Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors 243 Varmint

Acquired this a few days ago. Opinions please. You guys are the experts. Someone has done a great job on the trigger and it has been glass bedded.
Not sure what I'll do with it. Not like like I need another 243.....
The Hawkeye borescope shows surprisingly little wear in the throat and a shiny bore.






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Very nice rifle there buddy. Bolt face shows a lot of wear. I was going to guess 1962 DOM, but you screwed up and posted a pic of the serial #. So I'm 2 years off on my guess... I'm by no means an expert, but that rifle looks all original to me, except where it looks like someone tried to freefloat the barrel and then put glass in the channel to try to hide something. I'll be it shoots lights out as long as it was bedded properly and the bore and throat are as nice as you say. You know the throat is the first to see signs of wear on those .243's. I much prefer the 6mm as they don't erode the throat as bad as the shorter cartridge does. However, A lot of guys stuck on the .243 though, as it's an excellent cartridge in it's own right. I like the rifle, but only looked at the pictures showing on the screen right now. Do you know if the innards are appropriate for the short cartridge: IE: bolt stop, mag spacer, etc... etc....

It has the proper magazine, ejector and bolt stop parts.
The bolt face is smooth, just the blueing worn off.
Someone did float the barrel when it was bedded I assume, and did not do a perfect job. I likely won't even shoot it.
I'm trying to trade it locally for another Kimber Montana.
I had one exactly like this go through my hands three years ago. This one is nicer but I still don't "need" it. I just bought it because it was there and the price was fair. And, I'm a sucker for a Pre'64 M70, had probably near twenty of them thru here in the last 6 or 7 years, have three "keepers".
Note that it is a Dec. 1960 gun and it has the large checkering panels which were phased out in 1960.
I didn't "screw up " when showing the serial number, I'm not that paranoid..:-)

Those are the small checkering panels. Correct for that vintage. I meant you screwed up because that tells me what year it was made. I don't give a chit about how paranoid you are.. Looks like a pretty damn original piece except for the flubbed up barrel channel and bedding job. Nice rifle nonetheless..

Yeah, it's too bad about the bedding and the barrel channel.
I was comparing the checkering panels on the fore-end to my '62 Fwt 270. Clearly the 243 panels are longer and wider.
Are there three sizes of checkering panels? '62 Fwt shown below.

There may be buddy, but the one on your 243 are smaller than the larger panels found on pre '58-'59 rifles.. Those would look more like this:



To me, it seems like your forend panel is smaller. More wood around the border of the checkering...

Interesting.
So, there are 3 sizes of checkering panels.

Rembo: Some of the pre-64 Winchester Model 70 Varmints had "stainless steel" barrels on them - and in a couple of the pictures I see they lead me to believe this is one of the special finished stainless steel barrels.
If it were mine I would clean it up some and hide the poorly done barrel channel bedding and set it aside for its value to appreciate some.
Many years ago I bought a similar vintage Varminter that I knew had been shot A LOT - it had virtually no rifling for the first inch and a half of the barrel!
The previous owner just shot and shot and shot the Rifle at our local range - more as therapy and as a hobby.
It was "shot out" and my bore scope proved it to me.
I had plans for the action.
Luckily I took it to the range out of morbid curiosity and shot it.
It shot fairly well with the 6x18 variable (correct vintage) Redfield scope I put on it.
With fireformed brass and good conditions it shoots consistently in the low 6's for five shots at 100 yards.
I have used it in the past to kill Antelope, Coyotes, Rock Chucks and one Deer with it.
When I bought the Rifle it had a very nice custom stock on it, sadly the original stock had gone down the road LONG ago.
The metal on the Rifle is in 95%+ condition (other than the bore!) and I always look for an original re-placement stock but to date have NOT found a suitable one.
It would look nice in my collection with a nice original stock.
Best of luck to you with what ever you decide to do with your nifty new Rifle.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy