Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors History of the push feed model 70 ?

What is the history of the Winchester 70 pushfeed models? I recently bought one dated back to the early 1980s and I was curious to the reasons why Winchester went to a push feed.

This will give you a little background to the M70, they went to push feed for a while, the back to the CRF along with the CRPF.. hope this helps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Model_70

Is it a cap style breech on the bolt? Or does it have the button indicator in the center of the bolt?

The original model 70 didn't just fall off a cliff in 1964. Quality had been in steady decline since WW-2. With manufacturing technology of the time it was a lot more expensive to produce CRF than PF and the much cheaper Rem 700 and other PF rifles were hurting sales. Winchester had to make a decision in 1964. Either let quality decline further, raise prices in order to get the quality acceptable, or build a cheaper rifle. They chose the cheaper to manufacture PF.

But quality still suffered. The PF rifles of the 60's and 70's had some spotty QC and some ugly stocks. At least in my opinion. The Winchester name was sold to investors in the early 80's who renamed the company United States Repeating Arms Company. For a while they used both the Winchester name, but had USRAC stamped on them too. They made some budget guns with cheap wood. The 670 was one as well as a 770 and the Ranger. For a while they made one version with a Remington style 2 position safety.

The top of the line XTR's were VERY nice rifles however. They continued making the XTR's until 1992 when CRF was brought back and named the "Classic". Winchester continued making PF rifles right up until they closed the doors in 2006. But the PF rifles were the budget line of rifles while the Classics with CRF were the top end rifles. By the 1990's modern computer controlled machinery made it much more economically feasible to produce CRF.

I wouldn't feel the least bit handicapped with one of the XTR's made from about 1980 until 1992.

Succinctly put.

I had a couple 60's vintage PF's long ago and as fugly as I thought they were, I hate to admit it but they shot outstandingly well. They went away and next came an XTR Fw't, 6.5x55 which also tickled me no end with its ability. That though was the newest M70 I ever owned. I now prefer to stumble around the world of pre-64 70's, and 54's, when it comes to Winchester bolt guns.

I will echo that sentiment....really nice rifles...

I've owned several. Still have a 270 ftw that ain't going anywhere.

No complaints.

I am going to be buried with one in 300 win Mag. We went through too many adventures to not be buried with it and 101 rounds of ammo.

I've got a '90s M70 Classic SS with the CRF and Boss system I bought new back in the day, and its not going anywhere either!

I own a post-64 Sears Model 53, aka Model 70, in 30-06. It is as accurate a big game rifle as one could wish. Yes, it isn't controlled round feed, but it feeds just fine. I took it to Colorado on an elk hunt in 2018, picking it over several other "better" rifles in my gun safe. If quality went south with the post-64 rifles, it certainly wasn't in barrel quality.

This isn't correct. Or at least it's poorly worded. The post-'63 rifle was largely corrected in 1968 with the addition of the anti-bind feature on the bolt, steel floor plate, and better-looking stock. (The little Wikipedia link covers this as well.) The inexpensive models -- the Models 670 and 770 -- were introduced and discontinued in the '70s BEFORE there was a USRAC. (Though USRAC did later make the Model 70 Ranger.) The XTR version appeared in 1978 BEFORE there was a USRAC and the Featherweight was reintroduced in 1981 BEFORE there was a USRAC. USRAC was formed and took over Winchester's U.S. firearms manufacturing concerns in late spring 1981.

I have an M70 XTR in 7x57. I think it was made in 1982.

The fit and finish of that rifle is superb, and I am pretty hard on guns, especially M70s.

The only rifle the XTR plays second fiddle to is the P-64 IMO. Very nice rifles. Some I wish I still had.

Agreed. My 1980 Model in 7x57 is as nice as it gets.
Quality is excellent, action is glass smooth, and mine has always been super accurate with a variety of loads.

I have a pushfeed SS made in 1992 that I found at a not so local dealer that was unfired and has sat on the rack for more then 2 decades. It does not have the boss and it is chambered in 300 win. I put it on consignment and I think it finally sold.

