Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters pre 64' model 70 accuracy

Looks like you brought it up 3 hours ago. ha ha.. Do pre 64 model 70's shoot well?

Shoot buddy, I could EASILY get by the rest of my days with what they chambered in P64's and I bet I wouldn't miss out on much. Heck to be honest, I pretty much do now. 270, 30-06, 7 Mashburn (Mag action), 338 Win and 375 Improved... Nothing at all I couldn't get done with those, anywhere.

Man, I love that picture. One of my favorites.

In 1984 I shot a 243 and 220 swift in pre 64.
They belonged to a family member.


Now, in 2021, I own 8 pre 64 rifles, and I only shoot them after I rebarrel them.

I have a pre-64 '06 that dates to 1952. First few groups, with 165gr Hornadys and 58gr H4350, werearound 2" at 100yds. After a week of repeated soakong and scrubbing with JB compound, it settled in at back-to-back-to-back 3/4" groups. Problem solved.

Mine too - it was a memorable hunt...........now that I have forgotten how much work it is to get one of those sucker out by yourself.

That's a great picture and yes, it is a lot of work. You did well... Since this is an accuracy thread on pre 64's. Here's one of mine with a bull I took 2 years ago:



The beauty in this rifle is its always ready to go elk hunting:


Picture sucks, as it was taken with my Oregon 550 GPS... Yeah, for the most part, pre 64 model 70 winchesters shoot very well.. While I'm at it. Here's a 30-06 fwt that I will never part with:

I only have one, 375H&H. Still have the original 2 lug stock but it doesn't fit me well so it is hunted in a custom Brown Prec. Scarry accurate it has taken 3 cape buffalo, various plains game a bunch of deer and a few coyotes. My idea of a "black rifle".

Very nice. There is mucho beauty in the versatility of that rifle. I thought that was a Brown Precision stock. My 338wm wears a PoundR.. Extremely nice stocks with great ergo's that help to soak up that recoil.

Last week I got to shoot a first year production "Short RIfle", It had been drilled and tapped early in it's life, and had a Weaver 2.5X scope on it. In addition to it being a 1937 model, it had been very well taken care of, it had character in it's stock and metalwork, but it was still in great shape. With that somewhat foggy scope (it was pretty bad) I shot three shots of a mild cast-bullet load into 1.25 inches, and I'd never seen that rifle before I shot it.

If the previous owner took good care of it, it's probably as good as that old M70 Short Rifle, and it probably shoots well enough to hunt anything you'd care to chase with it. It was, of course a .30GOV'T06, but was loaded to .30/30 specs or thereabouts. I really enjoyed that rifle it's a sweetheart.

that picture makes me want to hunt elk with a pre64 -06 - thanks

That one and a bunch of the other pictures in this thread!

I blame you all for the current state of my bank account...but I can't wait to hear the mail has arrived.

Went and bought myself a 1948 vintage 70 standard grade, one of the cleanest I've ever seen. Put a vintage 1970s Leupold (THE HORROR) 3X9 on it and this is what I got with factory and one hand loads. Note they all were pretty much POI with all loads... Three shot groups for the most part...

150 Nosler AB handloads:


Norma 130gr (three shots plus one high after final correction)

WW Power Points:
https://i.imgur.com/U9sO7S7.jpg
And RP CoreLockts:

Wow, that IS a good shooter! And good shooting on your part too, JorgeI. How can you not like it when they put many different loads into just about the same area if not group.

Still sounds like a nice rifle. Just found and put money down on a 1948 standard rifle too, but this ones in 30 gov't 06

Thank you and like I commented, it's one of the cleanest I've ever owned and I've owned (own) a few of them, but the fact it shot to POI with basically four different bullet manufacturers and my hand loads was a bonus indeed.

Welcome! Will we see the rifle, too?

I'll get some close ups and post.

Right on, looking forward to seeing that!

Will post some of mine (and groups) as well, in a couple weeks

Here you go..

I had 3 pre-64s, 2 scoped, 1 with irons. The scoped guns were a .257 Roberts with a Redfield Widefield 3-9X and an '06 with a "Bearcub" (?) 4x in a tip-off mount. The iron sighted gun was a .375 H&H with a SN in the mid 650s.

The .257 and '06 were roughly 1-1/4" guns at 100 yards with their preferred loads. The .375 was minute of coffee cup at 50 yards .. I never really pushed it past that. They were good for their time, good for what their owners expected. They wouldn't be bragging guns in the accuracy department today.

Tom