Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Heirloom 1960 Winchester Model 70

I just wanted to share a great gun that fell into my lap recently. I've had a few deaths in the family in the past several months, and my 82-year old grandfather decided it was time for me to come pick up several family heirlooms he wants me to have. We live about a 10-hour drive away and have traditionally visited once a year, but I honestly didn't know much about his gun collection and have any expectations. I was stunned to receive several firearms from him, including my great-great-grandfather's .22 revolver from the mid 40s, but the jewel of them all turned out to be a 1960 Winchester Model 70 in .338 Win Mag. He said it initially belonged to my great-grandfather to hunt in California, and my grandfather used it one time to bag a Wyoming pronghorn before deciding he could use a little less rifle.

When I texted my buddy that I was getting two Model 70s (one is a 1976 25-06), he immediately asked me what year they were. I was ignorant about the pre/post 64 split but read up on the differences, and was thrilled to see that the .338 Win Mag is a pre-64. The stock is still in great condition, with a small dent under the foregrip, a spot near the butt that could use a bit more polish, and very minor spotting on the barrel, but for a nearly 60-year old rifle that's actually been hunted with, I couldn't ask for it to be in better shape. I just started deer hunting about a year and a half ago, and have been planning to get something larger than my 25-06 as I start hunting public land for larger prey, so the timing couldn't be better. I probably wouldn't have chosen .338 Win Mag as my next caliber but I'm going to embrace it, and hopefully I'll tag a Texas nilgai, an elk, or a moose with it in the future.

The Winchester was mated to a Weaver K4 60-B fixed 4-power scope on Weaver rings. I kept the scope as a souvenir and tried to mount a newer Leupold VX-2 3-9x40 on the antique rings, but no luck. Not only did the bolt not have clearance, but one of the old ring screws twisted off upon remounting. Instead of the DNZ Game Reaper one-piece that I love on my Tikka, I opted to keep a more classic look on the rifle and ordered medium-height Leupold Dual Dovetail bases and rings. They came in today and I was able to cleanly mount the Leupold scope on, and both the eye relief and the bolt clearance worked out fine. It's now boresighted, and I just have to wait a week to have enough free time for a range day and see how it groups.