CRF Issue

[Inthealders]

Bought my first CRF gun that WAS NOT a surplus mauser or a commercial FN variant, or a pre-64. In other words my first "newish" Model 70 - a New Haven reintroduced CRF. The grip of the case is looser than in any of the previously mentioned guns; so much so that the claw will let go if I extract too slowly, leaving the case sitting on top of the subsequent rounds. When I extract smartly it does its job perfectly but my experience with all of the other CRF guns is very different. With an FN or pre-64 I can literally pull the bolt completely out of the action and it will still have a firm grip on the round which will be hanging on to the bolt. The price you pay of course is a stiffer motion when closing the bolt because of the tighter clearances between boltface, claw, and case. Nothing's for free and it is a small price for such positive control.
Is this pretty common now with any of the post-91 (Don't hold me to that exact year you model 70 guys) guns from New Haven? Is there a fix? If so, I hope it is just an extractor swap and we're not talking welding up and recutting the boltface. As I say, now that I know the rifle's habits, I can live with it. I'm not chasing man-eaters. I'm looking for experienced responses from gunsmiths; not guesses. Thanks guys.

 

[jmr40]

I have one of the Classics made in 1999 in 30-06. I also have one of the newer FN made rifles made in 2008 in 308. Both of those rifles will hold onto the cartridge rim until it hits the ejector no matter how fast or slow, I eject the round. I don't see how to remove the bolt from the action and not have the cartridge hit the extractor so I can't remove the bolt from the rifle with the cartridge still attached.

On older CRF rifles it was impossible to load a round directly into the chamber. It had to come up from the magazine for the extractor to grab the rim. On virtually all modern CRF rifles the front of the extractor is now beveled so that it will snap over the rim making it possible to load directly into the chamber, or to top off with 5+1 rounds. Winchester, Ruger, and Kimber CRF rifles all do this.

The Winchester 70 Classics were introduced in 1992 with 5- or 6-digit SN's. Sometime after 2000 quality did start to slip some. Most of them were just fine, but the closer you get to a 2006 manufacturing date (the last year of New Haven rifles), the greater the odds of getting a bad one. The later rifles had 7-digit Serial Numbers. Once again, even most of those are fine, but if someone is looking to buy, they will pay a bit more for one with a 5- or 6-digit SN because they are a safer bet for not having issues.

It doesn't sound like a serious problem. If it were mine, I'd probably not worry about it. And I have no idea who to talk to or how much it would cost to remedy. It might be as simple as tweaking the extractor slightly.

 

[BBBBill]

What caliber? Measure the width of the breech face and extractor hook to breech face distance. Compare that to the cartridge specs.

 

[Inthealders]

Side-to-side is tight enough that the cartridge can not slip sideways and remove itself from beneath the extractor. There is however play. I just measured across the bolt face straight through the firing pin hole and I get .485 so there's about .012 clearance side-to-side. Is this about what you get? Since the cartridge is not pushed firmly by the extractor against the raised collar of the bolt face directly opposite, when the cartridge comes out of the chamber enough that the rim could drop, it does just this. If I extract fast enough that this rearward pull keeps the rim in place long enough to draw the rim to the ejector, it works fine.

 

[Kano383]

Could it be the wrong extractor? The bolt diameter is the same across most calibers, but the boltface is cut according to the case’s base diameter, and the length of the extractor’s claw varies accordingly. To check, you’d need to compare dimensions with a rifle of same caliber.

 

[BreechFace]

My newish Win70 CRF works as expected. I can slowly extract and it will pop out at 75* allowing me to pick the brass off and set it on the bench when I’m target shooting or load work up.