Newbie here, and I thought I’d come to the best source of folks who actually know Winchester rifles!

I’ve got a new Model 70, Alaskan.  Caliber is 30-06.  All things good except…

Upon initial disassembly to get the factory crud off the action and barrel, I noticed that the forward action screw was only a few threads into the receiver.  I counted 4 turns from fully seated to “click” as I unscrewed the screw and it rode over its top thread.  Back screw is about 5 turns, which still seems not a whole lot.  I think the thread is 1/4-32, which should be 8 turns of engagement for a standard fit.

Looking at the bedding, the top of the bedding compound looks to be about 3/16 proud of the wood of the stock up front.  Not quite so bad in back.

That got me thinking, maybe I need to grind the factory stuff out of there, and bed it lower into the stock.  That got me thinking, what about the magazine box?

With the action open, floorplate open, I can use my fingers to slide the magazine box up and down quite a bit, at least 1/8 inch, maybe more.  There’s ample clearance at the front of the stock for the barrel, but if need be I can relieve that.

Since I have no experience with the Model 70, I was hoping that someone with lots of experience, or a few examples they can check (out the kindness in their heart), to see how much play the magazine box has, so I can account for that should I decide to lower the barrelled action into the stock a bit.

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On a side note, when I got the rifle, I failed to check to make sure the bolt was the correct one for that particular rifle.  Got home, checked, and oh crap, numbers are totally different.  Called Browning/Winchester, and the courteous young man said, “oh they stopped numbering bolts a few years ago, don’t worry about it”.  Well I worry about this sort of thing, so I asked “Is there a way to know for sure?”.  He said “Nope, you’d need to use headspace gauges”.  Great confidence builder there.  When I got the action out of the stock, it was quite plain to see that the number on the bolt is an “assembly number”, which is also stamped on the receiver, and the barrel.  Whew.

When I got my Miroku 92, it came with a pre-broken firing pin.  I’m imagine taking your new pride and joy, loading up and “click”.  Easy to see that the pin was missing its tip.  Called Browning/Winchester.  They said the firing pin is intact, its your safety.  I said, but I can push the hammer forward past its rebound when I pull the trigger, and it hits the back of the bolt…. and I can push the firing pin fully forward and see nothing at the front of the bolt.  They insisted it was the safety.  Sent the rifle off, got it back.  Papers say new firing pin installed. And those pins are outrageously expensive if you have to buy one! It makes me baby a rifle that shouldn’t need babying.

That’s why I’m a bit reluctant to contact “the factory folks” about a bedding job I can do myself, if I knew a few details.

Thanks for listenin’ to an old man, rapidly approaching decade 8 of life.