A pre-'64 Model 70 Winchester thread **New info 3/10/11**

[PALADIN85020]

My rifle "holy grail" was for years a pre-'64 Winchester Model 70 in .30-06 caliber. Long known as "The Rifleman's Rifle," the pre-'64 Model 70s featured controlled feeding, reliability, almost hand-made care in manufacture, graceful lines, an excellent adjustable trigger, hand checkering, and legendary accuracy. Finally, in 2006, I found my holy grail in this rifle, made in 1949 in the "golden years" of Model 70 manufacture. I mounted a Nikon scope on it, and it rewarded me with minute-of-angle groups at 100 yards. Here's a pic:

I was really pleased that this 60-year-old rifle still performs, and that it gives me great joy of ownership. I am saddened that the original Winchester plant in New Haven CT is now history, and no longer producing classics. New Model 70s are now being made, but not in their original form, and not in New Haven. A new "commemorative" Model 94 is now being made in Japan. It's just not the same, to me. I guess I just happen to like the good old made-in-America classics.

Anyone else have one or more of the pre-'64 Model 70s? Pictures?

 

[bigolddave]

Over the years I have had a number of Pre64 70's, but none at present. I bought my first one in 1966, a prewar 30/06. The gentleman I bought it from thought $95 was a fair price. It was hard deciding between that and a very nice .44 magnum he had at the same price. I later bought several very nice rifles and shotguns from him, always at his prices, and none over $100. Sadly, I let them all slip away.

Later I had a prewar .257, a .270, a .220 Swift--all gone in moments of weakness. I now have Whitaker's book on Model 70's, which appears to be worth more than I paid for any two of the rifles.

 

[smitty_bs]

Saw a pre-64 Model 70 in 30/06 at a gun show this morning. A few scratches, but ok otherwise. He wanted $950 for it so I walked away. I have his phone # so I may give him a call after a week or so.

He also had one in 220 Swift with a scope for $1600. Ouch!

Great guns but those prices are just tough to swallow.

 

[perrazi]

if the swift was a target,not a varminter , and had a good throat and bbl. and otherwise original, it was worth the price. sold some pre-64 bull guns lately and haven't taken less than $3500 yet. these are scarce variations with 28in hvy bbl. and marksman stocks

 

[judge]

Had a Pre-64 Winchester .243 with the heavy bbl (stainless) - not sure if was a varmint model or some other. Using reloads, it would pick off groundhogs at 300 yards with no problem. Used a Leupold 10x scope & it was a deadly combination. Not sure why I ever sold it - nuts, I guess.

 

[Wyo]

My grandfather had a standard rifle in .270 Win. made in 1949. I thought that had to be about the finest rifle in the world when I was a kid, and I think I was right. I have it now along with a 1947 30-06, a first-year .308 Featherweight and a 1955 30-06 Target rifle. I've also owned rifles in .243 Win., .257 Roberts, 300 H&H and 375 H&H, and I wish I had them all back. There are some fine, more modern rifles out there, but nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to the old Model 70

 

[RonJ]

Paladin, that's a great looking rifle. I think I could see my way around using the current scope but the rail just doesn't look right on that classic Winchester.

 

[Sprefix]

M70 .30 GOV'T '06(1949Vintage)

I purchased this rifle several years ago and put a Leupold Vari X III 1.5-5 on it with Leupold QRW bases and rings. I prefer a straight stock as it makes it more natural to point. It is a user but is still very nice and original. It is "plainly elegant" to me. This '49 vintage feels as if it has "soul" when I handle it. Definitely a favorite of mine...........Sprefix

 

[Jst1mr]

After some dark days, indeed, I think you would be pleasantly surprized at the product currently coming out of South Carolina....perhaps not the equal of the old classic, but closer than you might think.

 

[Joni_Lynn]

I shot my first deer with a pre 64 Featherweight in 243 with a Leupold 1.5x5 on it. I got a lot after that with it and it's still with me.

 

[smitty_bs]

if the swift was a target,not a varminter , and had a good throat and bbl. and otherwise original, it was worth the price. sold some pre-64 bull guns lately and haven't taken less than $3500 yet. these are scarce variations with 28in hvy bbl. and marksman stocks

No, it wasn't a target model. I would have grabbed it.

 

[bmcgilvray]

Left to right: 1937 .220 Swift, 1947 .257 Roberts, 1953 .30-06, and a early 1980s .375 H&H Magnum.

These 3 pre-64 rifles are very gratifying to shoot from the bench rest and return sub-inch groups with favorite loads. The .30-06 is my very favorite and I've had it the longest. The .257 Roberts works well against our Texas whitetails.

