Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Winchester's "New" Model 70's - Quality Control?

I have handled 7 or 8 of the new M70's and they are vastly superior to anything one is likely to come upon in most any gun store. In my mind they are custom grade rifles at Kimber prices. I have handled dozens of true custom rifles costing thousands of dollars more that were inferior to the new M70 Super Grade. If they shoot, I will end up owning several. Oh, and the triggers on all of them were completely excellent.

Cheers, RS

Any info on what the actual market price will be on these? I am debating snatching up one of the new featherweights.... Thought about waiting for 09 run just to hear more from people who have actually used the things....

This was a refreshing news thanks. I find it interesting that a lot is written on a gun most of have yet to handle or shoot?


I have handled 7 or 8 of the new M70's and they are vastly superior to anything one is likely to come upon in most any gun store. In my mind they are custom grade rifles at Kimber prices. I have handled dozens of true custom rifles costing thousands of dollars more that were inferior to the new M70 Super Grade. If they shoot, I will end up owning several. Oh, and the triggers on all of them were completely excellent.

Cheers, RS

All this talk about junk model 70's is interesting to me. I own a half dozen model 70 classics ranging from mid 90's guns to two made during the last 2 year of production. All of them are excellent. The only difference I have noticed between the mi 90's guns and the newest one is the fact that USRAC didn't debur the edges of the ejector slot, which is really minor.

I have owned several pre-64 Model 70s and still own one, a .30-06 target rifle. I own several late 1990s and mid 2000s Model 70s. The Supegrades of that era were a lot of rifle for the money.

My very recent .375 H&H is way better than the pre-64 .375 it replaced, in design, and the quality was just as good. I did shop a bunch of them in the 1990s that were of widely varying quality.

I have a picture of the new Model 70s in the rack at the factory on the production line last week. If it's okay, I will post it here.

Please do.

Post away brother, can't wait to get my hands on another featherweight in 270.

The sample M-70's at this years SHOT show seemed nice rifles. The reps there were pretty straight forward about the new trigger, IE: the old trigger couldn't be may light enough for current market demands and still keep the lawyers happy.

The triggers on the sample rifle certainly felt nice. I still prefer the simplicity and open structure of the original trigger, but if I was in the market for a new rifle I would certainly give the Winchesters consideration.

I'm open to a NEW Winchester trigger.

The old Winchester triggers, when worked by a top-notch gunsmith could be excellent, and in my experience that was true of pre- and post-64s. But, most of the dozen or so Winchesters (pre and post) I've owned over the years all needed that gunsmith to make them sing. I'd much prefer a trigger that I can easily and safely adjust (as I can with other rifles), skipping those gunsmith fees and all that time in the shop.

Show me that NEW Winchester trigger. If it's clean, crisp, easily owner-adjustable and safe, I'll embrace it and not look back.

The featherweight could turn into a real nice Backpacking rifle with a synthetic stock on it.. I wonder how much weight one could save by doing this?

Also, any field tests out there to see if these rifles have any feeding issues with cartridges like the WSMs?

Every test I have red of the WSMs said there were no feeding problems.

I wouldn't expect feeding problems, because the fatter WSM cases stack up more vertical (less staggered) in the staggered box magazine. There is plenty of room to adjust the magazine lips to get the shorter cartridge to tilt up properly to the feed ramp.

My short action Classic Featherweight came from the factory during the last year of production with massive problems. Bad castings showed at the receiver tang, trigger, magazine follower and bottom metal. Poor wood to metal fit, various finish problems. Most of the problems showed only on close examination. It cost me $895, new, in the post plant-closing price run up. My fault, I wanted a short action donor.

I think FNH management is well aware of the quality problems in rifles like mine. I think the Model 70 FNH produces at the Carolina plant will be head and shoulders above the last of the New Haven plant's output. From what I've read in the shooting press and on line, the equipment in New Haven was sold off piecemeal by the lien holders, and not reacquired by FNH. So the production line in Carolina ought to have new tooling capable of close tolerances. It wouldn't surprise me to see new Model 70s with workmanship equal to SAKO.


My SA Classic now has a new barrel, Williams inside-the-bow bottom metal, Jewell trigger and some other parts that never saw New Haven. It will have a new stock in English walnut soon, I hope. I will probably buy a Carolina-produced M70 sooner or later, but will look at it up close, in strong light, first.

The plant in Columbia has always had the best CNC machines.
They turn out about $132,000,000 of M-240, M-249, M-16A1, M-4 and the FNP autopistols each year. I have a .375 M-70 Safari that was made there during the transition when FN bought control back from the French, and it is super nice, and shoots sub MOA.

The receiver on a M-70 isn't cast, but rather made from milled bar stock.

My bad. Maybe a flange that wasn't cut off by the machine tool . In any event, it was a piece of steel attached to the tang that looked bad, should have been removed at the factory before blueing, but wasn't.

I believe model 70's have had cast receivers since '64.

I have four post 64 model 70's in my safe. Two are push fee\ds & two are Classics. They are all clearly castings.

That is not necessarily a bad thing.

If one were to remove the stock from a Pre 64 Standard model and remove the stock from a new SC Model 70 Standard model and weigh each of them bad-boys, wonder what the difference in weight would be? Plastic, aluminum, potmetal, does the new rifle weigh less or equal to the original?

You can tell I have alot to think about, that and the spider monkey wanting the presidency and the combination of the nuclear football....

GeoW

Model 70 classics are not cast! At least most of the parts are not. I believe the trigger, some bottom metal and some extractors are the only cast parts.
The reciever is made form milled bar stock...

OrigonCoot,

Model 70's have never been cast. What you are seeing are the forged receivers which are better that the bar stock receivers.

Headache

Live & learn.