Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Tell me about Featherweight vs. not

It's a nice rifle and fairly priced. I'm surprised it has not sold yet. I also like the stainless walnut fwt's. At the moment I only have one: A 30-06

You and I both BSA.

Market is definitely soft.

I have a walnut and stainless featherweight in 243 5 digit. My other stainless walnut isn’t a Winchester but 1895 guide gun in 45-70. I had special edition 270 when they first came back South Carolina guns stainless and walnut. It really was a great gun wished I hadn’t sold. I mostly end up with the stainless synthetic because they are so much more common but I love the walnut and stainless.

I think the whole economy is soft. The last 3 -6 months local gun store went from a dozen used guns on a rack to like 5 or 6 racks full and a lot of nice guns available even stuff I haven’t seen in awhile. If I only had the funds to snap them all up.

There have been some very good deals of late. Even online.

Bidenomics^^^^ FJB!!! Really a good time to buy right now, not really a good time to sell. Hang on to your model 70's if you can. However, I've been seeing some damn good deals. Even on pre 64's. Saw a couple std's for $800.00. Watching a std wt 25-284 right now. It's been rechambered, but that rifle isn't going to sell for over $600.00. I may be the one that buys it for that price too. Comes with a die set, brass, loaded ammo and components, and it's scoped.

Speaking of fwt rifles, the last one (pre 64 270 fwt) I bought was cheap (I have $525 into it now, after selling the scope), and I'm hanging on to that one!!! Good thing for the OP, it's kind of a buyers market right now. If you have the money, take advantage of it. I can't buy them all!!

That 7 Rem of Couesdeer is pretty nice. I haven't ever had a SS/Walnut, just one of the BACO maple/SS SHOT show rifles. Pretty nice rifle, I can definitely see the appeal of them.

Now if a nice pre 64 supergrade would show up under market I could probably find the money!! 😂

I may need to finally go up to the Tulsa show this fall.

Yeah, I’m watching one on another site right now and offered a new poster with no feedback his asking price without haggle as long as he’d simply let me verify the FFL had the rifle in front of him before I paid. The guy said that was just too much work to go through and wanted to be paid up front instead before even going to the FFL. Maybe I am being difficult but seemed wierd to me. I’ve noticed that private sales and pricing at my bass pro gun library are not any different. Really no reason to take risks on private sales unless you have a regular poster selling. I thought private sales would be a lot cheaper but that’s not the case right now. My local bass pro gun library knocked 20% off of a listed sale because I asked for it and backed it up with blue book values. They had to call corporate but they did do it. Still probably paid too much but they negotiated.

Yeah, I think you are right inline. I have seen just as many good deals from regular stores as private folks.

AK sent a 30-06 P64 Fwt this morning the fella has priced like a Supergrade of the same model. "Collector" edition..

How much should a 5 digit serial supergrade in 7mm go for? Those are still in the 1500 range or is that high or low or what? I found one with a 24” barrel. Think I’d like a 26” on that round but maybe it doesn’t matter. I’m a deer blind hunter so not exactly roughing it in the mountains.

1200-1500 depending on the wood and condition is normal.

I'll take a 24" on a 7 Rem all day long myself.

A 24" works just fine. Like I said earlier, I've had them cut down to 23" as well.

Cool. Thanks for all of y’all’s help. I think I have enough info to make good decisions about what I’m after and also pricing. Thanks again.

One more question....

Tell me about the values of something like a Classic Sporter in 270 Weatherby Mag vs. an XTR in the same caliber. I see the 24" XTR selling for 750 and the Classic Sporter with 26" barrel going for over 1000. What drives this? Why the swings in pricing? The caliber is expensive to shoot but same caliber nonetheless, both walnut.

People want the Classic most times over the XTR in just about any caliber!

XTR's are nice and usually excellent but I'd step right over one for the Classic, both rifles being in the same condition myself.

The XTR is push feed while the Classic is controlled round feed.

That's generally how I see it as well. When you compare them side by side, both having the same furniture. I grew up with CRF though. Always hunted sporterized m1917's. Nothing really wrong with the XTR though. I think it's just personal preference from the old guys, preferring the controlled round feed. Mainly pre 64's. I'd take one of those over a classic, BACO (Browning), pushfeed etc. etc..

When I see this thread pop up, and other fwt threads, I think of my pre 64 270 fwt. Haven't even developed a load for that rifle yet, but I can tell it's going to be a shooter.

I also wish the OP good luck in finding exactly what he's looking for. He's been bouncing around an awful lot. That's good sometimes, but sometimes too much indecisiveness will bite you in the butt. Just pick one, use it for a while. Then pick another one, use it a bit. Keep doing that, until you know what you like. For myself, I'd take a damn good shooting 30-06, 338wm or 270 fwt over some of the rifles he's been looking at. I went through my magnum phase when I was young (in the 80's-90's). Used them for about 20 years. Still love some of them, but also have no use for others.

I have a 7mm Rem Mag Westerner, with factory 24” barrel and sights, standard contour. These were a Cabela’s run, BACO; found a Supergrade stock and bottom metal so it’s a bit of a hybrid. With scope all up it’s a shade over 10#, so I definitely can appreciate the 24” Featherweight idea. Certainly not a mountain rig, but scary accurate.

Thanks again for the info. So, the first M70 I ever bought was a 1964 .30-06. It's a push feed. I bought it from an old guy that wanted to dump his guns since he didn't hunt any more. I paid 350 for it. The bluing is about 70% and the walnut stock was toasted in terms of finish. It has a crack in the stock and a missing piece of wood. This was before I knew about CRF vs. Push feed. I spent two months stripping, sanding, raising grain, sanding, and then TruOil'ed the stock to a high gloss with no open grain. I even took a piece of the walnut stock inside the butt end and used it to make a patch for the split and missing piece in the fore-end. Currently, I cannot locate that repair. It's blended that well. It shoots great. Then I ended up with a Classic FWT in 7mm-08 and decided at that point the price of a Classic Sporter and the CRF was a perfect match for me. I am working on a couple deals right now, if I get them, I'll let yall know. Again, I greatly appreciate the info.

It is amazing how much something like a CRF or a fancy walnut stock can bump a price on a gun by a few hundred bucks. The Super Grades are a good example. It's the same gun, but that wood....yeah, it's nice.

Again, the 7mm RM is my key right now, but it looks like there is nearly no gain to be had from it over a .270 Win.

Typically, and I haven't had many, but the SuperGrades seem smoother all around than a standard, and that along with the wood makes them pretty sought after by some.

Good luck, hope you find what you like!