David Tubbs used a M70 for a number of years and dominated his competitors
Back in the heyday of competitive shooting you could find factory offerings from Winchester (Model 70 Target in many variations) and Remington (40X, XB and XC). My obervation is that the M70 was much preferred over the M700 or 40x in Highpower Rifle competition. I believe a good portion of that was the ease of cycling an M70 compared to the Remingtons. This matters for the rapid fire stage of the course at 200 and 300 yards. All the big names in Highpower Rifle, off the top of my head; Mid Tompkins, Gary Anderson, Carl Bernosky and David Tubb (Tubb no "s") shot M70's...that is until the Tubb2000 and the AR Match Rifles took over.
