1949 Winchester Model 70 Super Grade

[blackdeuce]

Sorry Frank . . .Not true . . . .
There are factory-installed sling swivels on all my "standard"grade M70s.

I find the OPs' M70 to be of the vintage I need (1949) to insert into my "string" of "pre-64" years.
I have a 1946, '47, '48, '50, '51, and '52 . . . .all standard grades.
(The 1946 is of "pre-war" configuration, being made up with the beautiful, pre-war parts! . . . .INCLUDING the 20-line checkering on the stock!)
One can see the degradation of the quality of these gems as the years progressed.
(In fact, my 1998/99-era Featherweight has a safety that refuses to engage unless the bolt handle is jiggled as I move it to safe.)

OP . . . .Enjoy that rifle!
How's the bore? . . .There was a TON of 30-06, GI-corrosive- primed ammo available back in the 1950s' that ruined some nice rifles, thanks to Bubba' NOT cleaning in a timely fashion!

My son has a camera that he can run down the bore of the rifle. He said there is a little bit of pitting that you wouldn't see with normal visual inspection. It doesn't appear to be anything that would effect accuracy. Rifling is good.

 

[blackdeuce]

Took the sight hood off. The front sight is a Lyman.

 

[glshuck]

Took the sight hood off. The front sight is a Lyman.

Not likely to be original. It looks pretty tall. Probably was put on with the peep sight at some point. Some of those need tall front sights to be able to get the elevation right for the peep.

 

[buz0044]

Congratulations on a magnificent rifle. Don't worry if every single obscure detail is museum quality original. Enjoy it and by all means shoot it. Regarding the earlier mention of sling swivels. I'm not sure about the M88 but on the 70 SG and the 52 sporter Winchester used a proprietary wide detachable swivel. UM swivels will not fit. Observe the swivel bases are inletted (SP?) into the stock and not the studs commonly used with UM detachable swivels. The wide Winchester detachable swivels are very rare and expensive. I went looking for some a while back and saw prices up to $150 each.

 

[Bald1]

Yeah that's a beautiful rifle. I'd sit in a deer stand all day just staring at it. As mentioned the taller front sight would have been necessary for the rear peep. I'd already have a nice 4-12 Vortex on it.

 

[Trooper224]

That's a beautiful example. You have something special there. Don't change a thing. The Lyman rear sight wasn't standard, but was a factory installed option I believe.

 

[Bo Rich]

The front sight is a replacement. This was common on Super Grades chambered in .30'06. They would remove the valuable 255 Redfield gold bead sight, and place it on a rarer caliber to make up a Super Grade. You can sometimes find the Redfield front sight on e-bay, or perhaps Pre64.com. Be warned that it will be expensive. Being a Model 70 Collector. I would try to put the original sight back on the rifle. I feel that the Super Grade should have a Redfield gold front beed.