I just picked up a 1946/47 transitional Model 70 (.270) that is in such fine shape I hate to defile it with modern glass...

I need suggestions for "proper" glass, and mounts.

I will say, I want to stay with some kind of receiver bridge mounts, not side mount stuff.

Also, I need a replacement barrel boss rear sight, any ideas?

As you might expect, I would suggest something of the time or at least prior to image-movement. A Lyman Alaskan, Unertl Hawk or Falcon or an early Weaver K4.

You should mount them carefully, so the reticle is more-or-less centred on the boresight, of course, or get a good gunsmith to do it.

If you can find the right mounts (some guy in NY sells them), a Bausch & Lomb Balfor or Balvar 4 (2.5 to 4x) would be my choice and these should be easier to mount.

The one thing that I encounter with the earlier or low-comb Winchester stock is that the drop necessitates "lifting" your head off up for proper alignment making shooting difficult. This can be minimized by using either the old 7/8 inch Lyman Alaskan 2 1/2 power scope with Leupold low 7/8" rings or the newer Leupold Alaskan (also 7/8 inch) which was available in 2 1/2, 4 and 6 power. These have a tube finish that looks great on the 70's receiver and the size looks fitting on a period rifle. Good luck in your quest...

Alternatively, eddie14, a lace-on leather cheekpiece could be employed. I've made my own and they can be very comfortable to shoot with, even on calibres that might otherwise smack your face.

mine wears a one piece Kurharsky/B&L mount with a Balvar 2.5-8

I recently came across a Winchester Model 43 in .218 Bee of approximately the same vintage as your M70. I scrounged around until I finally came up with a good Weaver K-4 for it. The gunbarrel blue of the steel Weaver matches the Winchesters almost perfectly. Other than the potential to fog if you're in a wet climate, and a slightly duller sight picture than late model scopes, the old Weaver has extremely dependable adjustments and is physically quite a bull in terms of absorbing punishment.

As eddie advises, mount any scope as low as physically possible due to the proportions of the older M70 stocks.

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
mine wears a one piece Kurharsky/B&L mount with a Balvar 2.5-8

Sounds good. How do you find the Kuharski mounts? Are they alloy?

alloy. They are OK, not like I ever change the adjustments are the rifle is sighted in.

Glad to hear it. Someone complained the old B&L mounts he had seen had "flaking" inside but I don't recall him explaining what he meant by that.

Pre-image movement, meaning scopes with W/E adjustments in the rings and mount, and a solid tube without knobs?

About what year did the type of scopes we know now (with W/E knobs) come into use on sporting arms?

Elevation knobs and, to a lesser extent, windage knobs as now placed date from about 1900 at least, though target scopes without them continued for many decades after that and, around 1950, Bausch & Lomb and others made hunting scopes with no knobs, for about 20 years in B&L's case.

Before image-movement was introduced in the late 1950s, twisting the knobs very far would result in the reticle going out of centre, esp. in a variable at higher powers. Therefore, the scope needed to be mounted to boresight (in single-barrels, at least) without moving the reticle out of centre. The knobs would then be used for minor adjustments.

While this system sounds second-rate, it was in fact superior in several important ways, which kept German and Austrian makers using it for another two decades or more. In my opinion the only reason they stopped using reticle-movement was the American makers were winning the marketing battle - and if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.