Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Question about pre-64 Model 70's

1minute,
You go buy that pre 64 rifle in 300 Win. for $600 and I will give you $800 for it as long as the bore is decent..hows that for a deal? In fact I will buy them both.

I'm late again. All the good stuff has already been said. I've owned many M70 over the years. My regrets are the ones I sold and the ones I didn't buy.

Super T,
Talk about regretting not buying some M70's. The day I bought my pre-war M70 I was in Abercrombie & Fitch's store in NYC it was in 1964. I found the pre-war and after buying it the manager showed a buddy and me around the 6th floor gunroom. There were a lot of nice guns, but what I remember best was four M70 Alaskans sale priced at $145.00 each. They were being sold to make way for the new M70's. I had enough cash to buy them all.
John

Atkinson: Haven't made the deal yet as the owner is out of town tell Wednesday. I'm trying a little low balling on my offer. The Winchester is pulled off the shelf though, and I will likely do the asking price even if they won't move. Not really thinking of selling yet. This will only be the third unit I've picked up as an investment if I close the deal. The first was a Sharps and the second a 1930's vintage Winchester pump 22. Ran some patches down the barrel of the Winnie in the shop yesterday, and except for some remaining copper that I can likely JB out in 5 minutes, it looks perfect on the inside. The first two patches though came out looking like they'd run a coal mine. All the stampings suggest it's the original factory tube, and I did marvel at the level of machining on even some of the smallest parts. I'm really surprised though that people will put something out to sell that's in need of serious cleaning.

Bought a matching numbers 96 Swede (6.5x55) last winter that looked a little rough on the outside, but the barrel was pristine. Cleaned it up, and had I seen it in it's present day condition, I would have paid twice their asking price. That is a very well machined piece of metal too given its age. I got that one to shoot though, and it's getting some metal work done before I start on a new stock.

Probably can't buy both rifles unless I can talk the wife into blowing our incentive check. In a fit of insanity a few months ago, I told her she should take that check and get something for herself. She's a great hunting and fishing partner, but doesn't quite see the same need to acquire unneeded arms and fly rods that I do. Take care and good luck this coming fall. 1Minute

John: That is a very depressing story.......

They blinked. Closed the deal on the Winchester, and they are paying the fee for the background check. Will pick it up on the way to work in the morning, and I'll be cleaning a rifle tomorrow evening. Going to a giant flea market in Sumpter, Oregon on Saturday. Maybe I can make a find there. Life is good. 1Minute

I stopped in the gun shop the other day to see if my Remington Mtn. rifle had finally sold on commission, it hadn't. It had been a while since I had handled a Remington 700. The action looked long and thin.

Just out of curiosity what are the standard action lengths of a Remington 700 and Winchester Model 70 (from the bolt side forward edge to where the front of the bolt handle locks on the back edge especially)? I don't know if it is the extractor or not but the 70 looks more 'compact' to me. Was curious as to whether it is or not and don't own one to check the measurement myself.

Thanks,
Will

Just picked up the Win 70 on the way to work, so went to the truck and measured. Bolt length is 5.6 inches from the front edge of the bolt handle to the bolt face. Add another 0.1 inch to get to the forward most portion of the extractor claw. Don't have any 700's in the truck, so can't help there.

Thanks 1minute. I'll see how that compares to the other stuff I come in contact with. It may have just been an optical illusion because of the space between the bolt and the rails which the model 70 wouldn't have of course because of the extractor. I suspect they are all fairly close to the same length.

But I've always thought the model 70 was proportioned very well. It just kind of looks like it is the right length, width, diameter, etc to my eye. Always liked them although I've never owned one.

Will

They are superlative but they are heavy. For decades my general purpose hunting rifle was a 1941 Super Grade '06, 9 3/8 pounds loaded with sling and Lyman Alaskan in Stith mounts. This gave way to a 1947 Swift rebored to '06 (to get a 26" barrel) in a Pacific Research stock with a Loopy 1.75-6x, 8 3/8 lbs. Still too heavy as I got older and I now have an Ultra Light .270, 26" special order with Loopy 2.5-8x, 6 7/8 lbs.

The pre-64 M70 actions are shorter than the 700. Theywere opened up to take the H&H cartridges.
I think the M70 was, dollar for dollar, the finest working class rifle ever offered to the American shooter. I like them. I especially like the pre-war models.
Having said that, I would choose a 700 action most times for building a target/varmint rifle. GD