Winchester Resumes Production of Model 70 Rifles in 2008

Winchester Repeating Arms, now a subsidiary of FH Herstal, plans to resume production of Model 70 rifles in 2008. Delivery will commence in June of 2008. The rifles will be built at the modern FN Manufacturing Plant in Columbia, South Carolina. This facility operates under ISO 9001 production standards.

The new Model 70s will have both classic and new features. The latest generation of Model 70s will retain a three-position safety, and the Pre-64 controlled round feeding. However, the new guns will be fitted with the completely new “M.O.A.™ Trigger System”. This three-lever trigger adjusts from 3 to 5 pounds. Triggers will be set at 3.75 pounds, and Winchester claims: “the trigger mechanism [will] exhibit zero take up, zero creep and zero overtravel.” We shall see–it’s hard to image a shooter-friendly trigger that would function well with absolutely no take-up.

The new Winchester Model 70 will be offered in a Super Grade, Featherweight™ Deluxe, Sporter Deluxe and Extreme Weather SS models for 2008. Prices start at $999.00 MSRP for the Sporter Deluxe. All models will feature a Pachmayr® Decelerator® pad and hammer-forged barrels. Winchester claims that Model 70 barrels will deliver “1 MOA accuracy for 3-shot groups using properly managed barrel, quality match ammo and superior optics under ideal weather and range conditions.” Future testing will determine whether Winchester’s accuracy claims are warranted.

Large Photo FeatherWeight Deluxe

Large Photo Super Grade

Sinclair's Recommended AR and Service Rifle Smiths

AccurateShooter.com has a list of Recommended Gunsmiths. Inclusion on that list is based on demonstrated ability plus customer recommendations. Nobody has “bought their way” on to the list. Most of the smiths listed on our Gunsmith Page specialize in bolt-action rifles, for Benchrest, varminting, and long-range. While some do work on AR15s and “space-guns”, this is not their primary focus.

If you need a first-rate gunsmith for a service rifle, Sinclair International has compiled its own list of smiths including highly respected names. For service rifles (including AR types), Sinclair recommends the following:

Phil Arrington (Service Rifle)
Arrington Accuracy Works
1408 West Ross Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85027
Phone: (623) 582-5066

Compass Lake Engineering (Service Rifle)
719 White Dr
Alford, FL 32420
Phone: (850) 579-1208

Fulton Armory (Service Rifle & Parts)
8725 Bollman Pl., #1
Savage, MD 20763
Phone: (301) 490-9485

Derrick Martin (Service Rifle)
Accuracy Speaks, Inc.
3960 N Usery Pass Rd.
Mesa, AZ 85207
Phone: (480) 373-9499

Scott Medesha (Service Rifle)
Medesha Firearms Ltd.
10326 E. Adobe Rd.
Mesa, AZ 85207
Phone: (480) 986-5876

Albert Turner (Service Rifle)
Turner Enterprises
2200 Seminole Ct.
Plano, TX 75074
Phone: (214) 424-8409

Bill Wylde (Service Rifle)
Wylde & Co.
PO Box 261
Greenup, IL 62428
Phone: (217) 923-3266

To Sinclair’s list we would definitely add John Holliger of White Oak Precision. John built the upper for the Smith & Wesson M&P AR with which Carl Bernosky won the Camp Perry High Power Championship in 2007. This marked the first time an AR-style semi-auto has won that event. John also builds many outstanding components for AR-style rifles, including windage-adjustable front sight bases, and the White Oak Precision Adjustable Buttstock (shown below).

John Holliger
White Oak Precision
101 South Perry
Carlock, IL 61725
Phone: (309) 376-2288

Editorial: Scope-Makers, Stop Selling Scopes with Canted Reticles

Over the past year, your editor has discussed optics quality control with dozens of very successful shooters. There was widespread agreement that too many scopes are leaving the factory with canted reticles, i.e. cross-hairs that are not plumb with the turrets. In fact, to my surprise, most of the top shooters I polled said, yes they have, at least once, purchased a $700+ scope from a major manufacturer that arrived with a canted reticle. The amount of cant ranged from an estimated one to three degrees. Three degrees happens to be one major domestic scope-maker’s production tolerance. We all agreed that this was unacceptable in a high-dollar scope. (Note: here we are talking about an INTERNAL scope assembly problem that results in reticles being off-axis relative to the turrets. Don’t confuse this with the canting which occurs if you don’t level your rifle. A canted reticle is a production defect requiring factory repair.)

Three degrees may not sound like much–after all it is less than 1% of a 360-degree circle. Nonetheless, as the diagrams show, three degrees of cant is VERY noticeable in a scope. In fact, most people will be bothered by a reticle that is just one degree off-axis. Canted reticles are not just annoying to look at, but off-axis reticles cause a number of problems with sighting and accuracy. For example, if you set up your rifle so the vertical cross-hair is straight up and down, your turrets will be slightly tilted. This means that when you click elevation you will change windage slightly, and vice-versa. If, on the other hand, you cant (or tilt) the whole rifle to make the turrets square, this throws off the bullet trajectory–causing bullet impact that is low and displaced horizontally*.

