New Model 70 Featherweight in 7mm-08

[Montana_Wanderer]

I am looking for a smaller caliber hunting rifle and had planned on a Tikka, but the featherweight is really calling to me. My only concern are the mixed reviews I have heard about the accuracy of the new featherweight. Some people say they shoot great and others say they can be picky. I really don't want to end up with another picky rifle, but I would much prefer a more classic style.

Does anyone have the new model 70 featherweight in a 7mm-08 that can comment on the accuracy?

 

[Southern Elk]

I have one in 30-06. Killed an elk with it last fall. It shoots less than 1” groups at 100 yards with factory ammo with 165 grain partitions.

 

[MaddH]

I have one in 6.5 Creedmore and it’s a tack driver, my grandsons favorite rifle

 

[Sheltowee]

Fwiw, Tikka makes their wood-stocked Forest and Hunter in a 7-08. They're sharp rifles and you won't have to guess as to whether it will shoot.

 

[MTLabrador]

The FN made model 70s are great rifles, I have a model 70 sporter in .270 that I’ve had for a long time and it’s always been a shooter.

 

[kodiakisland]

If it is what you really want, buy it. If it doesn't shoot to your expectation, sell.

My personal experience with a new model featherweight in 7-08 was not great, but that doesn't mean another one wouldn't be. Mine was at best a 2.5 MOA rifle no matter what bullet or load I used. Absolutely beautiful wood though. I sold it to my neighbor who was aware of the accuracy issues but didn't care. He was more of a collector and not a shooter and just wanted it in his display case.

 

[kiwi hunter]

You can't get a better adjusting trigger than a mod 70, I like mine down at 1lb or lighter

 

[Montana_Wanderer]

Thank you for all the great info! I may just have to go for it. The safe play would likely be the wood stock Tikka, but the 70 is such a nice looking rifle. Something I could scratch up real nice and look at when I’m too old to chase elk anymore!

 

[Montana_Wanderer]

You can't get a better adjusting trigger than a mod 70, I like mine down at 1lb or lighter

One lb!! That scares me a bit.

 

[Montana_Wanderer]

If it is what you really want, buy it. If it doesn't shoot to your expectation, sell.

My personal experience with a new model featherweight in 7-08 was not great, but that doesn't mean another one wouldn't be. Mine was at best a 2.5 MOA rifle no matter what bullet or load I used. Absolutely beautiful wood though. I sold it to my neighbor who was aware of the accuracy issues but didn't care. He was more of a collector and not a shooter and just wanted it in his display case.

I was hoping a bad review would come from a different caliber! I better choose wisely.

 

[El Jason]

If by chance it doesn’t shoot, pretty high odds you could pillar bed it and it will make quite a bit of difference.

 

[Montana_Wanderer]

If by chance it doesn’t shoot, pretty high odds you could pillar bed it and it will make quite a bit of difference.

Good to know. I've never done that before, but it would be a good skill to learn. Or pay someone that knows what they are doing!

 

[Dougfirtree]

I had one of the FN rifles in 7mm-08 for a few years. That rifle seemed like a good luck charm. I killed whitetail, pronghorn and an elk with it. It was picky, but I found a factory load that shot under an inch. Once I started reloading, it was easy to create accurate loads. Pretty rifle!

 

[Pagosa]

I don't know if they are available, but a .260 Remington is a lethal cartridge, no recoil, and super easy to pack around. They can drop a bull elk just like a 7mm or 30/06

 

[El Jason]

I don't know if they are available, but a .260 Remington is a lethal cartridge, no recoil, and super easy to pack around. They can drop a bull elk just like a 7mm or 30/06

Looks like they aren’t chambering that. Or the 6.5 Swede.

 

[TN2shot07]

I don’t know if it’s still available but there has been a nice one in the classifieds by @warpig602

 

[MTLabrador]

If we’re talking cartridges, the old .270 is still the one I would go with for anything from antelope to moose. 140 Accubonds, 130 and 150 interlocks, 150 game kings, it just flat out drops deer and elk.

 

[kodiakisland]

Their problems aren't cartridge specific. It's not like one cartridge has bent barrels and off face receivers. It's all a crapshoot but the lemons are most likely in the vast minority. Those are just the ones people get on message boards and complain about.

 

[Mustangs Rule]

You can't get a better adjusting trigger than a mod 70, I like mine down at 1lb or lighter

Funny about how people can have totally different ideas about something. I would never, again, have any type of boxed adjustable trigger.

Winchester rifles are like "mothers milk" to me. I grew up in Connecticut, and at 16 when I got my driver's license my first trip was to New Haven to visit the Winchester Museum. Drool Drool Drool.

Can't count the number of Winchesters I have had since I was 16 years, old 61 years ago. I love the original model 70 trigger, even love the model 54 trigger, which was Winchesters first bolt action rifle, and the father of the model 70.

It takes an old school gunsmith to really do fine job on an old Model 70, or Mauser trigger. But when done well, they are just DONE. I like mine set at 2.5 to 2.75 pounds.

The reason they are coming up with adjustable boxed triggers, is that there are less and less gunsmiths who are skilled. So "throw in" an adjustable boxed trigger.

An old Winchester or Mauser triggers are self-cleaning. Boxed triggers can be trap for dust.

I was in a just plowed field one morning waiting for the boar to pass through on their way to some fresh barley when a big wind came up and stayed blowing for long time. The boxed trigger on rifle got dust filled and the pull went to 8 pounds as measured by the gunsmith before taking it apart to clean it later.

I like triggers that are designed for war.

A friend of mine had two periods in his life when he was a competition marksman. First as a Marine officer, then as a senior.
All in all, he won 36 national and international shooting matches. All rifle matches were won with an old but very well-tuned old model 70 with a glass smooth original trigger honed to a 3-pound pull.