Darned near anything could have come out of R&D...or the custom shop.
I never thought they made the M70 in 405 Winchester....but they did.
Dang, that would be a really, really cool rifle
Steve
Steve: It was a cool rifle, a pre war.It was in a glass case at a store I visit once in a great while here in New England....I could see it was a pre war but the barrel was a heavy contour,not unlike a 375H&H or 458, but shorter.Something about the length and contour of the barrel seemed out of place, and and I could not figure what it was,since the 458 was a later cartridge and the action was clearly pre war.
I asked the proprietor if I could see it....and it was indeed factory marked as a 405 Winchester.He told me it was one of two from the custom shop;he had factory letter authenticating it,and no one really knew what happened to the second one.
Price at the time was $17k.The rifle was mint.... There is a footnote or other reference to the 405 having been made in Rule's book somewhere but has been awhile since I looked it up.At one time or another I have seen the hard to find 9mm,the 7.65,and some otherrare birds, but that's the rarest M70 I have yet run into.
This 30Gov't03 thing has me curious....I have seen the 30Gov't06 marking...never '03
