Hello, new man here, glad to be here. I thought I would just start off and inquire about my Winchester M70 30-06 Post 64 rifle. This rifle is a Palma rifle, set up for competition, clip slot in the receiver, Anschutz type rail, rail on the left hand side of receiver for aperture sight. Serial number is G803504. I cannot find a manufacture date, in fact the earliest I have found are in the G900000 area, and indicates built approximately 1969. I've read that the earliest are in the G900000 area. Clearly, this can't be so. I bought the rifle from a man who owned it for well over thirty years, he told me it was an old rifle when he bought it. By the way, the rifle is in excellent shape, the bore is very nice, should serve me well. Will start working up some loads for it next week. Since I cannot see the sights anymore, I'll be shooting this rifle with a scope at our 600 yard club matches. Thanks!

Sounds like a beauty. Set up a free imgur account and post some pics of that thing. I was tempted by a palma rifle yesterday at a local gunshow. Guy said the rear sight was worth $800. Had it been a Winchester, instead of a remington 700, I would have laid the $1500.00 down on the table. Welcome to the fire. You picked one of the best forums to make your first post/thread. The Winchester guys, here, are pretty knowledgeable.

I have an imgur account, I'll take some pics this week on the firing line, hopefully, she'll perform very well. I actually bought another Winchester M70 receiver, it's at the shop now waiting on a 28 inch Kreiger heavy, will also be in 30-06. Too bad the wait on the barrel is 6-7 months!

Congrats and welcome to the fire. Model 70s can be made into great prone rifles. You should see if you can try out some match iron sights at your club matches before you give up on them. Modern irises and lenses are huge help. You might consider a .308 Win chamber on your other barrel along with a little bit lighter but longer Palma profile. The 30-06 has been replaced by the .223 and .308 as the allowed Palma cartridges and would also allow you to use the rifle in F class Target Rifle (TR) for you club matches as opposed to F-Open if you didn't want to compete with a sling (sacrilege I know).

I still shoot service rifle with a 4x scope with M14 type rifles and AR's. Also AR15 match rifle, in our matches, I really can't see the sights anymore, I really had in mind to just shoot F Class open, with the Winchester. See how it does, will start load development soon. I've always wanted a heavy barrel 30-06, I have plenty of other .308's. By the way, I contacted Winchester this morning, I found out that this rifle was built in 1969. Thanks!

Good deal, sounds like you've got it covered. What bullet(s) are you thinking of?

I've got the same push feed rig as you do Quincannon, as I began to age, I just kinda sorta made the old match rifle into a switch barrel-switch sights....30-06, .308, and gasp, Creedmoor. My only comment would be that the old '06 is NOT a handicap. Don't take my word for it, google Mr German Salazar and his efforts to keep the '06 alive with 190 Sierra's and H4350. Awesome rifleman.

I don't shoot f open, but not sure the 30 06 is much of a handicap either. A little more recoil and perhaps more wind drift compared to the more common f open cartridges, especially if you are stretching it to 1000 yards. Another good thing is bullets have only become better since German S was competing with his 06 here in Phoenix. Not sure he shot his 06 in f open though

Quinncannon, Welcome to the Fire. It's a great place!
803504 is a 1965 manufacture date and sold as a Model 70 Target that was only available in 30-06. As for the G prefix...

I have seen several M70 that were made way before the G prefix was added to all of the production M70s. Those include G744,789, (375 H&H), G790,229 (Deluxe 30-06), G830,851 (264), and G844,295 (06 target). I have pictures of all of them.

I have no idea why some of these earlier (pre 68 GCA/G prefix) M70s have the G prefix. My hypothesis is that they were returned for work soon after the prefix was mandated and re stamped when they left again. OR, they sat around and didn't leave until after the prefix was mandated. Was there some confusion at Winchester regarding the 1968 GCAs impact on returned items? I have asked about this on other forums and no one seems to know. One thing is for certain, they are not common. Why do i know this...I collect 1965 M70s...yeah, im that guy.

Chip

P.S.
Im unable to PM you. I would love to have a picture of your sn for my records if you wouldn't mind.

Right now, I'm just working up loads, so far the rifle seems to like 168 Sierra Match Kings and some Hornady 178 grain BTHP's. Didn't like 155 SMK's, but I have a long way to go for my load development! The 168 SMK's, shot a five round group of 5/8 inch! I would like to try some 190's, but I can't find any at this time.

Thanks for this information, when I called Winchester, I didn't know about this confusion about the G, I'm sure the young fellow, who looked it up, didn't know about that either!
I will be glad to post a picture of the serial number, once I figure out to post pics here!

Beautiful rifle and thank you, very much for adding to my database. The "G" looks like the others that i have seen and is obviously a little different than the numbers. I would gladly share my loads but, i am still looking for a 1965 Target. Hows that for a little irony.

The G prefix is confusing. As i said, I have never talked to anyone that is tracking or even aware of the G prefix added to 1964 to 1968 Model 70s. The 64-68 M70s are generally considered the "worst" of all the versions by collectors so i doubt anyone will ever care. Only through collecting 65s have i stumbled on them.

Another confusing "G" issue occurred when Winchester re introduced the Control Round Feed in the early 90s, they used a block of previously unused numbers. So, a 1994 CRF model 70 may have a lower serial number than a 1974 etc. That really confuses a lot of people.

Again, beautiful rifle. I like that the but pad hasn't been replaced and you still have a target block at the muzzle...very nice. Keep us posted on what loads work.

Chip

I'm glad I could be of some service, providing the serial number! I know that when the controlled round feed rifles were discontinued, that many thought the world was coming to an end, but I've handled a number of post 64 Winchester hunting rifles over the years, can't say I've had one that disappointed me.

Five round group with 168 grain SMK's. 5/8 inch. Not bad for a rifle built in 1965.

Super!
What are the details of the load? Powder, brass, primer, distance to the lands, etc.

Powder/ IMR 4064
Brass/ Lake City Match Brass from 1967
Primers/ CCI 200
COAL/ 3.34

I didn't measure distance to the lands, just went with COAL as stated in my old Sierra book. Going to try 47 grains of IMR 4064 tomorrow, same everything else.