The rifle at Southwest Shooter's Supply has numerous problems and is way overpriced at $1395. The problems include:

- Non-Winchester barrel
- Incorrect receiver (the ".458 short magnum" receiver did not begin production until the late 1950s - there are some with serial numbers dating to 1957, but certainly not 1953)
- The non magnum receiver likely means a non-magnum mag-box and follower
- Stock cut for a recoil pad and the barrel channel modified
- Incorrect swivels
- Receiver is drilled for the G&H side mount

Honestly, there's not much about this rifle to get excited about. I think they have it priced at around double what it is worth.

The pre-64 .338 WM is a unique rifle and is highly sought after by collectors, which may be what has confused this seller. As was mentioned above, the .338 cartridge was developed by Winchester in 1958 and was introduced for the model 70 in mid-1959. The .338 model 70 first appeared in the Winchester catalog in 1960 and was branded with the name "Alaskan", along with the .375 H&H. In 1963 the .300 WM was added to the Alaskan "family", completing a unique subset of model 70 rifles. There's a decent example of the .338 on our website with some further background on Winchester's introduction of this particular caliber .338 Win Mag "Alaskan"https://pre64win.com/collections/rifles

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