Well, I finally felt bad enough about giving Ingwe a hard time over his pushfeed fetish. No this is not a 7x57, but it's bad enough that it's a pushfeed . A while back some questions were asked about the XTR's and that got my interest up. About the same time I noticed one at my LGS. It is chambered in the JOC special (270W), so there's 2 dings against buying it but I did it anyway. I had to consult with 79s about these to see when this one was made and according to him it was made in 1980. My friend/smith/Winchester guru bought it from an estate when his buddy passed away. He said this rifle had never been fired and his friend just bought it because it had nice wood. I couldn't agree more, even though I'm a pre 64 fan, this rifle is very nice. I know there is a following for the older XTR's so here it is. The original box came with the rifle as well. This rifle came from the same guy I bought my pre 64 270 fwt from and I think I'm going to like it. Time will only tell though:







[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0731_zps5fdfef59.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x401/chiefbsa/IMG_0732_zps8b5fd3bd.jpg[/img]

This was before I got it home and wiped it down....The bolt still had that sticky grease from the factory on it. I took everything apart and wiped it down with Rem Oil. I swabbed that barrel out with shooters choice and let it sit in there for a while.

Here's the bolt after I took the firing pin out. Notice no wear on the firing pin itself:








What say you Winchester brethren??? . Besides it needs a Leupy 2.5-8x36

Holy smokes that is one sweet ass rifle! For those of you out their not many of these XTR featherweights left the plant under the "WRA" name. If you read they say the XTR featherweights were introduced in 1981. This one was probably made in the first month of 1980 I bet. Collectors out their have it down to the SN when the last made WRA modle 70 was made as well. From what I read guys seek these out cause they consider these the last of the real model 70's cause they say "WRA" on them.

I have a couple push feed Sporter varmints a .223 rem and a custom shop 22-250 rem. super accurate. I shoot the .223 more than any center fire I own, the custom shop job is scary accurate with any ammo I have ever run in it! Good guns. very best WinPoor

Thanks guys. I'm hoping it turns out to be a good shooter. 79s says it's pretty collectable, as did the guy I bought it from so I'm debating on whether I should glass bed it or just leave it as is?? Generally I just glass them and be done with it. What do you guys suggest?

Shoot it first. If it shoots well, leave it alone. Although shooting a rifle in that condition is going to reduce the value to a point where glass bedding probably would make no difference in re-sale.

That's a nice M70. About a year older than I am

I can't believe you are that young. The stock I bought from you said "74" inside it. I assumed that's when you were born. Everything points to this as being made in 1980 like 79s pointed out. As for the collector value: I probably already reduced some of that after wiping away the factory, sticky, grease today . I also polished the trigger a tiny bit to give it that smooth as glass break. Adjusted it down to 2.5 pounds too. It is factory bedded in the recoil lug, so I think I'll do as you suggest and just shoot it and see how it does.

Don't know much about collecting these,but when they came out, I bought 3 of them; a 270,257 Roberts and a 7x57 like Ingwe's.

Keep in mind these were the first FW's since Winchester stopped making them in 1964,so lots of folks were happy about them.

I sent the Roberts to Dietrich Apel at Jaegers and had him convert the mag box to 30/06 length for a 3" Roberts....the throats were long as they came.Worked up a load with 100 gr Sierra's and 100 gr Partitions and killed a bunch of coyotes,antelope and mule deer with it. The little rifle never baubled,and worked just fine.Shot a lot of woodchucks with it, too.

Very nice rifle there BSA.IMHO it needs a straight 4x or 6x and 130 gr Nosler Partitions and it's ready to Rock-N-Roll!

Mr BSA, That is a fantastic looking gun, I bet it shoots well also! I go 'off the grid' often!, non pre 64! Im playing with a Laredo BOSS in 7 STW right now, I lucked out on a case of older Fed prem 160 gr accubonds, the gun is super accurate and I will work out to 1000 before its over, even though a coyote is all I would try past about 4 or 500 yards in real life... I had much rather nail a 400 yard crow than a 400 yard whitetail. very best winpoor

You must have read my mind!! I was just thinking that this morning. My pre 64 270fwt will be shooting 150's from now on, maybe this one will just shoot the 130's ...I was actually thinking I have a chit load of Hornady 130gr. pills to burn up. This barrel is going to be broke in. It's too new looking

A 2-7 Leupold will look nice on it...

