Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 1986 Winchester Model 70 XTR Featherweight Wintuff stock

I thought I would post a pretty uncommon Model 70. I never come across these anymore and rarely see them on the net with little to no info on them.




This is a 1986 M70 XTR Featherweight 270 with the Wintuff laminate stock. I remember seeing these new back in the late 1980's Winchester catalog but not in the mid 1980's. One came through my LGS a while back and I grabbed it up simply because it was so striking looking and in excellent shape. I assumed it was a 1988-89 model but it's serial number has it early 1986. From my limited research, it appears they only made this particular featherweight rifle one year in 1986. Please fill in any details if you know of any more info.



Anyway, it is a unique looking Featherweight and the "Wintuff" laminate stock makes it notably lighter. The rifle had a horrible trigger and I could tell it was never removed from the stock. I removing the stock only to find 30 years of dust and no oil on any parts. Looks like the gun was never shot. Bluing under the stock was perfect and without any pitting. Everything looked as new. I gave it a 3# trigger job and cleaned the gun up. Trigger is a dream now.

Great shooter with Fusion 150 grain. One hole groups with letting the barrel cool down between shots.



Quality is very good for its time. The bronze trigger just adds to the overall camo look and "cool factor". The pistol grip is more slender than all my other featherweight rifles. No plastic parts or plastic trigger guards on this baby.




Today's Model 70 is most certainly a better shooting package with its target crown, MOA trigger, and CRF extractor. Probably the best Model 70 ever built.
That said, these older push feed Model 70's can still be a good shooter and a heck of a bargain with their value only going up. They have their own charm and significance in the Model 70 time line that needs to be appreciated in their own right.

I highly recommend buying one of these "Wintuff" laminate Featherweights if you see a clean one up for sale.

I have one on a rifle from that period.. Model 70 Featherweight... but it is not with the Green as part of the color scheme....its a combo of Browns... I sort of like yours better than mine...yours being more attractive to me..

Mine was originally on a 30/06... bought it used off an old guy around 1998....it was needing a new barrel on it... he must have loved shooting it.. as he said that was the 5th barrel on the rifle counting the factory one...

I rebarreled it to a 6.5 x 55...

but gorgeous rifle Mystro...

Friend of mine has one looks just like that. Green laminate parts included. I know he bought it new sometime in the 80's. It's his favorite. Only shoots/hunts once a year so I've never bothered developing loads for it. I'll see him within the next few days and get the serial #.

That would be great . Serial starting G180xxxx to G181xxxx will put it in the 1986 year. These seem to be very rare and only made one year. European Featherweight. The standard Wintuff laminate stock came later in multi color brown.

Have you weighed the stock? Hard to believe that a laminate is lighter than a wood FW stock. On a related note, I was surprised to find the wood stock on a newly acquired 280 FW was a few ounces lighter than the fiberglass one on my 270 Winlite FW.

I didnt weight it when I had it apart but it felt very light much like a synthetic stock. The Laminate was very stiff and ridged, very high quality. It would put the synthetic stock of the 80-90's to shame.
The gun is very well balanced and would be considered a lighter mid weight gun by today's standards. For a 270, it's probably the optimum weight for carry and recoil control. It's an easy rifle to fall in love with and everyone that sees it at the range has to take a closer look because it stands out from the crowd.

Here's one for you. #G31856 is on a Classic Fwt barreled action(no bolt)in .270 I was given.

That's got to be mid 1990's.

The wood in the stock under the butt pad on these is hollowed out to reduce weight somewhat on the laminated versions. I had the same rifle in 280 for a while. It was nearly the exact weight as a walnut version of the Featherweight, right at 8 lbs scoped IIRC. I no longer own it so I can't verify that and am working from memory.

Most folks ASSUME all synthetics are lighter. Not so. In fact almost every solid wood stock I've ever weighed was the same weight or lighter than a comparable factory synthetic. Most of the cheaper aftermarket synthetic stocks are considerably heavier than wood. Even a standard weight McMillan will be almost exactly the same as walnut.

The only thing lighter are the stocks made of kevlar such as the McMillan Edge or the Brown Precision Pounder. Those will be 8-16 oz lighter than wood.

I owned a late 80s Ranger 70 in .270 for many years. It was the best shooting rifle I've ever owned, and that includes my recent Featherweight .308. If I knew more about real world rifle accuracy, I would never have let that Ranger go.

That Wintuff is a beautiful example of some under appreciated rifles.

mystro -

Very nice.

I have a 1300 FTWT pump 12 ga and a 9422 M with those kind of stocks.

They were also called Wincam. I have pics but can't post them tonight.

OR, let me ask, what's the difference between Wintuff and Wincam ?

Jerry

Looks like the "veggie pizza" stock on my Ruger Hawkeye Predator.

Here are my 2 Wincam stocks.



The 1300 12 ga is also a NWTF (wild turkey) model w/22" bll.

My memory is vague on the Wintuff model.


Jerry

Hey mystro,
Serial is #G1800917 on my friends rifle. Trigger is black. Stock with studs,grip cap,and recoil pad weighs 2lb 5oz. Bare rifle weighs 7lb 3oz.

I'm a sucker for those 1300s

The "Wintuff" was the generic name Winchester was calling these 'all new" (at the time) laminate stocks. They had "wincam" that had more green and gray to the standard Wintuff with multi shades of brown.
It was the quality alternative to the plastic stocks that eventually became the norm because the plastic was a lot cheaper to produce. This was one of the original Winchesters last stab at moving their guns to a higher premium and trying to reestablish themself. Unfortunately it was too little too late for Winchester. Those final years they were producing some outstanding guns. When they first came out, I loved the look and function. They were very expensive so I never purchased one back then but use to ogle them in the Winchester catalog.

That serial number looks to be a very early 1986. The black trigger has me wondering if they might have made different grades of rifles?? Hard to tell because Winchester does a lot of "special" or levels of grades with their rifles. Was it a 270 win?

mystro -

thnx for the info. I do remember the Wintuff name but didn't remember any distinction.

I know a guy that bought a 'Ranger' in the camo/laminate stock (don't remember Wintuff or Wincam). That particular rifle's fore end was narrow and deeper than the FTWTs. On THAT rifle I prefer the FTWT.

Thnx

Jerry

After I got mine, my son kept bugging me till I found one for him at a gun show. I really like the 22" bll with the choke tubes. I have full and 2 different XTR full tubes.

Very Handy


Jerry

Does anyone see these pop up any more in their location??? I don't at all in central Pa and a lot of guns come though our local gun shops.