I've had shooter-grade pre-wars, transitions and 50's guns. All of them are noticeably better finished than guns from the 60's. Of all of them, I liked the transitions the most but I wouldn't pass up a good 50's gun. My current pre-64 is a '52 standard .270 and it's as smooth in action as the '47 transition 30-06's I've had.
The FWT's I've had have all been '56-58 guns and they were nicely finished, a tick below the transitions but not too much of a tick.
