Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Pre-64 308 Win

This just an observation I have noticed and curious if anyone might have an answer for me. I like collecting the pre-64 Model 70's, and one of the configurations I've been looking for is a 308 Win. They manufactured 41,190 Model 70's over the years in 308, which represents 7% of the total production. Over half of the total Model 70 production was 30-06 and 270 WCF, and you obviously see a lot of those listed. But it seems odd to me how few 308s I see listed for sale relative to the amount that were manufactured. I see way more 220 Swifts, 22 Hornets, and 375 H&H available for sale than I do the 308's--all of which were manufactured in lesser quantity than the 308 by at least half. Anyone got a rhyme or reason for that they can think of?

Most of them were Featherweights or all, not sure totally on that I think. So while maybe they made the numbers the Featherweights always seem more popular.

One of the smarter 70 guys will be along with better facts but finding a good 308 P64 is a challenge. I know I’ve looked for a long time myself.

The only pre 64 Model 70s I have owned were both 308 Featherweights. One 1954 model, was in 98% condition, never even had a scope mounted on it and too good to shoot so I sold it. The other of 1953 manufacture, is one of the most accurate out of the box rifles I own:



Coincidentally, the '54 is up for sale on a Canadian gun site by the new owner for good money.

Why so few on the market? People keep them and hunt the rifles I suspect.

That was the reason I kind of thought possibly too. Why sell something that shoots great and you love? It still seems like given the sheer number that were produced, more would come up. The ones I have seen come up for sale have been beat to hell or they're asking an arm and a leg relative to other calibers.

I totally agree with the above statement about accuracy of the featherweight. I have several standard grades and a few super grades however, none of them are as accurate as my 308 featherweight. For information only, my load is 165 gr Speer HotCor over 45.1 gr Accurate 4064. Old glass and old eyes shoot cloverleafs and holes inside of holes

It's easy. Guys hang on to them, so they don't come up for sale often. The 270 fwt is another one that guys keep, so they are harder to find.

"2Bs or not 2Bs', responding as below "the qustions"!

Over decades, I've not perceived a shortage in 70 pre 64 fwt 308 Win rifles as proposed here. That said, I've never perceived much of the wild, sky high prices seen nowadays. Frankly I wonder of a big shift from 'footing it' through gun shows/shops; doesn't account for greater anomalies than 'other than above'!

If talking about a legit Standard Weight pre '64 in .308, they were made but collector-unusual and pricey! I have such config in .243 Win but not so uncommon or pricey!

...and may all your Winchesters come true!

Best!
John

Hell yeah they do. For darned good reason.

Bobdahunter: I have three collector quality pre-64 Winchester Model 70's in caliber 308 Winchester - all are Featherweight Models.
Just returned from a 3 day gunshow in an adjacent state and indeed there were NO pre-64 Winchester Model 70's in caliber 308 Winchester there for sale!
I do know this - most all 308's got put to use by Hunters and shooters and collector quality 308's (in any configuration) are rare to find nowadays and for some time now.
Indeed the same holds true for Rifles in 270 Winchester caliber - they got USED - it was VERY difficult for me to find/settle on a mint condition 270 Winchester Featherweight for my collection.
Long live the Riflemans Rifle.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Yes, they sure do. My buddy bought one a while back and I restocked it for him. He paid something like $250 for the rifle from a friend of his, back in 2009:

That stock is absolutely worthless when trying to use a scope. Way too much drop at the comb, as you can see on the stock template designed by Utah708. The new stock (Mcmillan hunters compact swirly), made a huge difference and it was much easier to get behind when using a scope:


I also re-blued the barrel, as someone had sweated the front sight off anyway. The collector value was pretty much gone at that point. Then about 3 years after he bought his, I found a prime condition one made in '53 and it had a montecarlo stock on it. I paid $800 for that rifle and pulled the Leupold scope off of it and sold that on ebay. That rifle had minimal use on it and it shot well. My buddies rifle in the pics above shoots clover leafs in the new Mcmillan and he used it on his successful elk hunt a couple months ago, even though he has much newer nicer rifles in his collection. The 308w I put in the Mcmillan is his favorite. I can't say I blame him. He will never sell that rifle, at any price.

It could be that the 270's, 308's and 243's are simply more useful than the other calibers. I have a 375 and a 300, not that many uses for them around these parts. Even less call for them in other parts. I agree with the overall premise tho.

...I sold a 99+% O/A condition .308 FWT at the Tulsa Gun Show for $2450. Straight comb, aluminum butt, solid bolt, 22G rear sight. The rifle was virtually new. Sold that one, and walked four rows away and bought another .308 FWT Monte Carlo Aluminum butt, (Tired) for $1200. One is a collector, and the other is a shooter.

Sounds like you came out way ahead in that deal.

They are out there but you don't see them everyday. This is a 53 that has never had glass on it.

That’s a nice one 160!

I’ll be the odd man out and say that I don’t think they are that uncommon; I see them quite frequently in my searches. What I will say is it’s difficult to find a pristine example - and when such an example does show up - they definitely commend a premium.

This one was listed in the last couple of days, and it is one of the nicer examples I have seen recently.

https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...near-mint-condition.cfm?gun_id=102244152

Thank you! It is one of my favorites and far nicer to shoot off the bench than my pre-war 300 H&H rigged up the same way.

Looks just like the one I sold a while back. Honest rifle there, but the bottom metal has been redone. Mine was 100% original. I didn't even glass bed it, so it was pretty prime. I'd be a little leery of the seller myself, as his description is a little off the wall. That rifle shows all kinds of use.. It is also not "99%" condition. Nice try though. . It's pretty obvious that it's had a scope mounted on it and has been used.

It was a nice rifle. I’m not sure about the bottom metal; I think it may have actually been a healthy dose of Rigg and the lighting, but who knows.

Here are featherweight production numbers from Rule, since it seems to be germane to this discussion:

Good info. So I guess that means you bought the soft cover book that was in the classifieds here? I figured you would have already owned one of those. Excellent source of info. My soft cover is fallen apart and I never touch my hard cover first edition. I saw one of those on ebay last week for $200.00!!

Very nice right there^^^