Have any of you purchased a used Zeiss Diavari C?
I am thinking of buying a rifle with one on it, both hardly used.
It is a 1-inch tube 3-9x, semi-gloss black finish.
Thanks!

WGM,
The doctor to whom I sold my other .375 Safari Express has returned from safari, is not using it, and decided to sell it. He sent me photos and the price. You aren't in the market, so let's don't waste his time, or mine.

WGM,
The doctor to whom I sold my other .375 Safari Express has returned from safari, is not using it, and decided to sell it. He sent me photos and the price. You aren't in the market, so let's don't waste his time, or mine.

I have owned several pre-64 Model 70s and still own one, a .30-06 target rifle. I own several late 1990s and mid 2000s Model 70s. The Supegrades of that era were a lot of rifle for the money.

My very recent .375 H&H is way better than the pre-64 .375 it replaced, in design, and the quality was just as good. I did shop a bunch of them in the 1990s that were of widely varying quality.

I have a picture of the new Model 70s in the rack at the factory on the production line last week. If it's okay, I will post it here. {post #2252466 - 06/12/08 10:13 AM }
.......

The plant in Columbia has always had the best CNC machines.
They turn out about $132,000,000 of M-240, M-249, M-16A1, M-4 and the FNP autopistols each year. I have a .375 M-70 Safari that was made there during the transition when FN bought control back from the French, and it is super nice, and shoots sub MOA. {post #2253064 - 06/12/08 03:42 PM }
.......

As I posted before, I have to get permission to post a picture of their rifles inside their plant. {post #2254695 - 06/13/08 01:30 PM }
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Sandlapper,
Where did your picture of the stocks in the racks come from?
I hadn't seen that one.

I hope they put the retail store back there like they had when they were building Browning stuff before the war in Iraq cranked up. I bought a nice High Power and a BDA for $325.00. I got a super nice Model 70 stamped "Columbia, SC", too. {post #2300936 - 07/09/08 12:51 PM }
......

My Model 70 is a Safari Express in .375 H&H Magnum, stamped "Columbia, SC" on the barrel, next to the caliber. The stock is an older one, high grade, like on the custom shop .375, so I presume the metal was put together in Columbia and the stock is from inventory in New Haven.

As for photos, of course you need permission - otherwise it is industiral espionage. But as a manufacturing consultant, I take lots of photos, in order to document processes, design improvements, and make new CAD drawings. In some facilities, employee badges may only permit them to set foot on small areas of the facility, yet a consultant may have access to much more, as he needs. {post #2302578 - 07/10/08 09:04 AM }
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Are you claiming that no Model 70s were made in Columbia, SC in the late 1990s? If so, you are mistaken. I have handled at least a dozen, and owned two.

I don't expect you to produce pictures of anything you are working on.

Don't expect me to produce pictures for people who don't know what they are talking about, and try to insult me by showing it. {post #2304045 - 07/11/08 12:30 AM }
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That I'd like to see..............

Getting through the guard station with a camera is a good trick. Taking the picture without someone confiscating it is again another good trick.


For the record, Winchester Model 70's have never been cast.....Ever, regardless of their year.
They are forged and have been from day one, short of a brief amount of time when forgings weren't available from their supplier, but the date and amount I've never been able to confirm. At that time it was solid barstock, but how many and when I've never been able to determine.

As for when they'll be out; I have no idea, since they've had plenty of components according to them for the last couple of months.

I know that the first ones are off to engraving as the limited edition models, but that shouldn't be holding the show up all that much.
{post #2289375 - 07/02/08 11:28 PM }
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Camera phones, cameras, video equipment, etc. is not allowed through the guard station, which is about 70 yards from main entrances I went through.

If you're caught taking pictures, you and your camera are gone.

They even go over the laptop cases of the highest guys in the joint, to say nothing of metal detectors ran over you.

While some believe that CNC machinery has been around for a long time and there's nothing secret about it; you'll find that it's not the machine, but the fixturing that is very important.
No one comes through my doors to view my method of fixturing parts and all my employees are bound to a noncompete and nondisclosure agreement upon the time of hiring.
FN is kind of laid back on that, but they're really not using anything in the way of fixturing that is very unique.
When you spend $200,000.00 and 6 months to build fixturing for a part, you don't want that type of info getting in the hands of a competitor. {post #2301730 - 07/09/08 07:22 PM }
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Against my better judgement, I took you off the ignore list, just to see what you'd come up with next.........The above quote is a real winner.

Care to elaborate or take a picture of that model 70?

What exactly does it say on the receiver? What model exactly is it too(supergrade, featherweight, etc.)?

I'll stay tuned in long enough to see what your answer is on this one. {post #2302043 - 07/09/08 10:52 PM }
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It's a shame that my internet service at home was down all day...............This has gotten good.

Okay Lee.

You claim you have a Safari Express purchased at FN's plant, with Columbia, South Carolina on the barrel??????

If you never post another pic in your life, post that one.