79s, do you know if extra low DD's would be the ticket with the 2-7? One of my friends bought a 2-7 for his m71 a while back and that is a nice little scope. I think I could handle something like that.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leupold-VX-...icle-Gloss-Finish-1-113862-/310927868177

I ran extra low on a 2.5-8 36 they worked fine for me... I do run talley lows with 3-9-33 as well. I'm a big fan of the talley lightweights but I know folks don't care for them.

That box alone is probably worth money again that is a cool rifle....

I use them too, but they just didn't look as nice on my pre 64 270 fwt so I went back to the DD's. Those Talley lightweights are lows and work for just about anything with up to a 42mm objective.

130 gr NP's,H-4831 and the .270 Win go together like peaches & cream. My Super Grade .270 just loves 130 gr NP's the only thing is I tried VV N-165 powder and WOW! fast,accurate. The 130 gr NP is scootin' along about 3150 fps and there is nothing I can't take with that load.

Not a good pic. Bought it in late 1991 or early 1992.

That's a beauty. Is that a 3-9x40 leupold?

Yes,it's been on that rifle since I bought it. Sent the scope back to Leupold as there was dust inside,Leupold cleaned it up and I put it back on.

Or h4831 and 140gr hornady! That combo shoots well out of my junky ol model 70. Yes the bolt is on the wrong side...

What? A lefty...... . You don't shoot that way do you?

I'm a lefty but majority of my rifles are right hand.

Well, you might like my shotguns then:

I'm also digging the couch as well

BSA, I just bought the twin to your rifle, NIB and all, but in .257. I remember going into Western Auto when I was a teenager and these were new and thinking they would make the best hunting rifle ever for the mule deer and elk we hunted in NM then. They had three or four Ingwe specials I handled every time I went in the store.

mind posting the first 4 digits of SN?

G156xxxx

The box looks just like BSA's, but the rifle has open sights, which I don't remember seeing on many of these. buying on Internet and I have not received it yet.

Thought it would make a fun gun for my 11 YO daughter to shoot in that she is getting into shooting now.

What was the cutoff for WRA vs. USRA?

The cutoff from what I found is G1525323 All model 70 made up to July 18 1981 I think thats the correct date were WRA. July 21st 1981 they are USRACo made model 70's.

You have what they consider a transition model 70 USRACo used a lot of left over parts from WRA to put together rifles.

I have a .270 sn G151xxxx. It's has a WRA butt plate but the box says USRA.

One time I asked on a forum(forget which one) if anyone ever thought a WRA Featherwieght XTRs might be collectable. I got a snarky answer that it's a push feed and would never be collectable.

Great. This makes me feel better about what I will do and usually do to unfired guns: take them out and shoot them.

That is cool buddy. Like someone else said in a different thread these XTR's were the cats azz. One guy said he's used his for the last 30 years and is very content. I was just in the shop getting some OAL measurements and they are within .015" from my pre 64. I'll just load to the Pre 64 OAL so all of my ammo fits in both rifles. I also checked function with some dummy rounds and it feeds and ejects perfectly. A 257 XTR or 7x57 would be very nice. Cool find on your "NIB" xtr. Let me know how it works out for you..

That guy was crazy. I've been watching these XTR fwt for about a year now and they really hold their value. I have been one that prefers the CRF's, but these have been intriguing to me, just as the remington mountain rifles have been. I really couldn't pass this one up for what my friend offered it to me for. However, like I said before, only time will tell.

Have both the NIB XTR .257 and a new SC Featherweight 7x57 on way. Should be fun. I thought these and the original Mountain Rifles were about the coolest rifles ever when they came out back in the 80s.

Funny you posted that about Mountain rifles as I was typing.

Yep I agree they have potential to appreciate faster then some push feed m70s. When the came out I really wanted one in .257 bob but when the .270 showed up on my dealer's rack it was love at first sight.

I was thinking the same thing. I could just envision myself sitting there with a 23 year old blonde and sharing a glass of Harvey's Bristol Creme...yeah, that's the ticket old timer, dream on.

No way I'd bed that beauty. It's probably floated and shoots as good as my 270. Jack would be proud. Slap about 60 gr of H4831 behind a good 130 gr bullet and next thing you know you'll be wanting to write for Outdoor Life.

