Winchester mod 70 safety catch jammed

corky

Well-Known Member
Looking to see if anyone had any similar problem as I have,had rifle out at weekend, hadnt fired it since may so i tried on target and it was spot on,shot a wee stag later on and safety was working fine but when I was out lamping last night I got ready on bonnet for a fox I was squeaking in loaded and went to put safety on but it wouldnt move from fire position so I never took any chances just unloaded and abandoned.Tried to free it when I got home but wasnt moving and I noticed it was uncocking when I closed bolt.
I put in vice today and pushed sear back and managed to get safety to move but when i put it into rifle and dry fired it again its stuck in fire position again.Its a 3 position safety forward to fire,mid position safe but bolt not locked and fully back is safe and bolt locked down.
Only thing i,ve done out of my usual routine is after id shot stag and unloaded I put safety forward to fire position and closed bolt on an empty chamber and held trigger in which I dont normally do with this rifle!
Any pointers would be appreciated
cheers
Iain
 
probably just a bit of grit. I recommend taking the cocking peice off, clean it properly and if you cannot take the safety wing off or are afraid to damage it, blow it through with compressed air.

if that doesn't work, you can only suspect it's the internal 3 position safety sear that's damaged, but I doubt it.
 
Tried to free it when I got home but wasnt moving and I noticed it was uncocking when I closed bolt.

Not sure of my facts here regarding Winchester safety, but it is common that safety catches can only be moved from the fire position to a safe position when the rifle is cocked.

​After taking a shot the rifle will be decocked and the safety will appear to be jammed in the fire position. Once the bolt handle is lifted and the rifle cocked, the safety can then be moved to one of the safe positions.

If the rifle is uncocking when the bolt is closed that suggests the trigger is mis-adjusted, or perhaps the return spring is weak, or a bit of debris or hardened grease is blocking it from returning properly. You could try pushing the trigger forwards before closing the bolt, to overcome any "laziness"

Whatever the reason, a rifle that decocks itself as the bolt is closed is unsafe and needs checking out.
 
ta for advice and my professional opinion is that its fkd!!!partially stripped it again and pushed cocking slide back to enable safety again and worked it mid to back ok but moving to fire realeases the firing pin which is not good at all.anyone know a good gunsmith with rifle bolts?
 
moving to fire realeases the firing pin which is not good at all.anyone know a good gunsmith with rifle bolts?

I don't think its anything to do with the bolt. Sounds like the trigger is adjusted too close to let-off, or is clagged up . Its definitely not good, but could be as simple as twiddling a screw half a turn, or a blast with brake cleaner. Get experienced help.
 
Sounds like a trigger issue to me. My rifle has an on bolt horizontal safety (a la Win. Model 70) and the safety is only movable when the rifle is cocked. You should be able to let the bolt down to decock fine. If the firing pin is being released you have a problem that requires a gunsmith.

Hope gets sorted soon.

Scrummy
 
I had a similar problem a while ago , and on taking the action out of the stock found that the Timney replacement trigger was loose. There is a screw which tightens up against the bottom of the action, if that is loose, everything fails. Hope this helps.
Marcher
 
thanks for advice, I,ve checked bolt in and out of rifle its the same regardless that as soon as I,ve manually cocked the bolt out of rifle and got safety to mid position it goes back fine but when I move it to fire it releases the firing pin,checked trigger(timney coincedentally)and its all tight so I can safely assume it is the bolt.
I did google it and it does seem reasonably common in USA the symptoms of mine looks like bolt has to be fully disassembled and metal carefully removed from back of firing pin to allow safety to properly engage again and I aint messing about with it so it will be finding its way to someone who knows what to do this week
cheers anyway
I had a similar problem a while ago , and on taking the action out of the stock found that the Timney replacement trigger was loose. There is a screw which tightens up against the bottom of the action, if that is loose, everything fails. Hope this helps.
Marcher
 
as soon as I,ve manually cocked the bolt out of rifle and got safety to mid position it goes back fine but when I move it to fire it releases the firing pin,checked trigger(timney coincedentally)and its all tight so I can safely assume it is the bolt.

I think the safety is probably working correctly.

Your problem seems to be that the sear is not catching the cocking piece when the bolt is closed.

This means the only thing holding the firing pin back is the safety. As soon as you move it forward to fire position it is releasing the firing pin. This matches the symptoms you have reported.

On a Win70 the safety blocks the firing pin, also the sear. Good design.

When the bolt is in the rifle the safety can only be moved into a safe position if the firing pin is cocked, and the sear is also in the correct position. This won't be happening if the sear/trigger is not operating properly.

Have you tried to move the safety from fire to intermediate safe whilst the bolt is in the rifle, but the handle is raised ? You might find that it will go, because the cocking piece will be in the correct position, even if the sear is not properly engaged.

I still think your problem is most likely something to do with the trigger and sear, not the bolt and safety.

Another possibility is that the cocking piece cams have become worn, so that it is not quite moving far enough back to engage the sear, although it is still moving enough for the safety to engage. This does seem rather unlikely, but could be fixed by a little fettling of the sear.

Good luck and please let us know what it turns out to be..
 
Thanks Sharpie I,ve just dropped it of with my RFD and he is passing it on to a gunsmith to get it sorted(hopefully)!
 
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