Before you do though, do keep in mind that since 1999, I've made every piece of bottom metal that was used on a Safari Express and since 2004, every extractor. I've also spent countless hours on the phone with the 2nd in charge at that facility, had drinks, dinners, and a few lunches with the same man. I've also spoke and met with 4 of the head engineers on that project, as well accounting, purchasing, and materials procurement.
To say nothing of supplying the last of the last parts that were used on the production rifles that left New Haven, as well as visiting the facility in December of 2005. During that visit, the only thing moving was FN sniper rifles.
The last 4,000 trigger guards that I shipped out in March of 2006 were all going to the FN sniper rifles........not safari express or supergrades.
When I visited FN in April of 2007, my parts, as well as many other components and actions that were left over, were sitting on shelves for inventory.
When the Shot Show came this year, the rifles were marked FN, not Winchester. Why you ask???? It's called a variance license. They had not gotten approval from the BATF to place the name Winchester on the rifles yet at Shot.
Do your research a little and you'll see that many were upset about it not saying Winchester. It's only been about 3 months since they got their approval for that.

I'm sorry if I can't produce pictures to support your lunacy, but I signed a nondisclosure agreement back in about November of 2006. I was looking at these rifles and their new triggers, prints, and everything else, even before the gunwriters were privy to it.


Now, before you ruin a perfectly good barrel with a set of letter punches, trying to stamp Columbia, SC on it, do be sure take your time and for god's sake..........Spell it right. {post #2303992 - 07/10/08 10:55 PM }



Trust me Lee, I never expected you to produce any picture...........


You're not gonna hit me with the little tidbit about receivers being made in SC are you? Next you're gonna tell me that the same plant that is making the m240's is where the model 70's were being made ain't it.

Well, if nothing else, you'll at least be better armed for another forum when you post lies.

Here's the big news Lee..........Two different plants. One is shutdown and being used for a warehouse of odds and ends and a lotta stocks. That's where the receivers were made that were marked "US Repeating Arms", not FN. That is not the same plant that is located on Old Clemson Road in Columbia. The old plant started out as an independent contractor, who later ended up getting in trouble and later bailed out. FN later took over operations, trying to salvage what was left before it was eventually shut down.

There are two receivers that your eyes would have had the privelage of seeing. One was an action made in SC that never indicated being made there, but was stamped USRAC. The other would have been and FN Herstal sniper rifle. Neither of which has been made in the factory at Old Clemson Road.

Now, about that picture, so you can prove us all wrong. Though your Google kungfu maybe strong, I doubt it's up to this challenge. {post #2304065 - 07/11/08 02:13 AM }
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Lee, I apologize for being absent for so long in your backhoe work.......Had a son's birthday party to attend and organize, as well as some fishing to do.

After reading about three of your posts claiming that I didn't know about Winchester having items manufactured in South Carolina, I figured I should chime and clarify that for you once again.
Fact.........Winchester had a subcontractor in SC that was making their receivers, as well as various other parts. They got into financial trouble, due to reasons I can't discuss here. Winchester took over the plant and continued to operate the facility until their closure in 2006.
Fact........This is not.......don't miss this part Lee........This not FN Manufacturing on Old Clemson Road.

Show us the picture of a Safari Express that you own that has Columbia, SC on the barrel and I'll refrain from calling you a pathological liar, with grand tendencies towards retardation.

Many years from now I'll be 90, and at that point I'll be able to tell you that I've forgotten more about model 70's than you'll ever know, but you don't have that leg to stand on right now either, seeings how I'm in my prime..................grin.

While you're at this grand scheme of convincing everyone here that you infact have been to the FN facility; please tell me the name of the engineer that you spoke with on your visit. You've got four to choose from that work on the Model 70, so your odds are better on this one, than producing your picture.

Now, since I've got your pattern down........This has to be someone who is actually employed there. Is in fact an engineer, and not someone who stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. This can't be an engineer that you met in Columbia, who wanted to work at FN, nor can it be someone who works on trains that drives through South Carolina on Sundays.
In all fairness, I'm going to give you a hint........Two of them have the same first name.

Here's the next question for you Lee, since you claim to have been there.......How many CMM's as opposed to Horizontal CNC's are there in the main manufacturing facilty, where the M240's are being made? In other words, what's the ratio of CMM to CNC's.

There are some things that your Google Kungfu just can't whoop. {post #2312068 - 07/14/08 10:59 PM }

Thanks for the link for ease of posting future pictures.

You avoided telling me exactly what it is you and whomever you speak for are denying, so I can bust your bubble directly.

And if I don't do what you demand, you'll do what... continue to make a fool of yourself?

I bought a rifle yesterday with one of these on it, and have it for sale for $550.00 delivered. It is like new.

Or, continue to avoid a direct answer.

Those are really, your only choices.

You still don't comprehend that my .375 H&H Model 70s were built in Columbia long before the current batch being manufactured at FN LLC, back when Winchester was still open, and FN was just taking full control from the former French owners.