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Model 70


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Anyone here familiar with the modern (Miroku?) built Winchester Model 70's?

 

I can so clearly remember the "common wisdom" being voiced that if it wasn't pre-'64 it wasn't worth having.  But some of the new ones sure are purty!  :rolleyes:

 

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Different Winchester Models are made in different places.  The Model 70's are made in Portugal.  The one in your photo with the maple stock is a stunner.  I have seen several at local shops.  When Winchester went back to the external extractor many years (and bankruptcies) ago things got better.  With modern CNC machinery the new Model 70s are very nice.  Winchester 70s made in the late 50s and early 60s were like Marlin in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Living on reputation but not great quality.

 

The local Cabelas just got in a Model 70 Deluxe in .264 with a 26" barrel.  The Model 70 in .264 has been on my bucket list for years.  But, now that I am getting closer to having to empty the bucket and no longer hunt I drooled but did not buy.

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I know some of the older model 70's had some hand fitting involved. Later on, the quality went down, but the mystique of the model 70 (called "the rifleman's rifle") was strong for a while...still is, among bolt-action aficionados. The gun articles, of the '40's, '50's, and early '60's, had high praise for the model 70. It was on a lot of lists to purchase one...mine too. Perhaps I will get a pre-64, model 70, one day, before I go under.  

Pre-64 model 70's can command a nice price. Post-64's, not so much, but as was previously stated, the quality, and some of the original design, that was so sought after, came back, somewhat. 

 

If anyone is in the market to purchase one, I strongly suggest you do your homework first. Remember..."act in haste, repent in leisure".   

It is a legendary rifle, for sure, and a quality one will be something to pass down to your heirs. 

 

 

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Look at the details of the specs on these new model 70’s. Some of them are built to pre-64 configurations. I believe that maple stocked one is. 
That one is my favorite…favorite by desire. I don’t own one. 

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1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

 

I can so clearly remember the "common wisdom" being voiced that if it wasn't pre-'64 it wasn't worth having. 

 

 

<_< Sure.....not in my individual experience.

I have a push feed 670A 30-06 (A post 64 Model 70 push feed action with a birch stock, same 3 position safety and Williams sights, Winchester butt plate and blind magazine, no hinged floorplate). I have the trigger at 2 1/2 pounds and a free floated the barrel. It shoots and cycles very well and from a build standpoint is far more robust and refined than todays $3-500 Ruger/Remington/Savage/Mossberg. It is a deer killing machine and will go for elk this fall. But hey, I have 3 Ruger American 270's in the safe and a Savage 10 in 260 that is ragged hole accurate. The Savage doesn't feed worth a crap, but far out shoots my 670A, or any other rifle in the safe.

 

I looked over new Model 70's in  300 WM and  7 mag recently. Really nicely made, pretty, well balanced rifles. But at $1100-1200, I don't think as a field gun, or from an economics standpoint, it would outperform the Winchester 670A I paid $150 for. It has never failed to feed or extract for me, or hit what I aimed at.

 

I have read all kinds of controlled round feed superiority and its like the WIX filter stories failing in Cummins engines crap I read, the stuff of internet lore; you know, the tales of a bygone sub-saharan Africa high performance game loads of Cordite pressure spiking due to the 120 degree 100% humidity extremes, hence the need for controlled round feed or of the battle proven dependability in the mud and grime of the trenches of the Mauser claw when loading a round on your side in a mud hole. Yet, I have never first hand met anyone that had  a push feed rifle fail,  because it wasn't a CRF. 

 

I will say, a featherweight Model 70 in 280 AI would be hard for me to pass up. It is a borderline elegant rifle, that I find well crafted. It shoulders and points in a natural manner.  It balances and carries well. I would personally own if the price and caliber were right, but would just as likely buy a Tikka instead.

 

 

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I've never owned a bolt action rifle, well....I had a .22 single shot bolt action that I bought for $25.00 10 years ago. I gave it to my neighbor for his 12 year old kid. He still has it.

Anyway I want one and I don't hunt so am I crazy?? That Alaskan that Pat pictured is one cool looking rifle! I do have a club I can shoot it at, it has a 100 and 200 yard range. Hmmm............

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Don't overlook a Remington 700. I've had three of them, still have one. They are a very good gun too.

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I have a Model 70 in .300 WSM it has the Mauser type claw extractor not the push feed .  It will feed empty cases from the magazine straight into the chamber with-out a hitch .... Yes I know guns do not need to be able to smoothly cycle empty cases to hunt, but it gives me an extra level of confidence especially with guns in larger calibers that could be used on dangerous game like my .375 Ruger....

And even the .300 WSM that might be used on a Grizz ...

Most of my bolt guns are of the controlled round feeding type ... even my .204 Ruger.

 

Jabez Cowboy  

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My late Wife chose a Model 70 Featherweight in 270 WSM when we moved to Colorado...one of the last coming out of the New Haven factory. The thing is a tack driver. Left handed, though :rolleyes:

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When my wife decided to start deer hunting about 15 years ago I got her a model 70 classic featherweight in 243 . I just automatically assumed I was going to be pillar bedding it to get it to shoot . No need it’s a sub moa gun with the right reloads . I wouldn’t hesitate to buy one , I honestly think they are nicer than the pre 64’s 

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I bought my Mdl 70 FW in 2015, after returning from overseas.  It's a Grade III walnut in .270

with a Leupold 3.5-10X scope.  I zero'd with at 200 yds, getting 2" groups, and haven't shot

it since.  Love the rifle for it's adjustable trigger, and pre-'64 controlled feed action.

 

Alas, I don't go into the woods hunting anymore, so it's becoming an heirloom, and that's okay.

It's a work of beauty as it is.

 

 

L1001057-1.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/29/2021 at 10:29 AM, ShadowCatcher said:

I bought my Mdl 70 FW in 2015, after returning from overseas.  It's a Grade III walnut in .270

with a Leupold 3.5-10X scope.  I zero'd with at 200 yds, getting 2" groups, and haven't shot

it since.  Love the rifle for it's adjustable trigger, and pre-'64 controlled feed action.

 

Alas, I don't go into the woods hunting anymore, so it's becoming an heirloom, and that's okay.

It's a work of beauty as it is.

 

 

L1001057-1.jpg

 

Lordy, Shadowcatcher...! That is one downright gorgeous rifle!!  OH yeah ~ that's one to just take out of the safe from time to time and just hold.

 

So I was at Sportsman's Warehouse about a week and a half ago, and they actually had a new Model 70 on the rack.  Naturally, I asked to see it - wouldn't hold a candle to the one pictured, but still a handsome piece.  Stock was fairly plain, but nice, with an ebony or other dark wood forend tip.

 

Metal was well polished and blued, and fit to the stock was - a major disappointment.  Actually, it was fine, except for the last inch and a half or so of the forend.  There was a gap on the right side that you could almost slip a nickel into, while the left side was sprung into the barrel.  Tight.  

 

If it had been a desirable caliber (I have no interest in a 6.5 Creedmore) I might have been interested, if I could have negotiated a steep price cut.  If...  

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