If I may ask, what did it go for?

Not introduced until 1981.

My research supports the climb back to higher quality as you move forward from 1964 and the A and B models.

I tend to believe that the real craftsmen (there are always some) among the staff preferred to create a high quality product.

There are writings which indicate that there was a "bitter" strike from sometime in 1979 to some point (perhaps December) of 1980. The board made the decision to sell the plant in December 1980. The strike was reportedly a Machinists strike. Without knowing someone who was there at the time it is hard to judge the effect on quality, however production volumes were way down in '79 and '80.

I have seen no information as to whether production continued with parts in inventory, or if some other solution was found. They did, however continue to build model 70 rifles.

Use this information as you will in valuing a rifle that you are considering.
Typically lower production allows for better QC, but disgruntled workers, worker shortages, or substitute workers may counteract this tendency.

I got lucky and bought a short action push feed model 70 308 carbine here on the campfire. I believe it is the best model 70 for the $ ever.

So why do sn on some the xtr's have 1980 dom? Don't go all bricktop on us either. Just asking a honest question..

We've discussed this before and you either don't want to accept logic or you have short-term memory problems. Winchester announced the return of the Model 70 Featherweight at the 1981 SHOT Show and began releasing rifles for review for all of the major gun rags in January 1981 with the rifles showing up in distributor inventories within just a few weeks of all of this. Logic would dictate that Winchester was actively making these rifles in late 1980 to be ready for sale with their January 1981 announcement; they didn't wait until the SHOT announcement to start making receivers, barrels, and stocks and then furiously assemble them. And serial number databases aren't stone tablets.

I'll take my classic stainless with the CRF any day.....

If you are ever thinking about a ‘65 pf, run don’t walk from that one. Worst pos I ever bought in my life. Elmer Keith wrote in a G&A article that it was better than a pre-64. He sold out to the advertisers.

I do remember all the shot show 1981 stuff from previous discussions, but was curious on your take on sn that’s all. But i read that Winchester struck the sn were struck on the receivers and as you put it Winchester was hot and heavy building xtr featherweights in late 1980, but rifles didn’t hit the streets until 1981.. and logic ph uck I been in the army for over 21 yrs, I don’t have a clue what logic is anymore.

As slow as things move and what little I've been able to pick up from how products are rolled out, I would expect several rifles were making their way through the hands of various gun writers and testers throughout the latter part of 1980 in order for a full write-up to appear in a magazine in January and February of 1981. But for someone to claim their Featherweight XTR was from the late '70s or 1980 is just incorrect.

Thanks Mr. Treehorn! At least in 1981 Winchester got them
out quickly. Unlike now where it takes almost year and a half to see something from them after it’s announced at shot show..

79S,

Maybe some confusion in that I don't think the OP or others specified featherweight all the way throughout the discussion.

This was something I was unclear on before. I knew that there was advertising material floating around specifying a "new XTR" in 1978. Initially I thought these were the "new XTRs of which only a few made it to dealers before USRAC took over" (leosramblings).
I have come to understand the the XTR came out in '78 and the "featherweight xtr" in '81.
As a refinement of the line?

I have them all...A first year M54, a couple pre64 M70, a '67 PF, Classic 300 WM and a few FNs....the '67 is a heavy barrel 22-250 with an ugly stock, but I have managed to get 3/4 MOA 10 shot groups with 50 grainer Nosler BT. Not sure I really want to do anymore load development for accuracy with it right now. I don't have a complaint with any of them, but the pre64 M70 have a place in my heart....

Kansan

I have a 1964 30/06 and a 1965 225Win. Yeah, they are ugly with their pressed checkering and the gap between the barrel and the stock is big enough for a colony of bees. But they are both tack drivers, and for some inexplicable reason, I really like them both. (I actually sold my pre64 FWT '06 and kept the post-64, Blasphemy, I know.)