I was raised in a Winchester 70 house and have never been a Winchester 54 fan. I've always preferred to shoot a scoped rifle and the 54s weren't designed to accomodate low over bore center hunting scopes. The last one that I owned was in 257 Roberts with a new, low lift, bolt handle, a Buehler(?) low safety lever, and it had been d&t for a Redfield turn-in style base.
I also had a bad Winchester 54 experience at Taylor's in China, ME. Bearrr264 and I drove from Boston to China, ME, to look at a mint, 100% original, Winchester 54 in 250-3000 only to find that the only component of the rifle that hadn't been modified was the barrel. The action had been d&t 6x, 4x in the left receiver rail and 2x on the receiver bridge. The checkering was worn smooth and there was a rubber recoil pad installed. When the originality was questioned, the counterman said that it was in the configuration that they originally received it. Taylor's had been in business long enough to know that that rifle was far from original. I've always wondered what the GUNLIST buyer thought when he openned the box it came to him in.
