"It's not out of the realm of possibility that that Barrel is original to that rifle."
It seems it is quite common for Pre '64 M70 rifles to have barrels marked a year earlier than the receiver serial number indicates when the receiver was made. This is true for even high production rifles such as standard rifles in common chamberings. Apparently Winchester made barrels in batches, then used them to build guns over time. Rule may state directly that similar (contour and caliber) barrels were made in batches, but I do not recall at the moment. I also do not recall how Super Grade barrels were different, but since many are marked "Super", apparently there was something special about them.
Since Super Grade Featherweight rifles are "extremely rare" (I don't recall how rare), it might take longer than usual to use up a batch of .270 Super Grade Featherweight barrels. As such, I wonder it it is more common for such rifles to have barrels marked even more than one year before the receiver? It makes sense that this is the case, but it would take documenting a bunch of rifles to determine.
My point is, since this rifle is a rare one, it may be even more in the realm of possibility that the three year earlier barrel is original to that receiver.
gundoc, according to Rule, there were about "248" 270 sg fwt's that were produced.... You may be right in your assumption. However, 3 years difference, is enough to be concerning... If I saw the slightest hint that the barrel was replaced, that would be enough for me to draw a conclusion. A rifle like this would have to be examined by a highly experienced individual like my smith for example. He could spot a counterfeit from a ways away. However, some guys are so good at replacing barrels (my smith included) that there's no evidence that they have been changed. One thing about Winchester is, things are not set in stone. Barrel dates did not coincide with receiver dates all the time. The short magnum receiver is one such critter for example. It's not all too uncommon to see .338wm rifles with receivers that date to 1956, even though the .338 officially made it's debut in 1958... Winchester can be wonky my friend. With this being said, I still think the rifle in the op is pretty cool. I hope Nyrifleman gets it and decides to hunt it. I'm still curious as to how it's going to shoot for him. Hopefully it drives tacks and becomes the perfect hunting machine for him... As for it being 100% original and treating it like a collectors piece. I don't know....