Now, all manufacturers can have a production flaw now and then. Yet we’ve never heard a complaint about canted reticles in Nightforce or Schmidt & Bender scopes. So, it IS possible for the better manufacturers to get it right. Our point here is that it is time for the major scope-makers to address this problem and improve their quality control. That will happen sooner if consumers pay greater attention to reticle alignment during the purchasing process. If you have a scope with a canted reticle, send it back to the maker and ask for the problem to be fixed. If enough shooters do that, we expect the scope-makers will take notice and improve their products.

*CLICK HERE to read a very thorough technical article that explains the effect of rifle canting on bullet trajectory. CLICK HERE to see targets shot with canted rifles showing bullet displacement. The diagram below shows how this occurs.

Illustration courtesy Long Shot Products, Ltd.

Bulletin Submissions and Donations to Website

Based on reports from Quantcast, the AccurateShooter Daily Bulletin reaches nearly 36,000 unique readers worldwide every month. Many of our readers have asked how they can help support the site. First, we are always looking for good videos and interesting news items to put in our Bulletin and BLOG. Send your info and video clips to mailbox [@] 6mmBR.com. Keep Video clips under 4 megabytes if possible. Video clips can be edited using the Windows “MovieMaker” software that’s probably already on your computer.

User donations are also important to the site. As the website audience grows, so do our expenses. You can make a donation (via PayPal), using the “DONATION” buttons found on our Home Page and on our Shooters’ Forum (at bottom of page). You do NOT need to have a PayPal account, so long as you have a credit card.

DONATION Button on Home Page:

If you don’t wish to use the PayPal system, we also accept checks sent via the U.S. Mail. Jason Baney handles the mailed-in contributions. Please include a short note with your name and Forum “nickname” (if any). Make the check payable to “Jason Baney” and mail your check to:

Jason Baney
P.O. Box 308
Douglassville, PA 19518

Pistol Micro-Stamping Becomes Law in California

On October 13th, California Gov. Swarzenegger signed a bill requiring that all semi-automatic pistols sold in California have internal parts that “micro-stamp” shell casings with identifying codes. Under the terms of the new law, semi-auto pistols sold after 1/1/2010 would have to stamp shell casings in at least two places. Typically, this means the firing pin and the ejector will be embossed with characters that are transferred to the primer and case rim on firing.

The micro-stamping law is a very bad piece of legislation for a variety of reasons. Hopefully this misguided concept will not spread to other states. Key problems with the micro-stamping technology include:

1. The raised markers on the end of the firing pin and ejector can easily be removed or altered with a simple file, or even sandpaper.

2. Independent tests show that current micro-stamping technology does NOT produce reliable results: “George G. Krivosta, of the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory in New York, did some research on the firearm microstamping technology offered by NanoTag [the sole approved micro-stamping system in California]. In his research, using tagged firing pins in a .22 Long Rifle rifle and a .45 ACP pistol, he found that very few firing pin strikes actually resulted in legible marks, as it was very common for the firing pin to bounce on impact and strike the case more than once, with successive strikes landing slightly off of the original position and obscuring the original strike impression. Out of the first 100 rounds fired using an 8-character alphanumeric code, 54 provided satisfactory markings, while the remaining 46 had at least one illegible character. Smaller print, encoding the make, model, and serial number for a total of 45 characters, resulted in far less clear markings which were difficult to decipher even under ideal circumstances.” Source: Wikipedia, summarizing AFTE Journal Article.

NOTE: This article contains numerous photos illustrating “failed” micro-stamp primer markings. The article also shows how the firing pin embossing wears out quickly. You should download the article and view for yourself.

3. Would-be law-breakers can collect spent brass from shooting ranges, and “throw down” micro-stamped brass at crime scenes, creating the possibility that innocent gun-owners will be implicated in crimes. Worse yet, the presence of micro-stamped brass belonging to someone else creates “reasonable doubt”, so the real criminal can’t be convicted.

4. The law does not apply to revolvers (so far at least). Word will quickly get out “on the street” on how to defeat the law by using revolvers or altered firing pins.

5. The law may make it difficult, if not impossible (from a practical standpoint), to replace broken or damaged firing pins, ejectors, and extractors. All such components will have to be strictly regulated.

Click the image below for a recent news report on the new California law. As one might expect, the news report did not disclose the technological shortcomings of the micro-stamping process, nor does the report explain how this could backfire, resulting in law-abiding citizens being arrested if their spent brass is found at crime scenes:

Swarovski Laser RangeFinders at SWFA.com for $749.95

The Swarovski 8×30 Laser Guide was the top performer in our Laser RangeFinder Comparison Test. The typical “street price” for these units is a hefty $889.00. SWFA.com obtained a number of “demo model” Swaro Laser Guides. These are “like new” units with full factory warranty. Most are priced at just $749.95. There are still a few left, but they could sell out quickly. You’ll find them in SWFA’s “Sample List”, www.SampleList.com.