I am putting together a DGR right now. I have a question which will expose my lack of knowledge, but I am curious - in a Model 70, what is the difference between a "pre-war" and a "pre-64" ?
I have the chance to pick up either one but am not sure what the difference is.
Thanks,

if you're going to redo an original - make it the pre 64 not the prewar please

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
if you're going to redo an original - make it the pre 64 not the prewar please

It seems I agree with Butchloc quite a bit.....as I do here!

Cost aside - what are the differences between the two?
Thanks

To answer the question, the main difference is the pre64 had a mauser-style extractor (so called "controlled round feed") which is held to be more reliable and a better choice for dangerous game. The early actions were also better finished. The later actions had push-feeds (the case head is not positively grabbed by the bolt head on the way in and less securely on the way out). However, Winchester reintroduced the CRF in the "Classic" model. In my opinion, that's the one to go for. The pre 64 actions are hard to get and expensive.

I am just finishing a rifle built on one of our "Bad Boy" kits. Just need to electroless nickel the bolt. The bbl/action finish is rust blue. This one has an NECG fiberoptic front and an XS ghost ring rear, sitting on steel weaver mounts. The action is comml Mauser. Cal is 458 but we also do 416 Taylor and shortly 375 Ruger. We can stretch the action for longer cals but this pushes the price up a lot for questionable gain.

umm. NO. Both pre-war and pre-64s are CRFs. The differences were as some pointed out, the pre-wars were finished a bit better, were not optimized for scope use (low comb), the safety was a small lever that went over the top of the bolt shroud and the tang was more of a cloverleaf pattern than the more modern "U" shape. The POST-64s were push-feeds until the re-birth of the CRF is the "Classic" line. jorge

Jorge and Russ - thanks for the insights. I have learned about the differences between the push feed and CRF (pre and post 64's), I just had not heard a discussion of the pre-war models.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
if you're going to redo an original - make it the pre 64 not the prewar please

It seems I agree with Butchloc quite a bit.....as I do here!

I'm thinking that both Butch and Vapo know what is what. Not there first rodeo!

If the money is even, I'd take the prewar or a transition over the later, just plain Pre-64's. If you don't like the safety you can pick up a Tilden off of eBay I would expect.

The pre-war has the safety on he LEFT side of the shroud and it works backward. The operating lever is actually a different shape that either the 'transition model' and later models. The tang has the 'cloverleaf' which doesn't much look like a cloverleaf to me, just looks like a tang. Other than those 2 points I don't see much difference in them. I have all three versions and of the three I like the 'transition' the least, the operation of the safety is really not a pleasant operation due to the shape of the lever. Wisner no longer produces the 'Tilden' conversion safety. If you have one for sale I would certainly like one.

We do have a Big Bore Forum....any reason why this thread shouldn't be there?

Cheers,
Canuck

No problem from me, move it if you wish.