Good post

Great minds kinda thing I guess . I know BobinNH really likes the MR as well. I let a BDL (not the DBM) slip past me once and I'm still kicking myself in the azz. The shop only wanted $350.00 for it . It was there 1 day and gone the next...

One of the early ones in .280 would be nice.

Here is a early one in a 280 5 digit classic featherweight. I need to go shoot it one of these days.

79s: I think you and I may have had this conversation before, but I have an advanced case of CRS, known as CRAFT.

My 257 XTR FWT has a serial # of 1538xxx, but the pad says Winchester Repeating Arms. So that would make it a "transition" model, correct? Just curious. Really doesn't matter 'cause she ain't for sale.

I bought it new in about 81, and then gave it to my BIL in a fit of stupidity, because it wasn't CRF. A while back, just after I bought one of the new 257 M70 Shot Show Specials, he gave it back to me. I'm tickled to have it back! They both shoot 120gr Speers into very small groups and I'm a happy camper.

You threw me off there for a sec....

Yes it would be considered a transition model between the last WRA SN and last SN for 1981 USRACo only made 11,000 rifles so I'm assuming yours was one of the first ones made in 82 and USRACo advertised the featherweight with open sights as well

Yes, I remember reading an article in that time frame that there were a very few FWT's made with open sights, and they would likely become collectors items. Any idea how many were produced that way?

The .257 I bought has open sights.

A serious model 70 collector will be the one to tell you that. All I know the featherweights with open sights were cataloged in 1982

About a month ago I ran across Model 70 pushfeed in a local forum, A Black Shadow for $250.00 Came with a cheap Tasco 6X24 scope and the worst camo paint job I have ever seen. But.. at $250 I took a chance, bolt matched the action and ever thing looked pretty good. Took a while but I got it cleaned up and put it in a $49 CDNN featherweight stock. Took it to the range and like other 30-06's it likes 4350 and 165g. Right about MOA for 3 at 100yards. For $250 I am a happy camper. Most likely it will go to the daughter as her deer rifle. They are nothing fancy, but they are a solid rifle. Unlike the wife's Remington Model 7 I have yet to se one recalled...

There's a nice 7x57 over at GB with factory irons. It's a pretty nice one too..

I'd bed her (the 23 year old blonde) if I weren't happily married

You suck

What no link? Come on now

Damn internet TV...

Dang it. I don't see it anymore. It was there last night. There is this 270 with factory irons though. I guess the "S" (in the G7073) designates iron sights on these XTR fwt's. The box looks just like my box too, but the recoil pad is different. Mine just says Winchester repeating arms or something of that nature...:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=408262490

That guy is a idiot gun was made in 82 not 80-81 lol... It's a late 82 made featherweight

Yep. Too much money too... I've seen some pretty high prices on the XTR's, had a lot to do with my buying decision on the 270 fwt...

Do people really collect PF M70's?

I have to admit to not really caring much about them,other than as shooters.

The deal is not too many XTR featherweights left the new haven plant made by Olin corporation wearing the WRA on them. Majority of xtr featherweights were made under the USRACo banner. T

Guess I shoulda kept mine...they were WRA.

Geez Bob....

Nice rifle! There is a good deal right now in the classifieds on fixed 4x conquest.

Thanks Matt. I know you like 270's. I'm still on the fence about them. I'm hoping my 2 fwt's change my mind.

I have 3 of them 270 WSM, 270 Weatherby mag and 270 Winchester all in good ol model 70's and oh almost forgot another 270 in a model 54.

Have three .270's. Two are Winchesters M 70's .270 Win/Wby and the last a FN Mauser .270 Win.

Hey at least you didn't buy a Remington! I'm working a deal on a Classic in 30-06, it will probably stay '06 until I can get the money up for a rebarrel to 270.

These darn M70s are addictive!

...You meant 9.3x62 right. I know you are a heavy for caliber kind of guy. Trust me. You would love the 9.3!!! Just think of the 9.3x62 as a 30-06 that shoots 250+gr. bullets .. The classics are also very nice, especially the earlier ones.

That hurt 444Matt,I have a Remington...















Thinking of getting rid of it though.

BSA, You have M70s in .270 and .375, you might as well sell everything else because you have what you need with those.

