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Recently I bought a pre 64 M70 7MM carbine at auction. The gun looked fine and everything seemed ok and I was the high bidder. Several days later I tried to chamber a round to sight the gun in and I couldn’t close the bolt! My gunsmith thought it might be a headspace problem but when he took the barrel off he found where someone had drilled a hole through the chamber! The chamber was very rough where the reamer had chattered and the chamber has been lined and not done very well. He feels the gun is unsafe to shoot. He can fix the problem of a round not being able to chamber but would still have concerns over the accuracey and safty. I WILL NOT pass this off to someone else.
My questions are, Has anyone had any experience with a lined chamber? What other calibers could this be rebarreled to? I have heard that the 7mm bolt face is unique to that caliber and that the magazine spring is different. Do you know of anyone that might be interested in this as is?
Any insight or suggestions will be appreciated.
You would have to reline the chamber again to get rid of the hole and roughness otherwise the shell would become stuck one it fire forms to the chamber. A good gunsmith would put in a little thicker liner and rechamber but it all depends what size it is now, if you enough wall thickness left.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
Email: [email protected]
Actually boltface is same for the 7mm as the ’06, 270, i.e. .473" dia. As I recall the only difference on receiver components is the mag spring which is different and only used on the 7mm.
As far as the chamber reline, I have always had problems with this. I have seen it done many times on 22 Hornet 70’s, that were opened up to 222 or 22 K Hornet. Some jobs were nearly indistinguishable from factory, while some are sloppy and dangerous in my estimation.
Why was a hole drilled through the chamber? Sounds as if the barrel might have been replaced at one time, and headspace was incorrect. Possibly someone tried to rectify the problem with a chamber reamer and created a larger problem. Do the proofmarks line up?
Steve
Rich
I am very much against relining of high power smokeless rifle barrels, there is just not enough steel there. You might find someonw willing to do it, but you’ll also find someone to put a V8 on a go cart.
The best solution is to find another barrel, you probaly paid a premimum for the 7mm cal, but they are around. the 7mm MOD 70 uses a long action, so 30-06 will work well.
You can also have a 7mm barrel made.
V/R
Mike
My guess is that the scope mount screw had to be drilled out for some reason and they went right throuh the barrel. The proof marks do line up. This is a great example of sloppy gunsmithing by someone who didn’t know their limitations. I’m considering rebarreling it to a 270 and cut my losses as I doubt I’ll find a 7mm barrel and haveing a custom barrel done isn’t something I want with this as I have a custom 7X57AI and two 7mm-08’s. It was the allure of the carbine in 7mm that drew me like a moth to the light….and I got burned 
That is why I purchase items with a credit card. If you get defective merchandise you can return it and charge it back if the seller will not give a refund.
This was at an estate sale so the payment method was cash or check. The seller has terminal cancer and he was kind enough to return 50% of my payment which according to the auction he didn’t have to. I won’t get my money back but I can rebarrel to something else.
I have heard that there are people out there that can duplicate the Winchester stamping and a new barrel can be made to replicate the original. Depending on cost I would consider this as it would be a serviceable hunting rifle in 7mm.
Very large ethical question regarding such "reproduction". A fine line from counterfeiting as described. While your intent may be innocent, objectively I would consider it unethical. Others may differ.
My take.
Fake Pre-64 M70 barrels are being made with roll stampings, proof marks, polishing and bluing identical to original factory barrels. Most are in rare calibers and configurations as that is where the money is. Fortunately, the fakers are not producing perfect barrels–there are a few clues that give them away. But, you will not find the fakers advertising their products. They stay in the shadows hoping no one exposes them and restricts their cash flow. If you could contact them the price of a fake barrel in 7MM would just be throwing good money after bad. It’s a sad but true story.
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