Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Winchester 70 Jack O'Connor Tribute

I have the opportunity to buy one of these rifles. They look beautiful and a good Winchester 70 is a very good thing indeed. I've read about the one that John Barsness owns and I was impressed with the accuracy. Has this been typical of these rifles? I'd hate to spend a fair bit of money on a rifle only to be let down by the accuracy. Hopefully John and others can provide feedback as to whether he got a particularly good one or if they are typically that good.

Wish you all the best with the M70 you'd like to purchase.

I think I would take a chance on one.

They are typically very good. There was one poster here that had a major issue with one that copper fouled very badly. That was a JOC rifle. My buddy also had one BACO model 70 that was a copper fouling sob. The one's I've had were pretty good though. Nice accurate barrels. Maybe do a little research and see if bad/rough barrels were an issue during certain years. Good luck with it.. The JOC tribute rifle is a beautiful one indeed. If I were going to buy one, I'd look for a steel plate version. The last one I was keeping an eye on at Gun Broker sold for $3,100.00 back in late June of this year. That one was nicer than most I've seen though..

I agree with you BSA. That particular rifle had very nice wood.

My suspicion is that the majority of these tribute rifles reside in display cases and in safes. I doubt that too many of them get hunted; or even shot for that matter.

Yeah, that one was kept in the box since 2013, according to the seller. Figured you'd be watching that one as well. ha ha..

I know of several, including John Barsness’s. All have been quite accurate that I’ve had contact with. One that’s especially accurate is Bradford O’Connor’s.

Nice rifles.

Will add that my rifle was one of 3-4 that I was allowed to pick from, which I acquired at the annual fund-raising auction for the Jack O'Connor Hunting Heritage and Education Center in Lewiston. Evidently part of the deal was the Center got several rifles which they could sell, and I picked the rifle with the wood I liked best. There was no pre-testing, just me being the sole beauty-contest judge. And the first 3-shot, 100-yard group the rifle from the rifle was under half an inch--with factory ammo.

I heard somewhere that Winchester used different barrels on the Tributes than standard Model 70s, but could never confirm whether they came from a different manufacturer or not.

Might also mention that the action bedding on mine is very well done, and the barrel is free-floated--though not with as much of a gap as the first post-'63 Model 70s. It has never changed point-of-impact since first sighting it in back then.

One of the nicer BACO's for sure and a great tribute to JOC. I always appreciate it when the first group fired from a new rifle is sub 1/2" at 100. That tells me it's a keeper..

I believe that Craig Boddington also has one that is very, very accurate. There's one on GB right now (version with the recoil pad).

Anybody know of one for sale? Specifically the steel Buttplate version

Have been selling some of my rifles over the past couple of years, partly because am turning 70 this fall, and the gun collection has been considered part of the "retirement" investment. And one I will probably sell over the next few years is the O'Connor Memorial.

That said, mine is one of the recoil-pad models.

If you do indeed get around to selling that rifle I'd really appreciate it if you would send me a PM. They are a beautiful rifle and the one I saw at auction went for too high of a cost so I didn't buy it. I'm still on the lookout and if I was able to buy yours that would be pretty cool. I'm 46 now and I've been reading your work since I was 14 or so. The combination of it being an "O'Connor-Barsness" Winchester 70 would be nice in itself.

As an aside, while you are talking retirement, if I remember correctly the first article of yours that I read might have been "Old, Mild and Good" about cartridges such as the 6.5x55 and 7x57.

Mine is accurate. I don't shoot it as much as I should. I put a 3X9 Zeiss Conquest on it and it puts 5 shots in about 3/4 of an inch at 100 yards. It doesn't foul and was great in the mountains. I took it on one of the nastiest sheep hunts ever created as we were hit with a typhoon in the mountains. The winds were off the charts and the horizontal rain and sleet was terrible on the glacier. I had barricade on the gun and it is fine now but a tiny bit of rust appeared on the floor plate. It gives the rifle character.


It was one of those guns that I ordered and paid 1800 retail. I figured it wouldn't get any cheaper. Another local guy has one that he traded for a custom gun that he made. His shoots well too.

I always thought that the guys who were behind sourcing the wood and building the JOCs should have continued limited production in different calibers. They are not like super grades. I have seen some very nice French Walnut super grades but I would really like it if Winchester came out with custom maker tributes and built a Biesen type rifle, a Leonard Brownell rifle, a Jerry Fisher Rifle and maybe a Goens Tribute rifle. I believe that they could get $2500 per. Hear that Winchester. Some people like walnut and blued rifles that were beautiful and they tend to hunt well too.

Should've purchased a M70 JOC Tribute when I had the chance, lo those many years ago.

I have the STD grade Model 70 in .270 and it will shoot 10 shots in one ragged hole at 100 yards with factory Federal 130 grainers. I am a big fan of Jack and also Elmer Keith.