Not sure if they called these a heavy barrel or varmint but Gunner pulled some Vudoo on me and I had to have one of my own. It’s a later gun but seems pretty clean.

That's a clean one. I helped with selling one from my brother in laws estate last year. Do you have the target scope blocks as well? They have the "target" trigger which is very crisp. The swivels should be 1 1/4" wide IIRC.

Mike, I don’t have the target block but I can see where it was used precious to me.

Interesting you say that about the trigger cause man, this is the best trigger I’ve snapped on a P64 to date. I almost couldn’t believe it.

Very nice Scotty. I'm sure it's going to shoot bugholes. I'd love to find one myself. Eventually I'll run across a good one..

Beretzs; That "Varmint" has some great wood on it. I have three pre-64 Winchester Model 70 "Varmint's" and none have that well figured of wood.
Over they years I have shot two Varmint 243's that I have owned and they shot very well for me before I traded those off.
Nowadays I just have one pre-64 Model 70 Varmint that I shoot the other two (and a 243 "Target" are in my collection not for shooting) - it has a somewhat period correct Redfield 6x18 scope on it and as with my others it shoots pretty well with Varmint style bullets.
By the way your Rifle was manufactured right at July 4th of 1963!
Enjoy that cool rig - are you going to shoot/Hunt with it or just let it appreciate and satisfy for you in your collection?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

It’s going to get shot fellas. I don’t collect them very well, more of a user type

That is a very nice looking late Varmint. It would look great with a 15X Unertl Ultra-varmint mounted. That combination has accounted for a lot of groundhogs back in the day!

Beauty there, nice looking stock for sure.
Enjoy!

Gorgeous

The stock looks to be dead on quartersawn. Love that gun. I have an old 10 power Redfield A/O on my 243 would perform on that gun and look sharp. Very nice

Wow...nice one.
I'd have zero issue shooting that thing too.

I like that one.

I understand the effect gunner can have on an innocent soul like you. Ha!

Sounds like someone did a masterful tune on that trigger. And yeah, a pre-64 trigger can be adjusted to near perfection.

Will await your range reports.

DF

Good post DF. I was missing ol gunner and texted him the other day. He's doing well. I also patiently await beretzs range report. For some reason I was shooting a 7 pound all up 300WSM today, so a 243 HB range report will be refreshing!!! Plus I know Scotty has plenty of 6mm bullets to test out. I sold him about 30 pounds of .243 bullets a while ago... I always enjoy his range reports too.

Gunners hard to keep pace with at times! This should be a fun one though. Waiting on some mounts but I’ll get it shooting soon.

Yeah, for sure. Gunner’s a hard act to follow.

DF

Congrats...that wood is stunning!

Someone did very nice job on that. The bolt handle has nice polished look and the barrel almost matches finish of the receiver. This is good because there is less glare sort of like on old vintage sniper rifle. The only minor complaint would be long action used for shorter cartridge which long range guys do not like. They like short action, because theoretically it provides better precision due to "stiffness". This is quite common on mass-produced rifles where same action is used for different length cartridges or same barrel blank being used for different calibers like .243 or .30, this is good because it make rifles more affordable to produce and these could be sold for lower prices. This can be of advantage. For example, Remington 78 .243 has nice thick barrel which makes it more stiff and less subject to overheating during repeated firings. Personally I like short actions because I do not have long arms.

My understanding is the barrel on those is stainless which was plated with iron and then blued. They closely match matte finish receiver bluing, or did on the one I sold.

It looks good, I am glad they took time to do it right. When Remington first came out with stainless barrels on the 700 they were simply painted black or possibly some king of baked on paint job similar to receiver on blued Mossberg 500s.

Mike, I was going to ask cause the barrel is certainly not shiny like a normal P64 I’m used to. It has a similar color as the receiver. I wondered if it was SS and forgot to ask you all.

Both the target model and varmint model 243's had what Rule referred to as the #8 barrel. That was a 26" stainless barrel. How are you going to scope that beast Scotty?? I'm anxious for the range report. I'm thinking it's going to drive tacks.

I have a Trijicon 2.5x15 Creedo for it and Leupold Backcountry Rings. Just need to order up some bases.

And thank you for the info on the barrel BSA. I learned some stuff!

Very nice man. You'll have some fun with that one. I'll bet it will be very stable off the bench. That Creedo should work out nicely. Great power range. I'd be having a ball with that one at my local 400 yard range.

I finally have something to burn up some of those .243 bullets I got from you. Plan is to wear it down some with the 87 grain VMaxs.

Hell yes. I was thinking those 100gr Hornady btsp's would work very well too.

Oh I’m sure any of the normal bullets will shoot well in it.

I know I have a pile of 243 bullets so once I get it set up I’ll get some targets posted.

Some 90 grain Bergers would be worth a look.