CrankEmUp: The pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters were offered in caliber 7x57 through the year 1954.
The Rifle you are interested in could certainly be an all original Rifle.
Use caution.
Do we have time for a quick pre-64 Model 70 7x57 story - I say we do.
About 1985 my good friend and fellow Model 70 enthusiast Maury were returning to his home in Bellevue, Washington after doing the local (but large!) gunshow that Saturday.
By coincidence his wife was also pulling in to their driveway after a days "garage sale-ing".
We had a tough day trying to find a deal on Winchesters that day but his wife had found a Winchester pre-64 Model 70 Carbine in 7x57 at the first sale she attended!
And she bought it for a song!
At first I thought my friend Maury and his wife Monty were playing an elaborate joke on me (nearly inducing a heart attack by the way!) but no they being devout Christians swore to me that her find was indeed authentic happenstance!
I fondeled that 95%+ Rifle on that day and on many subsequent days!
It was just cool to the maximum.
Sometimes you got to be in the right place at the right time.
Good luck CrankEmUp with the authentication and dealing on that rare Rifle.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy
