Did the XTR go away when Winchester sold out in 1981? Or possibly they did away with the XTR on the Featherweights and kept using it on the sporter weight rifles??
Nope, it’s there on the fw through at least ‘88.
Yep. 1988 from what I could find. The one I showed pics of was made in '89. And it does not have XTR on the left side of the barrel, like you figured. If the dang thing was 100% original, I would probably lay down the money for it. The stock has not been cut, but the recoil pad they put on it does not fit well. Really not a huge issue, but does take away from the originality. I actually leave my classic stainless with it's hard original pad just to keep it original. Sometimes I think about pulling the pad off and putting a red pachmayr on it because it is uncomfortable to shoot off the bench:
Also, going back to the XTR's, I have a 300WBY XTR Sporter that has "XTR" on the barrel. It was made in 1988..