I have seen them on the internet from 3500 (fired) to 6000 (unfired new in box). I posted it a while back on backpage for $5000 thinking someone was going to get a heck of a deal, but everyone thought I was crazy. This thing is so beautiful I wouldnt sell it for less than $5000, plus its unfired in original box.

forgot some pics

I have one of those as well, I hunted with mine this past year. Original retail price on them was $5000 and wholesale was $3850 but Winchester had some financial difficulties at the time and blew them out for $1495 wholesale. The store I worked at at the time sold 9 or 10 of them! I even tracked down the engraver who did mine and had him engrave a set of rings for me. THey are a nice gun but I think Winchester could have done a much better job on them. THe checkering is machine cut and not all that great, the pores of the wood were not filled in good and the thing that bugs me the most about them is that the gold inlay on the left side of the gun and the Winchester name is half under the wood of the stock! Who does all that nice gold work and then covers it up?

I've seen them listed at about $3000 NIB with the mohogany display case and all paper work, etc.

I agree, that sure is a beautiful rifle. But for the most part, the rifle and buyer determines the true vaue. You can put a $5,000.00 price tag on it and be prepared to sit on it for a long while or just the right person will come along and snag it up. Also, if the consensus is, "everyone thouht you were crazy", then that is a sure sign you are not listing it in the right spot. Try gunsinternational next time.

I would maybe let it go for 3500, found one on gunsinternational for that price, thanks for the headsup on gunsinternational

No offense intended to owners...so I apologize in advance.

Highly embellished rifle made in New Haven,but the quality of workmanship is not there to justify the price tag.

Take a look at the work of a top quality stock maker or the metal work from equivalent craftsmen for a comparison. Even today, for the $5k-$6500 range,if I shop judiciously I can buy a used custom M70 from a top maker that will blow the socks off the Ultra Grade from every angle.

Collectible M70's are nice but this ain't one IMHO; I have passed on the few I have seen,including when they first were introduced..

Clearly you haven't seen one up close, its beautiful and you have no concept of rarity, or no money to actually buy one anyways. Your comments were ignorant. Please attach a picture of your firearms which are worth more than this fine specimen. No, I don't mean a picture of your 1977 Double Wide Trailer.

Clearly you should hang and pay attention before jumping.

I agree with you in part. The metal work on these rifles is very nice but the stock work could have been much better. I think they just put a nice piece of wood in the same machines that shape and checkered their standard Featherweights. They could have at least followed up the machine cut checkering my hand so the points were actually pointed instead of flat on top.

Wow�single digit # of posts and you've found the fast track to ignore�.

Pretty bold and ignorant statement from a newcomer here. Bob was trying his best to not offend you. He's also been around the model 70 block a time or 2 and knows custom rifles. Battue's advice was spot on..

Wow, talking about chit and fall back in it. I think those rifles are at least worth what a clean PF is worth plus a couple hundred maybe.

Knew this would ruffle some feathers....which is why I started out saying..."no offense".

Clearly you don't know your way around custom rifles but seem to think you do. I have been up close and personal to the Ultra Grades and never considered them worth the money.

I have never seen a Winchester custom shop rifle that came close to the level of workmanship displayed on Mausers and M70's displayed by the likes of Dale Goens, Maurice Ottmar, Tom Burgess, Clayton Nelson,Leonard Brownell, Al Biesen, Griffin and Howe,Kevin Campbell...owned, shot, and hunted with just about all these and I am not talking samples of "one".

Since I did not build or acquire any of these to stick in glass cases to admire,I have stuffed them into saddle scabbards,dunked them in snow and had them iced up and frozen while out hunting with them,or humped them around hunting country here and out west and shot game animals with them.

Friends have built and owned quite a few.

Not to mention the work of other skilled craftsman I've been able to look at while at Safari Club years past and at the Custom Gun Makers Guild show,like David Miller's Leopard Rifle(that one only went for over $200k and I got blown out in the first round of bidding since I could not afford $200k for a rifle ....Monte Kennedy,Nate Bishop, Al Lind,Bill Dowtin,Mark Penrod; metal by Herman Waldron and Ted Blackburn, Holland and Holland,Gene Simillion,Duane Wiebe....so many others I can't remember them all to be honest.Have not owned all these but have examined plenty of them and more.

Along the way I have also owned a couple of Winchester Custom Shop rifles, both pre and post 64's (ever seen an original Super Grade pre 64 264 Win Mag? Go try to find one....they are a LOT rarer than your Ultra Grade. so don't lecture me on "rarity". ). They were nice enough riles but not in the class of the work of the top makers in this country.

Oh.....and BTW I saw the Ultra Grade at Ron's Gun Shop in Lyme, Conn when it first came out and I could have bought one then....(I was not impressed so passed.It takes more than some gold and engraving to impress me)..... We used to hit that store once or twice a year and then schlep down to Hallowell's where I've seen examples of work by Bob Owens,rifles engraved by Winston Churchill,(you know who these two guys are ,don't you?)and many other top makers.

So please don't lecture me on what constitutes a fine custom rifle; I don't know as much about them as some people but I am no stranger to them either.

If you think an Ultra Grade represents the pinnacle of fine custom bolt action rifles then I can only assume you ain't been around much really good stuff.More's the pity.

