Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Winchester Collectors Model 70 advice

Thanks BSA.

And I agree on the over-decoration cheapening the multitude of special edition this and that.

I wouldn't buy a Portuguese Winchester. Not when you can buy the real thing (a pre-'64 FWT) for $700.

I wouldn't buy a Portuguese Winchester. Not when you can buy the real thing (a pre-'64 FWT) for $700.

$1,000.00 with the Burris FFII 3-9x40. Then I bought the scope back for $150.00. Total was $850.00 and that rifle is one of the best shooting pre 64's I've ever had. I'm glad it went to Eric. He takes good care of it and he uses it... That rifle looks sweet with that Zeiss HD buddy!!!

Where are they for that cheap price?

Where are they for that cheap price?

$800.00 took her home:



Very clean and all original....


Next was a 308 fwt that I didn't really care for. I tried to like the 308 win cartridge, but don't like the short cartridge at all. $900.00 with scope:

Not eveybody is looking for a 458, that's a very specialized rifle. That being said I have hunted deer with a custom 416 Taylor so I do like big bores and have used my Pre 64 M70 375 H&H. The new M70's while they have nicer wood are just that new rifles and IMHO they have no history behind them other than the sales pitch of JOC or a limited offering from Cabelas. Ten years from now the Pre 64 458 mentioned for $6500 with be worth $10K and the cabelas gun will be $1000 if your lucky.

Slavek I'm with you on Cabela's. I can't stand them and won't buy anything from them.

They aren't.....anymore anyway

Oh here and there we all run into "deals" but $700 bucks for a clean pre 64 FW 06 hasn't been at the $700 level for at least a decade I think.

If I were the OP and wanted really nice wood I would not hesitate to buy one of the newer rifles being made today. Yes some of the Cabela's models and SG's are too shiny for my taste but for the money are well made and solid rifles with nice actions and good barrels. The 2008 M70's and EW's I have owned functioned perfectly and shot like gangbusters out of the box.I think the workmanship is in some ways better than the Classics made at New Haven.

I think the barrels supposedly being better today than the pre 64's is more gun writer talk than anything or an opinion derived from samples of one or two of each for comparison.I've had a slew of pre 64's that would shoot right along with anything today including some custom tube rifles.I have seen M70's from 220 Swift to 375 H&H shoot just like Eric's rifle many times.



You can't really ask pre 64 fans to be objective about the new rifles because we are emotionally vested in the old guns and few of us are capable of picking up any M70 without comparing them in some manner to the pre 64's ....plus we can't get past the triggers of the old rifles the one piece bolt and some other features of construction, maybe with good reason.

But for better or worse that trigger is gone...just like El Paso Weavers,B&L and Lyman scopes,and screw machine partitions.

It's time to move on and if the old rifles float your boat, buy one...if we are not hung up on that, the new rifles are a good value

Pre 64 Model 70's and their followings will be just like 50'-60's muscle cars. When boomers who drooled over them as younsters, but now have disposal income to buy them are gone, so is the market.

I sure wish they used the JOC stock config on their standard fwts!