This was all performed in house. Except engraving. Judd did a mighty fine job on the engraving.

THF member "Freerange" brought me a 1956 Winchester 70 "Featherweight". It was chambered in .243 Win. He has enjoyed learning the ballistics of the 7mm-08 Ackley Improved I've written about so many times, and wanted the rifle re-barreled in that cartridge. But, he wanted to keep the barrel contour and length the same, and he wanted the new barrel blued. The only barrel manufacturer I found that makes a Pre-64 Winchester 70 "Featherweight" contour was Lilja barrels. And it's going to come in stainless steel. Not to worry, I told him we can Cerakote the barreled action a custom house blend to make it look like it's blued. "Do you want gloss, semi-gloss, or flat?" He said he wanted semi-gloss. That's going to be way down the line, but check.

First things first. We've got to install pillars in the stock, bed it, and free float the barrel channel.

Lilja dang sure provided plenty of barrel tenon.



After getting the bore centered with a .0000" Mitutoyo dial indicator, I could finally start cutting. I measured the angle on the Win 70 barrel and set out to match it.



Lots of measuring, part off the barrel, but leave me some wiggle room to face it square.



Get all that cleaned up.



More measuring, and careful single point threading.



Action screws on with no wobble.



The Pre-64 Win 70 bolt is a coned bolt. So the relief for the cone had to be cut next.



And, of course, it's got to get chambered.



Take the barrel out of the lathe, cut it to the same length as the Winchester barrel which was 22". Muzzle side out the jaws, rezero the barrel via the bore, and cut in the crown. 40 minutes of zeroing, 4 minutes of cutting and polishing.



Then we have a barreled action again.

Freerange said to leave the stock as-is.







Freerange brought me a Swarovski Z-3 3-10X and Talley one piece rings.

Got the barrel cleaned. Found the lands with a 140 gr Nosler Partition and began fouling in the new Lilja.





Cool in between.



Cool again. Now we're talkin!



Next was a 200 yard load development.

Lapua virgin 7mm-08
CCI-200
H-Varget
140 gr Nosler Partition

The winning powder charge.

Nicely done gents !

I don't know how I left this out, initially. The Pre-64 Win 70 bolt has a Mauser style extractor. That's got to be relieved.

Great job Jason. I know that model 70 had the coned bolt, but I bet you had to do some work fitting the external Mauser style extractor. What was involved in that process?

Answered before I even finished Lol.

"That boy good"

I also noticed the first cameo appearance from little man.

Man I am jealous! Nice work.

He will make a hand one of these days.

Thank you!

Dang, that’s nice.

Man, that is cool! The build appears to really keep the model 70 fwt look and feel. It looks like it’s gonna shoot too! Very impressive work JG. I’ve been hoping to get to see how that project turned out. VERY NICE. Anxious to hear your impression when you get it in your hands Freerange. Hopefully after you send a few down range…

Really Nice JG! Congrats Freerange!

Lilja makes a great barrel. Awesome work, sir!

Genius! And magic!!

Breath of new on an old classic, good work Jason

Enjoy Freerange

Looks great and like a fun process to work on.

Very nice indeed.

Nice, I like the mostly original aspect of it

Wow, that is a work of art that is also incredibly precise! Great job JG and congrats Freerange.

Did you find a source for the Lapua brass, or did you have a stash? Hens teeth I tell ya!

I've got a stash. I've been buying loading components for a very long time.

This rifle is more than worthy of taking some of my Lapua 7mm-08 stash. I want that brass to last a long time, and I hope the rifle one day gets passed down to the next generation.

Really nice work JG... awesome...