Go fry an egg.

He had it coming. Hey I love fried eggs!

im not going to argue with you and i dont think its the pinnacle of fine custom bolt action rifles, it was built by winchester not a custom shop...just seems really nice for a product out of Winchester in the 1980s when they were on the verge of ceasing to exist
the engraving is great, the stock is nice, but ya its not a $10,000 gun...all I was asking for was the value and it seems like $3500 is about what I will get for it

Being a smart ass didn't do you any favors.

You know; Just sayin.

sssiiikkem boy!!!
I wish I only had A FRACTION of your experience with it all B. quite a list of names you're in the know, and prolly do know them. I'm a Featherweight fan myself, have only 2 though. An ALL TERRAIN .270 & a FN 257 Roberts.
Yea, this guy had it coming. No doubt he has a nice 70. Maybe he's "into" it too much.
I'll take mine sunny side up

I'll just have pancakes ....I don't know if I'd like them eggs

ya im into it for 4k, guess i didnt get as good of a deal as i thought, but thats what happens when you buy without knowing the market, i went with my gut feelings, and now i need to sell it and take it in the shorts

that probably makes guys like battue happy

Does give me the giggles. Especically since your motive was to perhaps stick one of us with it.

Other than that I don't hold others responsible for making me happy.

You're not the only one that has taken it in the shorts on a gun sell. Sounds like you learned an important lesson. List it on gunsinternational for what you can live with and hopefully you'll find someone that's been wanting to add it to their collection.

That wasnt my motive. My motive was to find out what its worth. The gun actually has an interesting story. Apparently it was won in a raffle at the Winchester Museum for a $100 ticket

Here too

but anyways i have never came across someone so childish in my life
just because you were picked on as a kid doesnt mean you need to act like this as adults, oh you wonder why your family even hates you, its because you are an arrogant lkhbhjjsdfa

why would i list it here, ive been harassed by this forum

Here's a story. I have one of those flashy Winchester Custom Shop rifles. Mine is in .257 Roberts and was made for a fellow named Larry Larson who was a contract engineer for both Winchester and Ruger...Mr. Larson, along with Bill Ruger and another fellow were the three men who designed the Number One (Google it), holding patents on the design. Larson was also involved with the design of the first Ruger double-action revolver...

My Larson Winchester has his initials scroll engraved on the trigger guard along with more gold than I've ever seen on a new Winchester 70 to the point of being almost disgustingly gaudy...the wood is nothing special, IMO...I bought it in unfired condition from his daughter who inherited his firearms...gave $2,500 for it which I thought was plenty...I also bought a 3 digit Number One .375 H&H from her that Bill Ruger presented to him which was a salt wood gun. Gave $350 for it and sent it back to Ruger who re-stocked it with a respectable piece of Circassian and replaced the innards for free in a two week turn around...

I figure the .375 has more value than that special 70...I've yet to hear of anyone who's collecting these garish, gold-embellished new 70s...I bought that Roberts because of who it was made for...

It's apparent we are wasting our time with you. If you want to see childish, I suggest you look in the mirror and then please move on. My best advice I can give you...

MJ8: No one is happy about seeing someone else take it in the shorts....but it happens.

The way I see it, your market is a collector who simply has to have one of everything that Winchester ever produced...they are out there and no doubt someone has paid more than you did for one.

All I was saying is that with some judicious shopping a guy can get a better custom in the $4-6k range,if he is a user and not a collector....He does not have to spend $10k to do it either.

Due to the closure of the New Haven plant,the perception of rarity and "not made here any longer" has seemingly crept into the post 64 market as well.

Stick it out on Gunbroker and the market will determine what you are going to get for it.

Most of us have given too much for something at one time or another.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Embellishment costs money, but may or may not add to the value of a product. (Friend once had a revolver engraved. It was so badly done the engraver should have paid him.)

It may take a while to sell a pricey item at what it should be worth. There is not a buyer behind every bush willing to fork over $3500 for a rifle. Ask me how I know. (oK, I'll tell you. I just sold one for that price after offering it for sale for a few years. It may have been a really good price for the buyer. Most folks willing to spend that kind of money are looking for performance, not decoration.)

Engraving does call for nice wood, quality finish on both wood and metal, and fine line hand checkering, well executed. Gold may add or detract, depending on how tastefully it was done.

Good luck on selling, and by the way, don't pee on the leg of the messengers. Those guns were made as an act of desperation by the Winchester ownership hoping to add some nice profit to the coffers. They did take the shortcuts mentioned. Rare alone does not make valuable. Jack

I bought one of these when they first came out.. Listed for 5000.oo .. Paid 2500.oo for it.. Then the market fell on these.. I highy agree with BobinNH.. he couldnt be more correct.. These guns are just a upgraded feather weight.. Very poor quality for a 5000 gun..

Ive been on this forum for a while,these guys are tough but not azz holes, They have saved me money on very good advise. After reading this entire thread Im gonna give you a small tidbit of advise.
Start all over, loose your handle, re register under a new name and come back with a different attitude. Everybody likes a dumbazz ,nobody likes a smartazz.
Remember the toes you step on going up, for they may be attached to the ass you kiss coming down! very best