Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors 1954 Model 70 220 Swift

Picked this one up this morning, pre 64 Model 70 in 220 Swift, no safe queen, has been well used but not abused.
Some finish loss, no major gouges, checkering still fairly sharp, the wood has pretty nice grain with light tiger striping almost the whole length.
Metal is decent, wear at carry points, barrel is a matte finish which I think is correct for this vintage.
Main concern is the bore, clean and shines but may be pretty worn, will have to see how it shoots.
Came with 5 boxes ammo, vintage Boyt sling and a Weaver K6 which is nice and clear.














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Very cool old rifle. Thanks for sharing..

Throat erosion is frequently an issue with the Swift....

That's a stainless steel barrel....

Yes, I knew that and it does have me concerned but I figured I could part it out for the 700 I got in it if I had to.

Shoot it and let us know how it does. That old scope looks great on that rifle. Looks like it's been on there for a while. My 270 fwt had one (except a K4) just like it, when I bought it. The original owner told me it had been on there for a loooooong time...

Nice old Model 70. It sounds like you bought it right!

And yes, as Poconojack pointed out, they did come with stainless steel barrels which give them a matte finish look.

donsm70

Thanks all, got to looking at it a little closer and I may have been overly critical of the bore, the problem is it shines so much that any strong light blinds to the point you can't make out the rifling, using a subdued light I can see good sharp rifling. The proof will be in the shooting.
The Weaver had a little surprise, I could not get the turret caps off with my fingers, they are o-ring sealed, when I got them off I found finger adjustable turrets, I dislike coin slot turrets.
Hope to get it out to the range Tuesday and see what it will do.

SWEET rifle, congratulations, I hope it has plenty of throat left for many years of enjoyment.

I'm done buying M70s, but I'd buy that one! Mucho nice.
Bob

Some throat erosion does not mean that's it's no longer accurate. You got a great deal. I would keep it exactly as is.

Never say never..

Nice rifle!

The condition it's in is about right to go ahead and use without trepidation, and rifles are for using...I'd have a hard time justifying NOT buying it.

I have a 1960 or '61 M70 in .264 and it shoots well. I don't want to know what the throat looks like.

Sometimes it's better to not know. I've had some where I couldn't even find the lands when trying to establish an OAL. I just load them long and they still shoot good...

I have a mint 6X Lyman All-American that would look perfect on that M70. Love the dark stock...
Bob

I think the weaver k6 looks great on there. I actually went back to my old Weaver K4 on my 270 fwt. I might even hunt it that way.... Might... Maybe...

I've always been a Lyman freak...grew up in CT, just a short distance from the old Lyman factory. I still have several minty Lymans ready to mount on rifles I'll probably never buy.
Bob

I've got a place for a 6x All-American, should you ever want to sell it.
Would look great on my '37 Gov't 06.

Those Lyman's are nice looking scopes and do look great on pre 64 model 70's. That all American would be bad azzed and retro on an old rifle...

How long is the barrel?

Vintage, period correct scopes may be great if one only plans to look at a rifle, but they leave a lot to be desired in the field. Have had two old Weaver's fog up when hunting in the rain and snow, two valuable days lost and I will no longer take a chance with 50 or 60 year old optics, ymmv....

26"

Very neat rifle.

I bought one a few years ago, and decided to do the same thing and leave the vintage scope on it. I have 2 other Swifts, and I have serious varmint scopes on them. This is for remembering what it was like in the early days of scoped Varminting...

Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!
Bob

Very cool pickup, Augie. Congrats.

Thank you all for the input, much appreciated.

Shrapnel, that is a beauty, they do look so right with the vintage scopes. I've got a couple old PermaCenter 20x scopes, may put one on this rifle if it does well with the 6x.

I'm going to get it to the range tomorrow, hoping for the best. If it shoots well it might present a dilemma. I believe in leaving vintage guns alone if original but this one has such nice wood hiding under the old peeling finish I might be tempted to refinish the stock and have the bottom metal reblued.

What do you all think?

It's only original once. I would enjoy it as it is and appreciate the wear and tear.

I wouldn't touch it, looks good as it is....

