Mod 70 featherweight accuracy?

[Troggy]

My Mod 70 .270 win Featherweight shoots very mediocer groups with any ammo. the best I get is just under 2" at 100yrds. it was made in '91. I was told by Winchester that the Bbl should be free floating..it is not..it doesnt pass the dollar bill test what so ever. Iveheard the Featherweights have some accuracy issues. Has anyone found that to be true? Do you think floating the Bbl should solve the problem?

[Lloyd Smale]

only ones that ive heard had accuracy issues were the 257 roberts and the 7x57s. I had a 257 and it was pretty dismal. My 280 on the other hand is a tack driver. It easily shoots under moa with alot of differnt loads and its favorite using re19 and a 145 speer easily will put 5 into 3/4 of an inch at a 100 yards. One thing ive found with the newer wins is that the bedding material they use at the factory is on the soft side and not much better then not being bed at all. I will routinely scape it out and bed the gun with a better bedding material and make sure the barrel is floated.

[BruceP]

Right after I bought mine I tried floating it and it did not help. It was actually a little worse so I had a presure point bedded just back of the front of the stock that took it back to where it had started which was about what you are getting. One day after returning from the range I was cleaning it and ran my finger down into the bottom lug recess and could feel something. It turns out that it was the front action screw. The more I tightened it the more it would contact the lug when the bolt was closed. I took the screw out and ground about two threads off and reinstalled it. The next range trip it went just under an inch with one group just over 1/2". I don't know how common that problem is and my featherweight is the push feed that came from winchester with the McMillian fiberglass stock, it seems like it was the mid to late 80's.

Bruce

[Swampman]

Mine strings left to right about 6" as the barrel heats up.

[Bigeasy]

I had a USRAC push feed Featherweight in .270 that had similar problems.  The barrel was not free floated, and had un-even pressure against it.  I free floated the barrel, and that helped slightly.  It reduced the stringing and made more consistent "round" groups.  Group size, however, only slightly improved.  Next I tried the old credit card under the forearm trick (about 2 inches back).  This magic number was 2 cards thickness.  Groups shrank from about 2 inches to about 1 to 1 1/4 with loads it liked.  I epoxied the cards in place and called it good.  Provided the recoil lug / bottom of the action and tang seem to be making proper contact, I would try the above first.

Larry

[Troggy]

Well Im at a cross roads..I can spend cash and try to get it to shoot or sell it off to someone who is willing to work on it and buy myself  a new rifle. The rifle is for hog and maybe deer...I have killed two hogs with it but I'm never very confident with it. I once read and articl by Bob Melik and he said if you have a rifle that you are not confident with sell it no matter how much it cost or how good it looks and feels....There is my problem..it feels good and looks good and shoots just ok. My 30-30 contender out shoots it  and its a handgun.

[Swampman]

The new FN Winchesters have none of these problems.  They are shooters.