Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is Winchester rifles a thing of the past?

30-06 SS FWT in a FWT McMillan has always had my eye..

I agree, that would be an excellent rig 16Bore.....I love the featherweight stock........Hb

how about a nice new Timney trigger? I bet its enclosed though so i guess that would be out of consideration too..........Hb

Check around - and you'll find a lot of Timney owners that are unhappy with theirs after a period of time..

Think about something for a minute.. Nearly everybody considers Mausers to be an exceptional rifle in design and function. In fact, many rifle makers have basically copied that design - and the NH Winchesters were one of 'em.

Note the design of the Mauser trigger. Is THAT enclosed?

Here's the blowup:



See how simple that is? Simple function, very few parts, easy to clean, easy to service/or fix in the field, strong & reliable.

The NH M70 was designed with the same idea in mind.. Simple, easy to adjust, user-friendly, AND reliable. Compare that to Remington which has more trigger recalls than Carter has liver pills - not to mention the lawsuits involved.. Now, if the owners of rifles with enclosed triggers were as careful, fussy and maintenance-minded as you and I (and the majority of shooters on this site) there won't be much trouble.. I can't speak for you, but when I'm done with a rifle at the end of the day I usually take it out of the stock, check/inspect/lube (if necessary) and put it back in the stock for a final wipe-down of exterior surfaces.

But 75% ++ of owners of those same firearms usually don't remove 'em from the stocks more than once/twice in their lifetimes..not to mention doing a rudimentary cleaning. Guess which system's gonna fail first?

See what I mean?

Redneck: Based upon your experience, are there any good/workable triggers rolling off the assembly line today?

Not trying to flare-up anyone, just getting ready to purchase a couple more rifles.

PM me if you'd like.

I honestly am not familiar with all of them - since I primarily work with M70s, M700s..

But one comes to mind - in fact I just worked on it - a M77 Ruger..

Is it the BEST trigger? No. But is it rather simple in design? Yes. Is it an open-design? Pretty much, yes. Is it user-friendly (cleaning/maintaining)? Yes.. Can it be improved (kits available/gunsmith work)? Yes..

Remove from the stock and place it aside.. ONE simple pin to slide out and the trigger drops free, along with it's spring. It's now open enough to clean most areas. One pin holding the safety lever and sear in place.. Push the pin from the opposite side of the safety just enough to free the sear and now the entire area's open for cleaning and lubrication.. Easy peasy.. Putting it all back together can usually be accomplished via your fingers.. Once in a while a small punch helps to move the sear pin.

Doesn't get much simpler..

I don't think Ruger uses that trigger anymore...

I am open minded about the M70s but I'm down to a handful at the moment. I kinda like the Featherweight stock. OK it's a bit flamboyant even whorish but then a lady has to make a living too.

BTW - I didn't mention RUGER firearms. When were they introd.?

It appears that they do. From their website:



Just like the one I worked on Tuesday..

I've owned a few Ruger rifles, but for whatever reason, have never considered them worth having.

Dunno...

I hear ya.. I've only got a couple myself - but then I have a ton of NH M70s..

Some Ruger owners have a beef with the accuracy, the (somewhat) loosey-goosey actions and a stock that can be a little clunky.. Most perform OK but I do think accuracy is a bit of a crap-shoot..

However, that can easily apply to all makes at times..

For sure. I'm trying to talk myself out of a $400 PF Lightweight M70 that I don't want and don't need.


1st world problems.

I like the Ruger LC4 trigger but im like you guys, ive tried several times but just cant warm up to their centerfire rifles......I never had real good luck with accuracy ............Hb

Sorry to upset you Jerry but frankly no I don't think any of the cartridges you mentioned offer any real significant game gathering advantage over any of a dozen other midsize cartridges that date over 50 years such as the 270, 30-06 6.5x55 or the 7mm Shultz and Larson 300 H&H nor do I think that there has been any really significant improvements in rifle designs that significantly improve over rifles designed 50 years ago and I own several ruger and howa based rifles. They are good rifles but not significantly better than the guns available in the 60's . By the way the ruger 77 was introduced 49 years ago and the 308 and 7 mag cartridges.are both over 50 years old. Sure that are some really nice rifles out there but I guess it comes down to what one considers significant. Like I said the biggest improvements impo have been in optics and possibly the synthetic stocks. Even the partition bullet is over 50 years old. Rifles styles are different than in the past with more lightweight styles as say your model 70 FWT vs a 1965 model 70 with a full monte carlo stock and heavier contour barrel but the actual rifle design is basically unchanged from 50 years ago.

I'd take ONE Ruger over 10 Winchesters.

B eye

Honestly was/am not upset/angry. I feel there are 'more' rifles of quality available than there were 50+ yrs ago.

I also see real advantages in some cartridges SINCE many of those available 50+ yrs ago.

I think it would be a shame IF we were 'limited' to the rifles & cartridges available 50 + yrs ago.

Some people like cottage cheese...
Some people like Sour Kraut,,,,

I'm glad we ALL don't like the SAME things.

Jerry

PS -

It took me over a YEAR to get that 'old' 6.5x55 that I bought from you, UP to modern standards.



Jerry

This, unfortunately. The day of high-quality American hunting rifles is long past, since all of those previous ones still exist. There is only so many people that need a hunting rifle, and the supply outweighs the demand. Quality hunting rifles moving into the future will be a boutique or custom business.

A hunting rifle is about the only thing you can buy that's not obsolete after 50 years. Or even 100 for that matter.

$2,000 on something with that kind of life span isn't really a bad deal, except for the seller.