I don't think it looks that bad as it is. You can refinish a gun a dozen times, but it is only original once. I always bought whatever I could live with, and if that wasn't as good as I truly wanted, use it until I found the one that is in better shape, sell mine and buy the other one.

Too many guys "Bubba" these old guns up and then they are not original any more. There are no more pre-64 model 70's being made, so it is best to keep it original, someone else will always be glad to step into a gun like yours and be happy with it.

Shoot it and enjoy the gun, that is what it was made to do...

Leave it alone. Here's a somewhat battered '52 .270 that is a favorite...it'll be my Axis deer killer early next year. It wears its hunting scars proudly. Scope is an older Lyman 4X with a post/crosshair.
Bob

Update, got it to the range last week and it was a disaster, the rifle did not group, it patterned. The ammo supplied with the gun was previous owners hand loads which were hot, sticky bolt with bullets seated too deep, 2.40. Did not fire more than 6 rounds.
Prime example why I usually will not shoot someones else's loads.
Pulled the bullets on all 100 rounds and salvaged the components, the brass is new Norma brass. Did up some moderate loads with H380 and seated the bullets out to 2.700 versus spec at 2.68.
Took it back out today and it did much better although the scope was not sharp or clear, kind of fuzzy , finally figured out adjust the eyepiece, backed it way off and got the scope clear.
Final 5 shoots were all touching at 100 yards, there are 10 shots on target, 5 before scope adjustment and 5 after that made the good group in center. Pretty happy considering old eyes and 6X scope.

That's pretty good Augie, my little Hornet was kinda finicky when I started load development, I removed the sight boss screw, added a bit of locktight to the threads and just started it a bit back in and let it dry.

I couldn't believe the difference in consistent accuracy.

Not bad at all Augie. Looks like you got a good one..

as I groan with envy.....

one of the few number of rifles that exist on my dream list... and in one of the calibers to boot.

BSA, not to horn in on Augies thread, but you being one of the pre-64 70 experts here, have you noticed any difference in accuracy with altering the sight boss screw tension or was my adjustment a fluke?

Gunner, that's not a fluke. Other members here have done the same thing. BobinNH has stated before that he's taken the screw completely out and have gotten good results. I have also made "dummy" screws and epoxied them into the stocks with no contact to the barrel. However, this was something I've done after pillar bedding and also freefloating the barrels. They still look original, but shoot like a house a fire... EricM has 2 rifles I've done this to and he can attest to how well they shoot.

10-4, many Thanks BSA, guess I'll leave that little stinger as is.

Damn 700$, you got a deal on that rifle. and its a shooter also.
Congrats!

Nice find!

If the barrel is bad enough, I'd rebarrel it with a vintage barrel before I would part the rifle out. Intact .220 Swifts are getting increasingly difficult to find and yours looks unmolested by recoil pads, side scope mounts, etc. In the long run, the the intact value will far outweigh what you could get out of the parts.

Depending on how old the ammo is you received with the gun, you may want to think about decapping them and reloading them with modern, non-corrosive primers. No sense exacerbating the existing throat erosion issue - those corrosive primers are the culprit and they will eat stainless barrels just the same as a carbon steel barrel.

Good luck with it!

wow I killed a LOT of woodchucks in New England with pre 64 M70 Swifts.

Making me wish I had them back.

I have the exact same rifle, but a 1950 model. Even has the original Weaver K6-1 scope on a Redfield one piece base. My grandfather bought it new and had it on the tractor for shooting 'yotes (he raised sheep so his hatred for coyotes burned bright). I eventually inherited it. I have the original stock for it but put it into a Boyd's laminate to help protect the original stock from dings and scratches.



I did some load development for it years ago using H380 and Sierra 55 grain bullets. I ended up getting some really good groups with that rifle with the best being .3" 3-shot group at 100 yards. I figured that was probably good enough so I quit while I was ahead.

Grandpa used this Swift to take everything from 'yotes to moose (when he didn't want to carry his pre-64 M70 in 300 H&H) I even have a little adaptor for shooting .22 rimfire out of it if I wanted to. They changed the laws a number of years ago up here so you can't use a .22 cal for big game hunting. This one has been relegated to shooting 'yotes and punching paper.

SS