Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Jack O'Connor & his 270Win. Some spec's please?

I'm pretty sure? his pet rifle was the Model 70 Super Grade with a mod or two? But what barrel length did Jack prefer. 22" or 24"?


Thanks in advance.


340

Betcha a dollar to a donut that Jack's favorite was a featherweight with a Beison stock.22 inch bbl.

Anyway a fwt. for sure

284LUVR,

You were right on target.

Quoted from Jack O'Connor's The Hunter's Shooting Guide (2nd Edition, 1978):

"Most of my big-game hunting is behind me, but what I'll do in the future I'll do with a .270 Model 70 Feather weight Winchester with a 22-inch barrel. It began life as a run-of-the-factory Featherweight. I sent it to Al Biesen. He put a release button on the trigger guard for the hinged floorplate, restocked with a piece of French walnut I had gotten from P.O. Ackley, and fitted a Leupold 4X scope on the now-obsolete Tilden top mount."

Rich

When I was 20 Mr. O'Connor spent an afternoon with me in his home in Lewiston. His office was in a converted garage behind his home. I got to fondle all of his rifles including both of the M70 270's. His favorite was the fwt. Both had been remodeled and stocked by Al Biesen. The other was a standard weight which had had its 24" barrel cut to 22" and turn down to a much lighter contour although it was not as light as the fwt. Both had the trigger guards altered to put a release lever in the front of the bow. The aluminum bottom metal on the fwt. had been replaced with steel. The fwt had a 4x Leupold and I believe the other had a 4x Redfield.

Andersen's book on O'Connor describes all of his rifles.

And you could still do anything that needs doing in the lower 48 or the African plains with that rifle and scope.

....Jack being the sheep hunter he was, would be enamoured by today's Kimber rifles I feel sure! Although he was a traditionalist when it came to wood or synthetic stocks, he dearly loved LIGHTWEIGHT rifles. Such love honestly born of many a trek into sheep country, I can't conceive of his not being sweet on the lithe Kimber offerings.

I suspect he'd still be shooting a Winchester.

i visited his education center this past june (lewiston, idaho)and spent some time looking at his 270 and 30-06, as well as his wife's 7x57. his 270 looked "heavy" to me, and the 06' even "heavier". perhaps it was the "awe factor" as i grew up reading his writings and have wanted to visit the center since it was completed.

The last rifle he was in the process of having built when he died was a Ruger 77 in .280 Rem. the work being done by Biesen

Winchester Model 70 Biesen Custom in 270 Winchester #287566; This rifle, made about 1953, replaced the Linden-stocked Mauser as Jack's favorite 270. Gunmaker Al Biesen turned down the standard barrel and shortened it to 22 inches. He stocked it in French walnut with an ebony forend tip, fleur-de-lis checkering, and a trap buttplate and grip cap of his own design. The rifle weighed 8 pounds complete with a Stith Kollmorgen 4X scope on Tilden mounts. Jack bagged a big six point bull elk with this rifle the fall of 1954 while hunting with Fred Huntington out of Les Bowman's ranch near Cody, Wyoming. The very next year he used it in India on blackbuck and in Iran on red sheep and ibex. In 1956 he took a 40" Dall ram from Prospector Mountain {Jack lived on Prospect ave. in Lewiston, ID} in the Yukon with it, and another bull elk in Idaho. In 1958 it went on safari to the Sahara and was used on addax and scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazell, and aoudad sheep. This was one of Jack's fabled pair of favorite 270's referred to as his Number 1 rifle. In the 1970's, Jack sold it to his friend Henry Kaufman, who has used the rifle in Africa as well as Scotland. Mr. Kaufman displayed this rifle at the Spokane, WA gun show a few years ago. I got to talk to him a bit and he's a very nice gentleman.