Actually the .375 H&H ain't half bad for fine groups, but a couple of 5-shot groups with it, fired from the bench and I'm ready to go do something else for awhile.

Here's the parent model to the great Model 70, a Model 54. This one is in the carbine configuration and is factory chambered for the .30-30.

 

[cubfarm1]

Wound up with the uncles m-70 #73--- from 1948. 30-gov-06.Very nice shape and a much better shooter than I am. Had a set of redfield peepsights mounted and the original sights put in the box. Was lucky enough to find the box as well. Sure wish I could have loaned him the money for the supergrade but that just wasn't him. Wander how much the difference was back then ???????

 

[Bassamatic]

I've had a few over the years but it seems like they got traded or sold for some reason.

I have two pre-64 model 94's that I cherish. Seems like the 64 and 70's are equally collectable and both show the true artistry of Winchester in it's heyday.

the rail just doesn't look right on that classic Winchester.

Palladin, I gotta agree with this...lose the rail.

 

[Ron H.]

Sir, I have my grandpa's old antelope gun, a standard grade .270 Model 70 made in 1951. It's fitted with a Weaver KV scope and will easily put three shots into an inch at 100 yards. Doesn't need fancy ammo to do it, either--just plain ol' factory Remington Core-Lokt.

Hope this helps, and Semper Fi.

Ron H.

 

[armadillo]

When I first started deer hunting (it was pre '64) a rich guy had a Super Grade .270 that I admired. It took 40 years, but I finally got to where I had enough money to buy one for myself.

What a fine shooting rifle - consistent 3/4" groups with reloads. I even have some surplus 4831 to reload it with.

 

[feralmerril]

I have two. A hornet that is 1st year, 1937 that was converted to K-hornet, and a 1952 300 H&H.

 

[Marksman]

I have owned numerous pre-64 M/70's over the years since buying my first .30-06 in 1975. I now have two, a pre-war .257 Roberts that I lucked into at a small gun show in Ohio the dealer even had an extra stock for it brand new in the box. The other is my deer rifle, an old .30-06 that I had Randall Redman rebore to .35 Whelen. It wears an early Leupold 2-7X in a Griffin & Howe double lever mount.

 

[rufgr]

Here are some of mine. I have been collecting model 70's since about 1975. Prices have changed considerably during that time.

 

[rburg]

As usual, I feel like the impoverished orphan. I've only got 2 of them, both prewar. I had a postwar .458, but it wasn't worth the expense and trouble. It went to a new owner with an elephant problem in his yard.

About 15 years ago I was getting ready to pack up at the end of a long gun show when I spotted an early M70 in the booth next to us. I'd been dodging the guy's display next to our walk thru opening all weekend. He had an early .30-06 on display, with a BalVar 8 scope on it. It was the scope of my childhood dreams. Even when I was a teen and had some money, all I could afford was a junk 7/8" 22 scope. The BalVar was just unobtainable for me. So when I pulled the rifle off the rack to examine the scope, I noticed the 276x serial number. Early production is good. Of course mounting the scope required a little wood removal, but I really didn't care. It was THE classic M70 with a scope I'd dreamed about many nights. It didn't hurt that I'd had a good show and had a pocket full of cash. Better still, the price seemed pretty reasonable to me. So it went home with me.

My table pard was shocked at how easily I was duped into buying a gun he had almost no use for. I was thrilled, and it was my money. But he always noted what I bought and why.

A few years later it was Christmas eve. He was traveling from far western KY to the eastern mountains to visit his daughter. He made a stop in Lexington at our favorite gun shop. Then he made the phone call to me.

He told me to leave work and get my tail on the road. They had a gun I needed desperately. I told him holidays weren't observed in my line of work, and it was impossible for me to get there before Saturday. He said it was OK, he'd already put it on layaway for me (its what friends are for.) I told him I already had a nice early prewar M70. He said not this early, and to just shut up and do what I needed to do. Turns out the one he'd discovered on the ratty old used gun rack was M70 #202. As usual, he was right. I needed that gun in the worst way.

At one of the shows, I'd been able to handle #2, along with all the books and documentation for it. The then owner, and Atlanta gun dealer, was asking $33,000 for it. Turns out he eventually sold it for just under $20,000. At that price, I'd have been interested.

Some of us are crazy and seek low serial number guns. In my short and sorry experiences, they seem to shoot just as well as any produced, with a little more care to fit and finish (applies to S&W guns, too.) I don't need brand spankin' new, I want great history.

Does anyone here have access to the story about M70 #1, and how the then owner and gunsmith couldn't find a number because all they could find was 1 stamped on the various parts? As I recall, it was a Texas ranch rifle that had spent its many years in the window of a pickup truck (really, a succession of trucks as the rifle outlived truck after truck.)