Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Good Deals Thread

The purpose of this thread is to help those of us who appreciate Winchesters to locate and purchase rifles at a good deal. If you see a nice Winchester posted somewhere or know of one locally and you aren't buying it for yourself, then post a link here. Can also make posts mentioning that you're bidding on certain items etc so we don't compete amongst eachother unecessarily. There is a similar thread on Africa Hunting which has been my demise several times, figured I'd try starting one here to help others spend their money.

To kick things off, there are two nice pre-64 custom builds that I'm watching tonight. I don't have the free cash to chase them, but hopefully someone here can win them. To be clear, these aren't mine. Just great deals that I hope someone here can win.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1018377066

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1015996999

Good thread idea
And, the custom builds that you mentioned closed at <1k, IMO, not bad.

I like the 300wby in the first listing, but I believe that stock is a Brown Precision, not a "Mcmillan", as stated by the seller. Sold price was decent. Great combo though. The second rifle, the poor stock is in dire need of repair. I'm actually surprised it sold for so much.

Cool idea fora thread👍🏼

BSA should be blowing this up!

Oh man. I may not want to give up some of my honey holes. Bwaaaaahahaha...

It was/is; you are correct bsa. Someone had asked me about it but I had forgotten to watch the close. Definitely well bought.

I'm keeping an eye on this one, have wanted a simple featherweight 30-06 for a long time.

Pre 64 Featherweight 30-06

That rifle has seen a lot of hard use, but not shot much. The owner doesn't know winchesters very well. Rifle made in '55. If you are looking for a low comb, that has seen a lot of hard use, buy it or bid on it. I'm thinking it will probably go for about $920 or so. At that price, I'd rather have a pristine rifle in a Mcmillan. That's just me though.

I like the thread idea. I also think it would be a good place to post a WTB, or looking for a certain model. I'm sure there are a lot of us here that would help out, if we had what someone else was looking for.

Great Idea for a Thread!

HS 58

$400 😵😵a few yrs ago

Awesome deal on that one. How do you like that Zeiss?

I have recently come across a handful of good deals on post-64 CRF rifles, 7mm Rem Mag, 300 Win Mag and 338 Win Mag. It appears the magnums are a hard sell anymore.

Hell of a lot better than a Nikon 😎

I like those Terra's. Mine are 3-9x42 with RZ6 reticle. Great scopes. I've had one on 10 different rifles. They are pretty tough. Great glass too. I like that fwt. Those are pretty damn classy.

Terra was a good line for the $$$

There's one rifle I can think of that is teetering on a "good deal" status. It's at one of my honey holes and isn't even an original rifle. It's intriguing though. Comes with a bunch of reloading brass, dies, data, etc. etc. It's down to $650.00 at the moment, but I'm thinking I can swoop in and snag it for $600.00. The reason I say it's teetering on good deal status. I've checked it out and the rechamber looks very clean. Rifle still has a lot of rifling, crown is good, retains original sights and front hood, it also has a Leupold scope of some sort on top, if I remember right. It's been a month or so, since I had it in hand. It's rechambered to 25-284, which is unusual. The gunsmith milled the original cartridge markings off, and marked it for the new cartridge. It is a shame that someone did this to a nice 257 Roberts, but it is what it is. Would make a wonderful shooter from what I can tell.

It's funny because in the past, I've started threads about rifles that I thought were good deals. Some of you guys said, that's a great deal, you better snag it!!! Then I either went back to buy it, or found that it was already sold!!! Here's one I bought at the beginning of this year, close to my birthday:

Original Winchester model 70 Heavy Varmint 308w. Made in '96. Paid $600 for it:



This rifle is a shooting machine. It looked to be new/unfired when I bought it. Shoots as I'd expect, after a little glass bedding. Trigger was already perfect, so that was good. Put the rail and scope on and it shoots like this:

Even though those were very poor conditions.

Cold and windy, it shot well:



It shot so well, that I even challenged my fast twist Tikka 22-250 to a duel. That 308 held its own!!



The action on this rifle is smooth, and it is very comfortable to get behind. I could shoot it all day long.

After the Winchester beat up on the little Tikka (skinny barrel, but nonetheless) that day, I had to bring out the big dog. My CTR in the Mcmillan A3. It's in the background (far bench).


I think the Winchester was getting a little full of itself, so it had to be brought back down a little. Showing no bias towards either rifle, I shot them and the winner was:



.........................the Tikka, but only by a small margin. You guys out there searching for great deals, good luck. They are out there, but sometimes you have to be quick. Know what you are looking at, which is hard to do sometimes. We are not all "professionals" here, even I ask questions from these guys when looking at some guns. The Winchester collector forums is a great place to hang out, with many guys in the know. Much appreciated!!!!

Wasn't looking, but found a 1941 30-06 in a laminated wood stock yesterday for $749. Came with the original stock, that had been shortened and recoil pad added. Stock might be worth an extra $200, at most? Although, it's an original clover leaf tang stock, so that may make it a little more desirable because they are harder to find. Didn't examine the rifle or stock very closely, was hoping the original take off stock was more original!! Anyway, the rifle had the transition type safety installed and was also D&T'd. I didn't negotiate a price, but I'm sure, they would have lowered it a small amount. Maybe to $700? Was at the Reno Cabela's if anyone wanted to take a look at it. Looked like it had the original barrel, which is a good thing these days, with some of the rifles that have been posted here on the fire. One in the classifieds in particular. Good deal or not? You be the judge. IMHO, not a real good deal, but could be for someone else??... In the last month, I've seen more original rifles in the $750 price range (at least 3 now), but those were not pre war. Post war rifles.

Side note:
Even though this is not a Winchester, I saw a nice little Remington 722 chambered in the infamous 300 savage yesterday as well, at the same Cabela's. I believe it was $399.99, but could be mistaken. Didn't look too closely at it, but appeared to be a nice little rifle.

BSA, if you left it behind how good of a deal could it be?

Not a great deal for me, but I'm used to paying much less. The last pre 64 270 fwt I bought was only $729, and that one had a $300 leupold on top. I also bought a 270 std wt the same day for $650 or $700, can't remember the exact price. It also had a nice gloss Leupold on top. Those are my kind of "good deals". Others mileage may vary. I will say that neither of those rifles were all original. The std wt 270 had a custom stock on it:



Both rifles shoot better than I had hoped for and they have pristine/like new original bluing and bores. Well, the 270 fwt was well used with bluing missing, but it is still a sweetheart. Someone loved it and took good care of it, but they did hunt it.



Anytime you can buy a pre 64 270 featherweight for under a grand, you are doing well. Original, or non original. Because I got such a good deal on this rifle and scope package, I let the scope go for a very reasonable price and am now into the rifle for $500 even. That to me is a GREAT deal. Anyway you slice it. However, To be blatantly honest, that fwt would be an exceptional deal even at $1,000.00. But, I'm not going to be selling it anytime soon!!

I know you like your all original rifles, but I also have a great appreciation for the shooter grade rifles that you can actually take out hunting and hot have to worry so much about. YMMV.