We have a topic on pre-'64 Model 70 Winchester rifles. As much as I admire them, there are other fine rifles.

I think the M-70 is as perfect a factory rifle as is made today, and worthy of respect in its own right. Actually, after Winchester and USRAC woke up after the 1964-68 debacle, the M-70 has beeen a good rifle.

And it has had the Mauser '98 extractor since 1992, if memory serves. Overall quality is well beyond the later pre-'64's, which were sometimes rushed through production as costs mounted. My Featherweight .270 is one of the best made factory rifles that I've seen. And I've owned a Sako and a Mannlicher-Schoenauer.

The present M-70 has a bolt guide and runs very smoothly when broken in. I've seen post-'68 M-70's that ran like they had hand-honed actions. (That bolt guide was added in 1968.)

I lack a digital camera. Can some of you post pics of these fine rifles?

T-Star

One of the USRAC SUper Grade 270's:



One serious chunk of metal and wood. What I really want is a push-feed Model 70 Featherweight in 6.5x55 or 7x57 mm.

Humans, never happy with what they have!

The newer controlled feed { classics} model 70s are among the best production guns available.

I do favor the pre 64s the sweep of the bolt, the finish and shape of the stocks are more appealing to me.

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Len

In 1997 I bought one of the Safari Grade .375 H&H 70's. Had the trigger stoned and dropped to 4# and the bedding checked. It has shot very well from day #1. Used it on my first plains game hunt to RSA in 1998 and have taken several elk with it here in Montana. It has never failed me.

In 2000 I bought a new M-70 with the then new David Miller stock design. Basically a Classsic style stock, nice checkering, etc.

Had a twenty four inch .338" Lilja bbl installed, then chambered in .338-06. Had fixed safari style iron sights installed and regulated with 250 gr slugs to be point on at 50 yds. Had it rebedded, trigger dropped to 4# and away I went to Africa again in 2000. The .338-06 with 250 NP's accounted for a waterbuck, impala, and a very large Livingstone eland. All one shot, zero drama.

When I came home that fall I shot one of the largest elk I've ever taken, at 330 yds with the rifle, but with 225 gr NP's.

I agree that the CRF 70's were a hell of a rifle. Well made, nicely finished, and accurate.

FN in MT

I have only shot 2 of the push-feed M-70s and was impressed with the groups and the overall feel of the rifle. They were every bit as good as the competition - most of which are push-feeders too.

I don't know why they got all the bad press back-in-the-day. I guess the gun magazine writers held the Winchester name to a higher standard.

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6/23/2022

I bought a push feed feather weight 270 when they reintroduced that model in about 1979 (?) . When the custom grade started back up with the control feed in about 1990(?) I got a 7mm mag . The only one I have left now , in the foreground , is this featherweight in 6.5X55 Swede , whenever the only year was it was offered (96 ?) i would be buried with this one , but my people are the kind that would dig you up for a control feed featherweight . Pay no attention to that 30-06 old 60s something Rem 700 , it claims it is really the best rifle ever made for just doing anything there is , but we all know Winchester M70 is the riflemans rifle .

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Idaho , Elmer and Milt

Even before the Mauser '98 extractor returned, the post -'68 Winchesters were better looking than the Remington competition. Better finished, and I never saw a bolt handle on one that'd turned purple.

BTW, those did have a Mauser extractor, but one patented in 1891! It is similar to a Lee-Enfield extractor, but beefier. And the Lee-Enfield proved durable and reliable in several major wars and many minor ones. Still, controlled-round feed is better.

T-Star

I see that you appreciate the value and practicality of a fixed-power 'scope!

The 6.5 Swede is a popular moose (alg) rifle in Sweden, but the President of Fallkniven Knives ( www.fallkniven.com )told me that he has also gotten a 9.3X62mm, because bears are around on his moose hunts.

How well does your 6.5 shoot?

T-Star

Ahhhh, The Riflemans Rifle.

I love Model 70s, I have several from pre 64 to the new FN Model 70s, (which I think is the best of the litter).

I have a Featherweight from the 80s in 257, and was able to pick up a Limited Addition FN Featherweight in 270 that has almost identical wood.