Yes I do, but none of them shoot as good as my 30-06 fwt. I even sold that nice EW (I bought from you) to 444Matt, because the pre 64 shot better. I've been trying to teach my 270 fwt to shoot like my 30-06, but it's like a hard headed German: Just doesn't want to cooperate .Hey, you need to post some pics of your new rifles. You downright stole that 270 fwt!!!! I won't tell winchesterpoor that you bought 3 Borden rimrocks (pacific research) either. Your secret is safe with me buddy

I will get around to posting pics eventually. What's a Borden Rimrock ; )

I've found the trick to getting really nice rifles is to just wait on BSA to tire of them and put them up for sale.

BSA, When are you going to sell that .375?

HEY! I have dibs on that .375 H&H!!

Yes, you have dibs, but I don't think I'll ever sell that one. Kind of like the 30-06 fwt that EricM has dibs on

I'm glad you like that EW. I thought it would be the perfect match for you. Are you still thinking of cerakoting it or has the stainless grown on you a little??

I just realized something. I haven't shot my 30-06's since I got my pre 64 270 fwt ..What's up with that???

I don't even own a 06 whats up with that

You never know,my friend,stranger things have happened.

Get it shooting up to snuff yet?

Not up to my standards yet...:

Here's 2 different loads I shot the other day just before leaving the range. It was starting to rain on my azz so I fired off 15 shots. The last shot opened the 10 shot group up to 1.40". It's coming around and the Zeiss seems to be working better than the old Burris I had on it...:



9 shots of the last 10 were "sub MOA".

I'm kicking around the idea of full length bedding it like I did my CZ550 American 9.3x62mm. That rifle shoots pretty good

Schit,looks like that's the one for that rifle!

Curious have you tried H-4831 with the 150 gr NP?

Not yet. I really should, but am down to 2 pounds. I still have 7 pounds of IMR 4350, so I'm saving the H . I really should load some up with H4831 and see how she likes that powder with the 150's...A buddy has a lot of H4831, but I don't want to ask about it as he's already helped me out tremendously with 348 win brass and 338 win mag brass.

I understand,when you buy some more I think it's on par with H-4831 & 130 gr NP's. They go together like apples & cinnamon,peaches & cream,democrats & lying.

Hell you unloaded all those 140gr BTSP last year that is one hell of a bullet. 58.5gr H4831 and the 140gr shoots very well. My rifle is not bedded I need to get it bedded I know it will shoot alot better. So BSA send me your address i have soem rifles to send your way. I can get you to AK and on a bear stand if you want to shoot a bear

Dang you have a good memory. ...I didn't think I'd use the 140's. BobinNH said there's only 1 bullet for the 270: The 130gr. Nosler partition ...Bear hunting in AK would be so COOL!!! I'd probably take my 9.3x62mm though..

Maybe if you live in NH

If you are serious let me know I'm headed up hopefully this year to go do some bou hunting on the north slope, as a AK resident I can shoot 5 caribou up on the north slope. Next yr I might be sitting in Kuwait for 6 months.

All this talk about push feeds made me pull my M70 out and look at it. I think it is a Stealth model it was finished flat black in a synthetic black stock with the Winchester W in the forearm ser#G257xxxx. I think it is also a CRPF. The Caliber is 30-06 I bought it for a donor rifle and haven't shot it yet, they say you shouldn't shoot the donor so it has been sitting in the safe waiting for a new barrel. The barrel that's on it looks like new and has seen very few rounds threw it. The plastic stock didn't have a mark on it. I picked it up off GB for $280.

Swing by and pick me up before you leave . You know where I live...

elkunternm, this was from the other day with the old scope on it and when it was in the wood stock. This is a 130gr nosler partition load I tried in it. I've since upped the charge to 60gr to achieve 3000 fps. Groups are around an inch or a hair over.:


I still need to shoot it with the new Leupold DD's. I'm contemplating putting a set of DD's on my new XTR's fwt as well, but the screws are virgin and the top of the receiver is so pretty right now . I also think I'm going to glass bed this XTR. To hell with it. The bedding is lacking as far as I'm concerned and I know overtime it will just get worse. It will end up looking like my pre 64 270 fwt bedding:



Do you guys think I should start a new thread on bedding the Winchester model 70?

Yes

Great looking pushfeed! Great chambering too.

Thanks buddy. I'm hoping it shoots as good as the round top I sold to you. That was a damn good rifle...Have you kilt anything with it yet??

