Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Review of my new Jack O'Connor Custom Tribute Winchester Model 70

Hello friends, got my new Winchester JOC Custom Tribute yesterday and to be honest, never been more disappointed in a gun in my life. The major issue was the checkering. The forearm checkering felt like velvet and the right side of the forearm has a series of 3 ridges about a half inch apart The checkering honestly looked like it had been sanded down and filled with linseed oil or a wood finish. The next issue was the ebony grip cap. The cap is about 1/32 an inch higher than the wood where it joins the stock. Not a lot but you can feel it easily when you slide your hand up the stock and you can see it when the gun is held horizontally. Then I checked the barrel and it is only floated about 10 inches and then makes contact with the wood. I couldn't get a piece of paper or a crisp 20$ bill to go past 10"'s. Finally, the metal butt plate extends about 1/16" below the stock and overhangs both sides about the last 1/3 the way down. Can't figure out what happened here but I am very disappointed. I called Winchester and they sent me a UPS label for pick-up and said they will look at it and see what they can do. I got the impression that they think I don't know what I am talking about but I know good checkering when I see and feel it. My Kimbers, my Brownings, even my new model Winchesters all have very sharp and clean checkering. They said to expect 4 weeks so I will update on the site then but for now, I couldn't be more disappointed in the quality I received in that gun. Maybe I should have just gone with the Kimber Super America and had the O'Connor floor-plate installed? What a waste of the most beautiful piece of AAA walnut I have ever seen in my life. Maybe they will get it fixed, we'll see. Sincerely, Jim.

Sorry to hear of this. They should never let one like this out the door. Good luck getting it fixed.

Take pictures the next time and post them.

Are you going to get the same gun back?

From the ones I have seen the checkering was not well done or designed.

The fleur De Lis is too large

That's a damn shame. What sucks is if its corrected or even replaced, you'll still have a sour taste in your mouth. I'm sure it wasnt cheap either.

Hope it ends well.

Not much of a finish on that wood either , The grain looks wide open !

Your first mistake was thinking that a public held company like Winchester gives two chits about anything other than profit.
You fell for a marketing scam and we're sold an over priced under quality product so the parent company could meet profit margin demands and keep stock holders happy.

Or she may come back better than you'd expected.


Travis

I can't imagine the amount of money and maybe time you spent waiting to get this rifle. I would just want to get a refund and not look back. In my opinion, there are many other rifle makers out there, Cooper being one, who would make you feel you're getting your money's worth.

The wood finish that looks like the surface of the moon does not help much either. :-(

Shame on Winchester for allowing a poor quality but high dollar product leave their door.

I sincerely hope they make this right for you. Winchester should know that expectations are high for a custom model like yours. I picked up a custom high grade featherweight .270 over a year ago and it is beautiful. The quality of these Model 70s should not be hit or miss.

The dude is wearing this one out...

Nothing $15,000 dollars can't cure if your check has an apostrophe in it.

Quality of the stock finish is sad, as noted by Jess.

Saw the crap you took on anohter forum for saying you had a problem with the rifle from the JOC rifle fan boys. I've looked at one in Cabela's in Kansas last summer, and I didn't feel it was worth the money just for being associated with JOC. Anyway I hope Winchester fixes it the way you want it.

i have an fn supergrade in 270 and it is flawless. i certainly hope winchester fixes or replaces you tribute model. sad commentary on what should be an outstanding rifle. best of luck with your rifle.

Man what a shame. Keep us posted on how it turns out. The fleurs are just fine in size. Look very similar to Geons fleurs.
My 1st post. Hello all

Welcome Va98.

IIRC,JOC stated he prefered an oil finish on his rifles,not a high gloss.

Is that you Jim?

I'll let everyone know how this turns out and I do have confidence that Winchester can get it right. I kept the barrel, bolt, and floor-plate and I am hoping they can re-cut the checkering, mill the butt-plate to where it fits properly and finish the ebony forend tip so that it is even with the wood. I can't help but think now that somehow the walnut shrank on the stock over the last year or so. I figure the gun was likely made in 2012 or 2013 and this was the best looking wood I have found on a JOC Custom Tribute so I went ahead and purchased the gun via Gunbroker. The pictures did not show the flaws but the person who took the pictures may not have known what to look for anyway. When I called to discuss the gun the salesman told me that the shop had 2 come in about a year or so ago and the boss wanted to keep that one for himself and they put it away. Now the boss is selling off some of his collection so I went ahead with the sale. I don't know how or why the wood could shrink but either the butt-plate, barrel, and ebony forend all grew larger or the AAA french walnut somehow shrank. By the way, the picture posted on this thread is not my gun. Don't know who's gun it is but mine didn't look anything like that grain at all. I'll post the pictures I got to see before I bought the gun. I hope to report back that all is well and the gun is the gun that I thought I was getting all along and that it is truly a tribute to a great writer and a hard tack hero of my youth.