Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Educate me on the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight

And here we go... and finding a 7 mag in a classic featherweight will be next to impossible. Did they make them yes but for like 1-2 yrs.

I have a fwt stainless in 270wsm, late New Haven production. In a magnum, i think they get a little barrel heavy if being carried with a hand on the receiver. Still, it would be my first choice for a bolt action.

Why would you replace the factory stock? The featherweight out of the box is beautifully balanced.

Hint, get it in a 7-08.

Great gun, hope you enjoy it! I've liked the ones I've owned.

If you have to have a synthetic stock and want a long action in 270, get the Kimber 84L and save some money. Both have a lot of similarities without the added aftermarket expense.

THAT!!!!

Or the 6.5x55.

Great rifles, but they need to make more stainless 308's of the non-Extreme Weather variety.


Okie John

I have a BACO 7x57 with a Zeiss Conquest 3-9 that I bought off a member here, great rifle, shoots bugholes with everything, handles great. The only thing I'm afraid of doing is scratching the beautiful wood! I would suggest a 270 or 308, can't get much better than that!

I've got one in .257 Roberts and it shoots 90 gr. Barnes X Bullets very well. I reach for it most of the time these days.

That's going to turn into a bidding war before it's all said and done..

I think the model 70 Featherweight wood stock is the best looking factory made rifle.
This from Sako lover, and someone who has never owned a Winchester.

I have two BACO / FN USA Win m70 rifles in 30-06: a featherweight and a std sporter. Both are outstanding. Sub moa accuracy. Smooth as silk action. Very nice walnut stock. I find the trigger just fine, and have no intentions to replace it/them. I may try the “Ernie the gunsmith” route to try lighter trigger springs someday, just to play, but not because of any current trigger shortcomings.

I used to own a 1952 Win m70 std sporter in 270 Win. It was a fine rifle, but I was clearing out various calibers in my “ collection”, and sold it years ago. No regrets.

I do like the stock dimensions MUCH better on my Win/baco m70 rifle. The pre-64 m70 stock / rifle I owned had much more drop at heel.

My view is that a Win 70/ baco-made rifle is better than the pre-64 version. Quality, precision, dimensions are all in the Win/ baco’s favor. They are made at the iso-9001 certified defense contractor plant ( FN) in South Carolina. Both of my Win m70 BACO rifles are true baco-made ( USA made and assembled, and no longer done that way). Don’t know about the “ assembled in Portugal” current versions. The barrels are made in-house by FN ( in South Carolina), on the same machine used to make the sniper barrels on the FN US government contracts- if that tells you anything ( it should and is a good thing for high quality and accuracy on a factory barrel).

True USA-BACO era Winchester model 70 rifles are “A+“ in my view. Hope you find your m70 BACO featherweight.

I have a recent featherweight compact in 7-08. Its quickly becoming my favorite.

Thank you for saying that. A man asks a question about a gun made in 2018 then a reply about the 80's is made

In 7Mag, the barrel contour is standard sporter on all of them, even though some are called "Featherweight" to identify the stock shape. You can buy a featherweight stock off eBay for cheap and put it on if needed.

$795 Classic Stainless Featherweight 5-digit
$795 Classic Walnut Sporter Boss
$795 Classic Stainless synthetic Boss 5-digit
Classic Stainless Super Grade 6-digit beauty
Push-feed XTR Winlite/McMillan stock--best of the bunch

Or a bunch in 270, some with featherweight barrel contour.
Classic Featherweight walnut
Classic Featherweight walnut 5-digit
Classic Sporter Stainless 5-digit sporter contour
Classic Sporter walnut 6-digit sporter contour
Push-feed XTR Winlite/McMillan/Leupold VariXIII--bestest of all

I have 7mm08 featherweight that says made in USA assembled in Portugal. It is my second most accurate gun. Shoots 5/8 inch 4 shot groups at 100yards. All the qualities previously mentioned apply. The only thing I don't like is the safety is so stiff that my wife can't operate it . What good is a safety that won't operate. My other featherweights push feed and classics shoot 1 inch after load developments and their safety's work.