Think I am going to keep it as is. The blued classic I'm working on might go to birdsong for their black T but that is a whole other project I still need to start loading for and shooting my EW more! Literally fired 5 rounds before season to ensure zero and then carried it all season. It put the 180gr partition just where I wanted it to take my deer. Looking forward to carrying it again this year!

You mean you planned on shooting thru the 2x4 .. Matt, do you think a 270 win with a 150 gr partition would shoot thru a 2x4 and still drt a deer or elk ??

Partitions WAY over penetrate on 2x4's

That's a good thing, cause I just bought 200 more of these:

http://www.shootersproshop.com/nosl...r-partition-spitzer-blem-50ct-11344.html

Killed a doe with it here in NC.

Awesome buddy. I was probably out of my mind for letting that cool tanger go. But I'm glad it went to a good guy...

That's saaawwwweeeetttt! Even though it's not a Pre '64.

Thanks buddy. I finally got a chance to shoot it yesterday right along side the pre 64 270 fwt. The XTR functions very well and shot almost as good as the pre 64. I'm still working on developing loads for the XTR, but it seemed to like the pre 64's 150gr. nosler partition load well enough. I wish I would have brought more along to try in the rifle . I thought I'd try some H4831 in it, but the IMR did better. Strangly enough, the pre likes the IMR 4350 better too.....Strange, I know. But what do you do?? :

This isn't great grouping from the XTR, but looks promising:


Wind was picking up, so the load development wasn't as good as I had hoped for. Here's one group shot with the H4831sc:


Working with new Winchester brass too. Next time out, I'll run the same loadings and see what happens. I'll also try some once fired brass thru this rifle now. Keep in mind the barrel is still in it's "break in" phase too. Also, first 3 shots in every group measured less than 1" (closer to 3/4": Used the orange dot as a reference). 5 shot groups are fired 1 right after the other and most times between wind gusts (if and when possible)...

BSA,what's the speed on the 54.5 gr H-4831 load?

Don't know: Don't care. Max is 55gr. in the Nosler load manual. My 53.5gr. IMR 4350 load runs 2,800 fps in the pre 64 fwt. I'll chrono the best grouping load when I get there...

In my FN Mauser I'm using 56.0 grs with the same powder and bullet,different primer,it's a CCI 250 and it's getting almost 2900 fps with a 22" barrel.

Every load I shoot is over a chronograph. For instance,the .338 RUM I have,I wanted 3000 fps with a 250 gr bullet. So,I start with H-1000 and 250 gr Sierra GK's. Looking in the Sierra manual I start with this load 97.0,98.0 and finally the book max 99.0. Used Rem 9 1/2 Mag primers. The very first 3 shots averaged 3001 fps,the max is 3000 fps. So,what I did is go home and pulled the others,because the next loads were going to be over the max in pressure.

BSA,the chrono is your best friend,it'll tell you if you can add powder or if you have too much.

What, you don't use an Oehler 43 strain gauge system or piezoelectric transducer for checking chamber pressures? Probably don't believe in crushing copper either. I don't blame you. ...

Kinda hard to pack those up and set them up outside. Besides I've already shot two chrono's and doing my best not to make it three.

Now that is funny. I can kind of relate. Mine is an ooooooooold pro chrono that you have to shoot thru the small hole in the cardboard. It distracts my group shooting, especially when I can see the holes in the cardboard and the glance mark from a bullet that skimmed the case from its previous owner. Then there's the erratic readings it gets sometimes that [bleep] up my train of thought. My buddy has a nice new one that tells you the velocity, standard deviation, extreme spread and all the other horse chit associated. Mine just gives the velocity and occasional "err" reading. My friend shot some of my 300 wsm loads thru his the other day and got a standard deviation of 9.14. He said he was just curious as to how consistent my load was because he had never shot a 3/4" 3 shot group from the sitting position before. Like always, I try not to sweat the small stuff

BSA,I've owned a chrono since IIRC Spring/Summer 1995. The first one I shot was IIRC a Pro Chrono,the second was a PACT,shot the screens but still have the display unit.

BSA, Dibs on the XTR when you get ready to sell it.

I'll make a mental note buddy. It sure is a sweet heart of a rifle. The action is buttery smooth: Feeding and extraction is perfect. Hard not to like these XTR's. Now I know what Ingwe was talking about.

I shot the .257 twin to that rifle today so it is no longer NIB either.

Rollin ...You know the thought did cross my mind...Hell, they were made to be used!!!