1st Model Newton, what SN?
The SNs are found on the bottom of the action and where the bolt handle is attached to the bolt's body.
If you can chamber a 270 round, it has probably been rechambered and rebored. The 270 case is longer then the 256 Newton and the shoulder is farther forward, so there is no way that a 270 will chamber in a 256 Newton chamber.
Nobody has made 256 Newton factory ammo since civilian production resumed after WW2 and the 270 would have been an easy conversion. However, I think that you should slug the barrel to insure that it really is a 270. Whenever I hear a story about a rifle that has been rechambered without the new chambering being marked on the barrel, I think of the Savage 99 that blew up on Bearrr264. Somebody had rechambered a 300 Savage to 308 and when Bearrr264 fired a 180 grain factory load, the case seperated and the escaping gas blew out the cheeks of the stock. I think that he might have killed the 'smith who rechambered it, if he had known who did it.
Too bad that it isn't still a 256 Newton, but somewhere out there is Elmer Keith's 1st Model Newton, #128(?), and that would bring a premium price from Keith fans if it ever shows up on the market.
Jeff