Winchester Model 70 Biesen Custom in 270 Winchester, #423509; This new Featherweight Model 70 was purchased in 1959 from Erb Hardware in Lewiston by Jack and sent to Al Biesen for some refinements and restocking. His purpose was to use it for everyday shooting and testing in order to conserve his favorite Model 70 270 already mentioned. He was somewhat surprised when this rifle shot even better than the other. The French walnut stock is checkered in Biesen's classic pattern and fitted with trap buttplate engraved with a ram, and a grip cap engraved with a moose head. Equipped with a leupold 4X scope in Buehler mounts, the rifle weighed 8 pounds. It became Jack's favorite 270 and was used on gemsbok and other antelope on his 1966 Botswana safari. It went to Spain, Iran, and Scotland soon after that. In British Columbia Jack shot his last three Stone sheep with it, the last ram killed in the Cassiars in 1973. Jack's only northern whitetail was shot with this rifle as it ran from a brushy Idaho canyon in 1971. In 1977 Jack took the rifle on what was his last big game hunt, to Wyoming and Montana for antelope and whitetails. Jack's health and eyesight were failing, and he fired not a shot, although his friend Henry Kaufman and son Bradford both bagged game. Jack's favorite 270 is still an O'Connor family possession today, as he wished.

You're pulling my leg aren't you

270winchester - thanks for such an informative post.

340Wby; Jack's last rifle: Ruger Model 77-Biesen Custom in 280 Remington #72-8463: At the time of Jack's death in January 1978, Al Biesen was working on another of Jack's projects. At the funeral, with all present, the family instructed Al to complete the rifle. The finished product had a 22" recontoured Ruger barrel with custom bases for a 4X Leupold scope. The stock, with fleur-de-lis checkering, is fitted with a skeleton grip cap and buttplate. It was the O'Connor family's decision to allow Jack's friend Henry Kaufman, who had been with Jack on his last hunt the previous fall, to keep the custom Ruger at the cost of Biesen's work. Jack's last rifle had been designed by Bill Ruger, an American firearms designer without peer, whom Jack greatly admired and considered a good friend. The custom work was done by another close friend, Al Biesen, whose work Jack preferred over nearly all others. Lastly, it's custodian would be another friend who shared Jack's appreciation for fine rifles and would see that it was well kept. What more could a rifle lover ask for?

Most of the above info is from Andersen's book about O'Connor,which lists a chronology of all Jack's rifles,and a description of them.

Thanks to 270 Winchester for bringing attention to that work here; my copy is somwhere around but a link to the publisher would be helpful and some on here may enjoy the book. I did.Anybody have the publisher info? Was it Safari Press?

Yep Bob, it's safari press, it's sitting on my nightstand with a whole bunch of other O'Conner books.

Handwerk:Thanks for the info......by the way,about that 30/06...you know...the one with the funny synthetic stockkkk?

WANNA SELL IT?????PLEASE????HUHHH???!!!!

let me note here that the jack oconnor center in lewiston is scheduled to hold their 2nd annual raffle for a custom 270 win (made like jack's) in 2009. i forget all that i was told about the rifle, but do remember that it would be a 270 win made on a pre-64 action, with a custom barrel and wood stock, and a 4x leupold scope. when i was there last june the curator gave me the low-down on the first one which some lucky fellow won. i was told that the first winner was advised to insure the custom for 10k. if memory serves, the tickets will be 25.00 each or 5 for 100. i'm sure if i won such a rifle i'd hunt with it. have a good one!

Pardon the thread highjack but I have the limited edition [1000 copies] book entitled "Jack O'Connor" by Robert Anderson that has all the surviving childrens' autographs as well as the authors'. In January 2003 I got to meet Eldon "Buck" Buckner and he graciously autographed my copy for me. Buck wrote the section of the book covering Jack's guns. Buck was mad at the publisher because my edition has a lower number [53] than his. I offered to trade him for one of his higher numbered books but he wanted me to keep my copy. The trade edition is still available. It just doesn't have as many pictures or letters from Jack that the limited edition has.

I ordered a copy of the trade edition a few days ago and I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival.