Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors 308 Featherweight

I need another rifle like a hole in the head but was thinking a .308 FW with an aluminum butt plate would be cool. No idea what the market was on them so when a complete uncut original showed up on GB, I put in some bids to test the market. I knew 800 was too little. Was 1000 too low?

I own it now. There's a lesson.

Anyway, fun little rifle, showed up yesterday, wearing a Balvar 8B in some goofy see through mounts. Those are gone replaced with Leupold Low Gloss rings and bases. I'm keeping the scope on it, too fun to keep something like that in service. I pulled it apart just now. Pretty sure that's the first time such has ever been done to it, going to need some clean up there. The finish is 60-70% gone, only 30% left. The bluing is much nicer, this thing wasn't shot much or lately.

Current thinking: strip remaining finish (its really bad) and oil the stock (no gouges or dents, just peeling flaky finish). Thoughts on that?

Also the barrel channel is incredibly tight. Almost a compression fit. Thoughts on that? Bread bag clip or relieve the wood or leave it alone?

Not sure what you gave for it, but it sounds like it's in good condition.

Everyone will give you a different answer, but a pro refinish on the stock with a touch up on the checkering wouldn't be wrong to me. It sorta depends on what you plan to do with it. If it is refinished you lose some collector value, but gain hunting protection.

As for the barrel/wood fit, I'd shoot it first and see what it does. Then if it doesn't perform to your standards I'd try the bread bag free float. See what works the best. Typically my Featherweights have shot well as they come with snug wood to metal fit.

Congrats on the rifle. Those little Featherweights are slick rifles!

Bkin, that is a hard decision. Even though you guys see me glass bedding a lot of them. It's generally the ones that someone has cut and installed a pad on: Anything you do to it will reduce the value. Its a catch 22 on something like that. A good example, my buddy had a stock just exactly like you describe. It was all original, but the finish was terrible. Flaking off very badly. I told him I wouldn't expect to get $200 out of it. A couple months ago, he took it to a gunshow and got $300 out of the bastid, so he tells me!!! I couldn't believe it. I feel like he screwed someone over, but if they were both happy with the deal, then so be it. The reason he was selling the original stock is because I installed a nice Mcmillan on his rifle. It's now his favorite hunting rifle. As for the plastic bread clip trick. I've had a couple rifles that I found those when I bought them. The clip will elevate the barrel and relieve some pressure. Before messing with it too much, shoot it and see how it does in its current condition. I've seen guys f up a good thing. Like some here say, they don't need to glass bed their pre 64 to get them to shoot well. That can be true for a lot of them, but some of them benefit greatly from a good glass bedding job. I still don't suggest glass bedding a primo original stock. At $1,000.00 you did well, from the sounds of it. You didn't say what year it was made, but I'm assuming '52-'58..

Good points Scotty. I have a story to tell on one particular 308fwt. A guy I know had 2 pre 64 model 70's. A 338wm and a 308fwt. They were both beautiful rifles. As the story goes from this guy, he said he gave the 308 to his son. After a while his son comes to him and says, "dad, why does this 308 shoot so poorly". The dad said he about flipped out on his son. Saying he used to shoot tacks off the targets at 100 yards. After examination of the rifle, he saw that his son had freefloated the barrel. The dad was pissed, damned near took the rifle back and disowned his son. I guess the old guy had put something like rosin or wax down the barrel channel and it shot like a house a fire. He said it protected the stock and "pine needles don't collect in there, like they do when they are freefloated". I didn't argue with the guy, if that worked for him. What a lot of guys don't get is one method is not going to be the best solution for every rifle. They are individual and you have to experiment sometimes. They are mechanical in nature and you have to treat them that way..

That is all good advice and thank you for it. Ill do that. I took it apart and I'm sure I'm the first person to ever do that. Trigger needs lightening. Cleaning up the metal did wonders for it. I'm guessing that the rifle was inherited and am pretty sure traded in at a black gun kind of store which put it on GB as is, no clean up at all of any kind, and moved it. The metal finish frankly is unbelievably good. The stock got wet at some point and flaked badly.

1090 plus shipping. I don't feel bad about it, not a bit. A screaming deal? No of course not. But original and complete, sights and hood, uncut, solid bolt even, with a really fun scope? Yeah, I'm ok with it.

268XXX makes it 1953

A gun is only original once.

Uh, at 1090 I'd have been all over it myself. BSA gets the deals, so I pull 2nd fiddle and get the more expensive ones it seems! HA!

If the stock is nice piece of wood, a clean up and refinish would be easy for me to do. I use the rifles and like them to be weatherproof as much as possible. Especially the barrel channel. I have no problem getting a bunch of sealer in there to reduce the chance of warping it.

Being a 53 makes it even nicer in my book.

Congrats BK.
Glad to hear it cleaned up nicely!
I had it on my watch list; I think you did well.

Congratulations on your new-to-you rifle !

I bought a made in 1953 M70 FWT .308 in the early seventies and followed the NRA instructions on how to tune it. Very simple, really.
1. Be sure the barrel is cleanly floated. It was not, so I touched it up.
2. Arkansas stone the trigger until it is like glass. I did and it still is.
3. Trimmed the butt for a perfect fit.
4. Install Leupold M8 4 power scope, sighted in and left it alone. has not been adjusted in 20+ YEARS.

The rifle has always shot sub minute of angle.

When the Hornady Light Mag ammo came out, I stopped reloading and still use factory Hornady Supererformance 165 grain ammo.

Last step was to hunt it hard! I did and had to have the metal and wood refinished ! Looks almost new now.

Sounds nice. I like vintage scopes on my vintage rifles. The top rifle's wood finsh was pretty thin and worn, a few coats of wax did wonders for it. Might be worth a shot before you go the refinish route.

Nice. Sounds like you did very well on the deal.. It was probably packed around and hunted a lot, but rarely shot. I run across those all the time. Especially the pre 64's.. You should post some pictures of it, but may not need to, as you described it well. Probably a low comb too? Solid bolt is cool. I had a '53 just like it, but it was primo.. I sold it here for $1,200.00. It was a good rifle, but I just don't like 308win..

You guys are awesome, thanks. I'll put some pics up soon.

That rifle needs a brown and a bunch of dead deer while you refinish that stock.

haha thanks. Great idea!

I'm going to try waxing the stock. I get more excited about this rifle all the time. The trigger is much better now. Had to have been 6-8 lbs before.

Wouldn't that be sweet. Or how about one of these Mcmillans:



Here's mu buddies '53 308 I was telling you guys about. I put it in the same pattern Mcmillan, but olive and black swirly:

Awesome rifle Bkin. That one tells a story. Been carried quite a bit, by a right handed shooter. My best suggestion is to get some old english with stain in it and rub a few coats in. Then after that, wax it up to help preserve the wood. That is a trick my smith gave me and it won't hurt the originality of the stock, but will help to protect it further, especially when you are hunting it. I'd suggest using your stainless rifles for hunting when it gets really wet and leave this one at home. Cool old rifle. Thanks for sharing.. Also, If you decide to refinish the stock, good luck with it. One of the most beautiful stocks I've seen was actually a refinished pre 64 model 70 stock. Done by one of Bobin's buddies in Oregon that I visited with. That guy refinished furniture and wood floors, so he was good at that kind of stuff. Your stock reminds me of my buddies stock. When they get to a certain point, even though they may be 100% all original, they lose value. With a top notch refinish job, you could still sell the stock or complete rifle at the same price point. The hard core collectors don't like you to touch them, but you also have to realize that a good refinish job will help to preserve the stock better. Making it more appealing to some..

That's a cool rifle. You done good in my book. BSA's suggestions about OE with some wax in it might be enough. Can't hurt anything, that's for sure.

I wouldn't feel slighted to hunt it either way. Metal looks perfect on it for the stock being as worn as it is.

Thanks for the tips, you guys really come through for me. I appreciate it. You mean a McMillan like this:



On a 1962 .270 FW and that rifle is crisp!

Well done!