Along about 1974 I bought a 375 Model 70. I bought a steel floor plate (which cost almost as much as the $235 I spent on the 375) with the intention of having it engraved with a Lion attacking a Cape Buffalo. Havent got the engraving yet, but its on my bucket list if I can find an engraver.

Years ago I lucked into a deal of buying 6 Model 70 actions for a grand total of $250. Most went to target rifles, I dont think there is a better platform for long range target rifles. My go to 1000 yard rifle is a Model 70 Single shot in 300 WM, 29 Inch barrel. For low wind days I made a Vietnam era Sniper Rifle in '06.

My wife broke her back and has three rods between her shoulder blades. Recoil gets to her so I took my last Model 70 action and made her a 243, buying a pulled wood stock (new, someone wanted a plastic stock). After finished the gun I wanted to make sure it shot before I threw it in the bluing tanks. The first 5 shot group was smaller then the one shot group I could get with my 45-70.

I tried to tell her I would keep it and build her another, nah, I made the mistake of letting her shoot it, no deal, she kept it.

If I could only have one rifle (we know that isnt gonna happen) it would be my FN Model 70 Featherweight in 270 Win.

Yes sir, no serious rifle shooter is complete without a brace of model 70s.

In 1979 I fired my 1978 Winchester XTR in 308. At 100 yards off a rest I got a 1.5" group using GI ammunition-and iron sights.

More photos?

Nice rifles....

Hmm.my first addiction surfaces. I currently have 4 pre 64 types and sold about 8 pre 64's over the last few years. I have had new types in push feed, 300 Win, 338 Win, 270, 340 WBY and some others they all shot well. I have a early 60's 270 FW that shoots like a target rifle. I have my dad's 1954 standard in 270, it is a buck getting machine. A pre war '06 and a custom pre 64 in 270. I recently sold my 375 H&H. I guess Africa was just a dream. I have always wanted a featherweight in 257. Push feed or controlled does not matter. Thanks for bringing this one up.

I don't have any pictures of mine but I do like them.

Had an XTR push feed Featherweight in 30-06 that a guy just had to have so I sold it. Had the same gun in .223 that another guy just had to pay me too much for so I sold it.

Then my daughter and I were going on her first elk hunt and needed something a little bigger than her 257 Roberts that she loves for deer, hog, antelope, etc. That was right when the 300 WSM came out and she really liked the M-70 with the laminated stock so that's what she bought. I thought it would be nice to have the same caliber so I bought a Featherweight 300 WSM. These two rifles have been all over the west and Canada and taken moose, mule deer, antelope, black bear, feral hogs, beaver (that's a whole story). Now they're scheduled to head to Namibia in 2011 for a plains game safari for the two of us.

As she and I have always been fans of the 25 caliber guns I just had to have one of the 25 WSSM Featherweights when they came out. Good thing I ordered mine on the day they were announced because they didn't make many before going out of business and the new Winchester has never brought them back. It's a great little gun, very light and with that super short action it makes a handy little deer gun with plenty of power.

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KSCowboy

I had always had a hankering for a model 70 but was basically a Remington 700 guy. A friend at work let me shoot his featherweight M70 in .223 and I was impressed enough that I ordered one.

Came in with the ugliest stock one could imagine on what Winchester once advertised as "the world's most beautiful rifle" that looked like it came from a piece of swamp wood. **** ! Oh, well, let's see how it shoots, after all, that's what I bought for . . .

Would not hold a group at 100 yards off the bench less than 4" with factory ammo. After glass bedding twice, the last time placing a pressure point under the thin barrel slightly short of the end of the schnabel forend of the stock, and experimenting with 23 different handloads and powder/bullet/primer combinations, I finally was getting sub-minute of angle groups - but by that time I hated that gun so much that I swapped it off for Thompson Contender with multiple barrels.

Then, much later upon a whim, I brought my new M70 in .458 mag into the house and my wife asked wryly, "well, Bwana, what ya gonna do with that ?" Nothing except punch paper for a couple of years, as it turned out. I enjoyed it, but it was expensive to shoot and load for and I reached the age where I started paying attention to stories about getting a detached retina shooting from such guns so when I was offerred 50% more than I paid for it, it went down the road.

So I'm back to being a Remington 700 guy . . .

The only one I really regret not buying was the pre-64 Super grade in .270 that I was offered for $500 back in 1988 . . . oh well.