Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 270 featherweight New Haven?

Please school me on a New Haven Featherweight 270. Besides being a gay 270. Are these inherently accurate rifles? In the lineage of Winchester Featherweight how do the New Haven Rifles rank?

Looking for a rifle for my Nephew who's graduating 8th grade and he likes a wood stock rifle. I figure a M70 is the best value wood stock rifle. Please talk me in or out of this option. Trying to win Uncle of the year award.

I picked up pushfeed xtr featherweight in a 270 from BSA and it's a very accurate rifle Shoots 140gr bullets very well I think BSA was shooting 130's out of it. My wife has a classic (crf) featherweight in a 280 and shoots 150's and 160's pretty damn good...

Most will warn you to watch out for high 7 digit new haven classic model 70's. I owned some 7 digits new haven and they been good rifles minus one of them. The 6 digit and 5 digits are better rifles for the most part.. if you want to be uncle of the century find a pre 64 featherweight in a 270!

Mine does better than 1 moa routinely. It has the laminated stock, which I acraglas bedded.

Buy him one - you'll win bigly...

No reason to talk you out of if. They're great rifles as far as I'm concerned. Smooooth as glass actions.

Most all Model 70's, from whatever generation, are usually very accurate. My Model 70, Pre 64, Super Grade will shoot 1 inch groups at 300 yards with the right loads of 130 grain bullets.

He'll definitely love the rifle and probably you a little more after buying it for him. I look forward to the time when my nephews grow old enough to start shooting with me.. It's really pretty hard to go wrong with any era of Winchester model 70 featherweight.

go-bears -

I ordered 1 right after they came out. It was the First one in Hammond La. Accuracy was very good and the rifle is on the 'lighter' side weight wise.

**Mine was extremely short throated - the bullets had to be seated so deep (ly) the start of the ogive was at the case mouth. --I didn't like the looks of the rounds BUT..

accuracy & velocity was at least normal. Win. announced the XTR FTWT in 1981 and I probably got mine in Spring of '82.

I'm NOT trying to talk you out of it by any means. I don't know whether Win made any changes or not. I have a 6.5X55 now but that's a different cartridge.

I say...Go For It.

Jerry

Those old M 70 Featherweights had thick heavy stocks.

Now the Kimber rifles are far leaner and lighter.

Cry me a river...

You have a thick skull.

Thank you for the replys so far. I was curious as to what the differences between the New Haven and FN models besides being owned and made at different locations? Does one have better craftsmanship over the other? Tighter tolerances? Nicer/ better looking stocks?

I do have a few kimber classic selects, but they are waiting in the safe until my future kids are old enough.

The stock for the new series Model 70's was redesigned by David Miller back in the 1990's. Miller streamlined the design somewhat and made it slimmer and a little lighter than the older models.

I believe that is true for the sporter stock, not the featherweight.

Different triggers

I suspect that the later FN featherweight stocks were slightly bigger in the foreend. (working from memory here)
The FN model 70s have a redesigned trigger, a "closed" trigger as opposed to the earlier open design.

The FWT's made in the 80's were push feed. In the 90's they intorduced CRF FWT's. No difference in the stocks that I can tell. They are all good, IMO, except some of the NH rifles made toward the end of NH production (2006) suffered from QC problems.

Also, IMO, the FN-made rifles are at least as good as the NH rifles. The pistol grips seem slightly thicker to me. Some don't like the new trigger mechanism on the FN models, but it sure is nicer out of the box than the NH rifles I have tried.

I was going to say the same thing. The first year featherweights (XTR FWT) brought back out in '81 were pretty damn sleek. The 270 I sold to 79s here is a prime example of that. Now to answer the OP's question about build quality. The FN's are very nice rifles. The fit and finish is great. Some of the stocks are too nice to hunt and makes you wonder where in the hell they found the wood. The downfall to the new rifle is the MOA trigger that many of the old timers don't like because it's an enclosed "box" type trigger with many moving parts. I don't mind them, as they are quite nice but also agree with the older guys that say Winchester/Browning should have never changed the trigger. The oldstyle trigger has a lot less moving parts and is damn near bullet proof and can be fine tuned to suit anyone's needs. The FN BACO is also made in Portugal. If that doesn't bother you, the FN is probably the better way to go since the older Newhaven rifles are harder to find and sometimes more expensive than the FN rifles.. Also, if you are a lefty, USRAC catered to our needs better. As of yet, FN does not offer a left handed model 70.

Good post..

I have 2 lightweights and 2 rangers all new haven push feed I rank them right below my children in sentimental value