I guess I was pretty close on my guess huh?? grin. Who said it was a '52 or later?
Somebody who spotted the drilled bolt handle, but missed the plastic butt plate.
So educate me, I have a '53 270 with a solid bolt handle.
According to Rule (paperback edition, page 140) Winchester began drilling a hole in the bolt handle for the Featherweights in 1952, and "It was soon adapted to all Model 70 styles, but was one of the slower modifications to be implemented, and actually did not occur on many early Featherweights."
So, if you have a drilled bolt handle, it pretty much means a '52 or later. But, a post '52 will not necessarily have a drilled handle. Thus, it is no surprise that your '53 .270 does not, but if it did, that wouldn't be a surprise either. I have an early '54 .270 that does happen to have a drilled handle.
What really surprises me, considering how little weight it removes, is that they went to the trouble!
Composition butt plate (which I mentioned) and rounded bolt sleeve (as BSA noted, but I missed) came along in '59.
Last edited by GunDoc7; 02/24/15.
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