Home Forums Hunting & Shooting The Lefty Forum Winchester 70 LH

In walnut/blue and without the thing on the end of the barrel! How scarce are they? I ask cause I just purchased one hopefully for a little elk trip.

I wouldn't consider them "scarce" but they are sought after, especially in standard calibers, and usually don't stay on the rack long if priced reasonable. Congrats on the rifle, good luck on the hunt and welcome to the 'Fire.

Are you the one that just bought this .30-06 off Gunbroker?

http://www.gunbroker.com/Item/612579306

Afraid so! Might have been a little too much but these don't show very often and they sure aren't making any more. Besides I've had righty rifles, no Winchesters either, all my 70 years and decided to treat myself.

They are not so rare that I would be afraid to use it.If you want the gun to achieve its potential, I would take/send it to a competent M70 gunsmith. Like all factory rifles, the trigger can be lightened from what is probably about 5# down to about half of that. They typically are bedded in a cheesy hot glue crap that should be dug out and replaced with quality bedding. Whatever caliber you bought, the barrel is about 2" longer than it needs to be, so it could be bobbed and recrowned. I have also seen them with mis-drilled scope mounting screws, so a good gunsmith might solve that by drilling them to 8-40.

It might sound like I am hyper-critical of M70, but the contrary is the case. Various Lh M70s have been my main hunting guns for the past decade, unless I want something really light. It is just that I don't expect any factory gun to pass muster (although the Tikka comes dam close.)

And once you factor in the value of the scope on the gun you just bought, I do not think you overpaid.

I looked at Tikka hard but the modernity just bothered me....old school I guess. Heck I still may spill for a Tikka 260 Remington....maybe the 6.5 swede.

I've hardly seen many Winchesters that couldn't be tuned up either and hopefully this one won't disappoint. Believe it or not this is the first 30-06 I've ever owned and yet to own a .270. A 25-06 and a 300 Savage for game have always served me well. However, I guess I own/owned everything else there is under that.

Enjoy, I'm glad you found one. . I hope you can shoot and hunt for many more years👍

Congrats on the Win 70. I've got one like that in 7mm. It's a joy to hold and attractive, but I was quite disappointed in the metal work when I got it years ago. Bolt release would not release the bolt, magazine floor plate latch would not latch and unlatch, trigger pull was about 12 lbs with tons of travel. Thankfully my smith took care of all of them for not much $$. The rifle reflected it was a poor time in history for a company that typically does not have those types of issues with the product. I'm really happy to see the final bid on the auction - I paid $400 for mine about 20 years ago.