I have one of the SC rifles ...Put a Timney in it'cause I couldn't get MOA below three and 3/4 lbs...Had a brake installed as all my rifles are, so little recoil and I plug ears at range..Bedded too..I shot Fed's 180 cheap ammo ,,3 shots at 100 yds with a MeOpta 6x42 at range ..2 shots crossed in the middle and 3rd was a 1/4" away..Used a splatter target so all 3 splatters (lol) were touching...This rifle is super accurate !

Work the safety over while watching tv for a few hours. If that doesn't work, call Winchester CS. They have always come through for me without any fuss.

I have two Featherweights, one an SC BACO gun and one an XTR, both 7x57. Since the thread is about the BACO guns, I'll limit my comments to it (sorry Ingwe).

First, while the BACO trigger is enclosed and catches a lot of criticism for it - although I don't often hear the same criticism of the Timney, which is also enclosed - it is very crisp with no creep or overtravel. Even with an Ernie spring, however, mine won't go far below three pounds. That's no big issue for me since I like a 2.5-3.0 pound pull weight on a hunting rifle, and certainly don't notice the difference in the field. Getting the glue off the adjustment screw, though, is a different matter. I tried everything short of a propane torch. I finally heated it with my wife's hair dryer, then used her smallest crochet hook to pick out the somewhat softened epoxy. And yes, I got in trouble for that.

As far as accuracy is concerned, like everyone else has mentioned this one is sub-MOA with just about anything I shoot through it. As a matter of fact, like my other 7x57s, it shoots just about everything in a weight range very close to the same point of impact. In other words, all of my moderate hunting loads between 150 and 160 grains more or less land in the same place. Any difference is vertical, not horizontal, and generally within about one-half inch at 100 yards. Faster 120-140 grain loads impact a bit higher, 175 grain loads a bit lower. Some of that may be due to the fact that one of my favorite pig loads is a 175-grain Deep Curl loping along at about 2300 fps. If I pushed them I'm sure they would probably land in the same vicinity as the rest.

The finish on that factory stock is very good and the checkering is sharp. Even though the stock has also been sealed inside and out I still coat a thick layer of Johnson's Paste Wax on the inside inlet as well as a thin coat on the outside. I'm not much on synthetic stocks - I have no objection, I'm just a dinosaur - and treating the stock several times a year keeps moisture at bay. Sometimes our weather can be a little like Cameroon, so short of going to a synthetic or laminated stock I've found a healthy dose of paste wax to be the next best thing. I also coat all outside metal with Dyna-Tek once per year. While it did dull the original blue just a little bit, although nothing like a matte finish, it keeps rust at bay and makes cleaning/drying very, very easy.

Like all M70s, after the action has been cycled a few hundred times, the bolt will feel like it's riding on glass. Tolerances are tight, which may explain the issue with a stiff safety, but again, after cycling a few hundred times any stiffness should disappear. If it doesn't, as has already been mention, a call to Winchester should take care of it. I have never had to use BACO's customer service, but my BIL has and his experience has been very, very good.

With a Leupold VX3, 2.5-8, Leupold Alumina covers, Hornady sling, and magazine full of 150-grain Partitions, the rifle weighs just under 8.25 pounds. I could probably shed a little weight if I swapped out the Leupold bases and rings for Talley Lightweighs, but haven't gotten around to it yet. As it is, it is very easy to carry and shoot.

As I said, this is a South Carolina gun. I don't own, nor have I ever handled, one that was assembled in Portugal, but most people seem to like them. I think the biggest objection to them is an emotional one: this is a Winchester - our iconic "Rifleman's Rifle" - and it says, "Assembled in Portugal" on the barrel. Ugh. But my favorite gas-gun is an old Browning B-2000 that says, "Made in Belgium, Assembled in Portugal" on the barrel, and it, like my old Belgian A-5, has never let me down. FN has always been a quality manufacturer of military and sporting arms. I don't think a BACO Featherweight will ever let you down either.

Just my $.02

RM

Thanks.

I had several of those rifles on my watch list, but missed the Stainless Super Grade. That is one sweet rifle.

ETA: enlighten me, what is the difference between the 5-digit and 6-digit rifles?