridge choices would be good for this action and bolt face. I like the 7mag, but if I started over I would probably go with a belt-less case. The other choice would be to restock it, buy the dies, and get a good scope for it. In the distant future I may be putting in for rifle hunts again because I have a baby boy that I'm sure I'll take hunting when he's old enough. But short-term this would just be another gun to shoot at the range or in the desert. I have a .243, 7mm-08, 30-30, and some rimfires and shotguns, so I really don't have a gaping need for anything.
Let me know what you guys think.
I reload for all of my other rifles but I have held off buying dies for this gun because I just haven't shot it much since just after I got it. I put about 300 rounds of factory ammo down the tube and since about 3 years ago it's been sitting scopeless in its case. The rifle shoots about 1.5 inches at 100 yards with most factory loads. Some have done a little better but at $1.50/shot and with stout recoil in this relatively light rifle with a crap recoil pad, I didn't experiment that much.
I have thought several times of getting a nice stock like a B&C, getting a muzzle-break installed, and upgrading the scope but I just keep putting it off and working on other rifles, instead. I have also thought of using it for a custom build and scrapping the factory barrel. That would be a long-term project seeing as I don't have a huge yearly gun/scope budget.
If I did decide to do a custom build, what cartridge choices would be good for this action and bolt face. I like the 7mag, but if I started over I would probably go with a belt-less case. The other choice would be to restock it, buy the dies, and get a good scope for it. In the distant future I may be putting in for rifle hunts again because I have a baby boy that I'm sure I'll take hunting when he's old enough. But short-term this would just be another gun to shoot at the range or in the desert. I have a .243, 7mm-08, 30-30, and some rimfires and shotguns, so I really don't have a gaping need for anything.
Let me know what you guys think.
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