Winchester Model 70 trigger spring kits

[richhodg66]

So I bought a Winchester model 70 Heavy Varmint (push feed) rifle in .308 a while back for just cast bullet target shooting, figured .30 caliber cast paper punching was most of what I was doing anyway, might as well have a dedicated rifle.

The "heavy" part certainly applies to the trigger and I need to do something about it. I know the adjustment is relatively straightforward with teh stock set up two nuts and adjustment for over travel, but there is an outfit selling a spring that replaces the factory spring and two nuts which all of the customer reviews say is very good. His video is here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VJ3ZJOgoNc The biggest complaint I saw on customer comments was it made the trigger too light for a hunting rifle which I guess could be made heavier with a small washer or two, but this is a target rifle anyway, so no worries.

Anybody used one of these? I went to their website and the price is about $13 but with shipping and handling it was almost $26 which isn't a big deal I suppose, but that seems excessive for a spring that weighs less than an ounce. There's a vendor on ebay with very good feedback selling a similar looking spring kit, I'm kind of inclined to do that.

ANybody think this would be advantageous over the factory set up? Also, while I have it out, polishing the sear surface is probably a good idea, recommendations on how best to do that?

[ulav8r]

I would check the springs available at Ace or some other hardware store. Things to know about strength in springs of the same diameter: smaller wire diameter is lower strength, more coils per inch will be lower strength, grinding the ends of a spring to flatten them will help them seat better. Letting the very end of the ground area get hot enough to soften it will help it seat better. You should get a suitable spring for less than $2, maybe one long enough to get 3 or 4 out of it.

[Gtek]

Backing off those two nuts and a little STP (blue bottle) on contact points and pin has been more than fine for me for decades. If memory is correct they usually fell <3 lbs and pretty crisp. 200-300 dollar trigger, nope, not bad for out of the box.

[richhodg66]

Went ahead and ordered a couple of the ones the Ebay seller had, figured for nine bucks and free shipping it wasn't worth my time to rummage through hardware store drawers. I'm kind of more concerned about it resulting in too light a trigger pull, but that'll be OK on a rifle that only sees range time. I have a few Model 70s, if this works out, I'll install more of them.

[Larry Gibson]

On my M70 hunting rifle (30-06) and my M70 XTR walk about gentleman's varmint rifle I've left the factory springs and with a light stoning of the sear engagement surface both are set at 2.5 lbs. I've replaced the springs with lighter but more coils springs on my two M70 target rifles (push feed Stainless Classic .308W and MBT custom long range 30-06 CRF stainless action) and worked the .308W Classic down to a reliable 12 ounce pull. I use the 308W M70 mostly for cast bullet shooting these days. The Long range 30-06 is set at 16 ounces and is mostly used at 1000 1500 yards so jacketed bullets are used (Hornady 178 Match or Sierra 175 TMKs, both at 3025 fps). Both triggers break like the proverbial glass rod.....

Attachment 262833

Attachment 262834

[richhodg66]

A reliable 12 ounce pull that breaks like glass would be wonderful for the rifle in question. My others may keep the factory springs. Thanks for the input.

[richhodg66]

I didn't order one of those in the video, but there's an Ebay seller, Old Beaver Gunsmith or similar, selling a similar kit for $9.99 with free shipping on Ebay. ANyway, he shipped fast, goit it a couple of days ago, and yesterday afternoon, I installed it. Huge difference. I don't have a trigger pull scale, but I'm guessing it's now a 2 1/2 or so pull now with no creep or over travel at all. The rifle hasn't shot anything nearly as well as I think it should so far, but I hurriedly loaded up some basic ammo, 311466 bullets and ten grains of Unique, and shot the best cast bullet group I've shot with it so far.

I'm pretty pleased. I'll have to get back to pursuing load development with this rifle now.

[ASSASSIN]

If I can find it, I have a new replacement trigger for the Model 70 and if you would like it, providing I can put my hands on it, I will give it to you. I put the same trigger in my M70, and got it adjusted down to a very crisp 20 ounces.

[Loudenboomer]

I've used the MCARBO spring kits. Not as nice as some of the custom triggers but a very good trigger at a fraction of the cost in the T/C Compass. A noticeable improvement in the Browning X Bolt.

[samari46]

Larry,what are you pushing the 175 grain bullet with to get over 3000 fps? curious minds want to know. Who says the 30-06 is dead?. I've an older push feed M70 match rifle with the marksman stock. Gonna try some cast with it when hopefully the virus slows down. I get 2800 and a bit with 165 grain nosler ballistic tips. With 54.5 to 55.5 IMR 4350 and a CCI magnum primer. Frank

[M-Tecs]

Larry,what are you pushing the 175 grain bullet with to get over 3000 fps? curious minds want to know. Who says the 30-06 is dead?. I've an older push feed M70 match rifle with the marksman stock. Gonna try some cast with it when hopefully the virus slows down. I get 2800 and a bit with 165 grain nosler ballistic tips. With 54.5 to 55.5 IMR 4350 and a CCI magnum primer. Frank

Not Larry but with a 28" or 30" barrel 3025 FPS isn't pushing the 06 hard with a couple of newer powders and 175/178's.

[flounderman]

You could have cut a little off the factory spring and got the results you wanted.

[richhodg66]

You could have cut a little off the factory spring and got the results you wanted.

Maybe, but for less than ten bucks and 15 minutes or so installing it, this was a lot easier and worked out just as well without having to spend a bunch of time screwing with it.

[richhodg66]

On a side note, the rifle was NOS when I got it, never fired. When I got into it, not only was that trigger factory set very heavy, Winchester saw fit to put some kind of glue on all the adjustment parts that had to be picked off to get anything moving. Just have to wonder about a company making a quality product and then handicapping it deliberately.

[scattershot]

Just some food for thought. I have a T/C Compass, which has the same trigger setup, and I reduced the trigger pull considerably by just removing one of the nuts. That resulted in a trigger that was very light, but not drop safe, so I added a small washer to the stack to make it a little heavier. Hope that helps.