Purchased a Model 70 Extreme Weather in 7mm-08 about 2 years ago and struggled to find a factory load that gave any consistent grouping. Over the course of a year, tackled torque specs for the action, optic mount and even changed optics with no improvement. Even had a friend work a handload up for me with no good result. Contacted Winchester, they had me send the rifle in and replaced it no questions asked after evaluating it.
Got the new rifle and noticed milling issues that I did not observe on the original rifle, though these are mostly aesthetic. Took it to a gunsmith who builds precision rifles, he looked it over and said that the bolt face is scraping the tenon of the barrel and that it would negatively affect accuracy. Took that info, contacted Winchester, they said send it back. I requested that if the rifle needed to be replaced, they "cherry pick" me one and test for accuracy.
About a month later I receive a new rifle with a serial number about 10 rifles apart from the one I sent in. Looking it over, has the same milling issues as the previous replacement and again the bolt face is contacting the face of the barrel (pictures attached). So a few questions if someone could enlighten me since trying to research the subject has proven difficult:
Is this normal or is it something to be concerned about? I figured if it was normal, Winchester/Browning would have looked it over, called it good and returned the rifle back to me stating all was in spec.
I noticed when cycling brass dummy rounds, it was difficult to pull up or close down the bolt handle on some of the rounds and there were pretty good pinstripes made on the brass. This could be because it is a new rifle, but wondered if it was a symptom of the bolt barrel contact?
I have this subject posted on another forum, and some of the members have mentioned that it may not exhibit this if a cartridge is chambered and possibly nothing to worry about, albeit the suggestion was made to get headspace gauges and check.
I apologize if you are seeing this again as a member of the other forum, just wanting to get a bit more exposure to gain experience and suggestions. Many threads on this forum were what lead me to purchase the BACO produced Model 70 EW.
Got the new rifle and noticed milling issues that I did not observe on the original rifle, though these are mostly aesthetic. Took it to a gunsmith who builds precision rifles, he looked it over and said that the bolt face is scraping the tenon of the barrel and that it would negatively affect accuracy. Took that info, contacted Winchester, they said send it back. I requested that if the rifle needed to be replaced, they "cherry pick" me one and test for accuracy.
About a month later I receive a new rifle with a serial number about 10 rifles apart from the one I sent in. Looking it over, has the same milling issues as the previous replacement and again the bolt face is contacting the face of the barrel (pictures attached). So a few questions if someone could enlighten me since trying to research the subject has proven difficult:
Is this normal or is it something to be concerned about? I figured if it was normal, Winchester/Browning would have looked it over, called it good and returned the rifle back to me stating all was in spec.
I noticed when cycling brass dummy rounds, it was difficult to pull up or close down the bolt handle on some of the rounds and there were pretty good pinstripes made on the brass. This could be because it is a new rifle, but wondered if it was a symptom of the bolt barrel contact?
I have this subject posted on another forum, and some of the members have mentioned that it may not exhibit this if a cartridge is chambered and possibly nothing to worry about, albeit the suggestion was made to get headspace gauges and check.
I apologize if you are seeing this again as a member of the other forum, just wanting to get a bit more exposure to gain experience and suggestions. Many threads on this forum were what lead me to purchase the BACO produced Model 70 EW.
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