I stopped by my favorite gun shop,(Kerr Brothers in Cumberland,MD) and was shown a NIB M70 FW in 7x57. Built in 1988, a beautiful piece. I bought it on the spot(even though Mrs. E. was with me and gave some rather vocal discouragement). Was $550.00 too much? Even if it was it is a pristine M70 and I'm happy.

Congrats on your STEAL!! How do you sleep at night?

I'll give you $400 sight unseen.

Great rifle/cartridge combo.

You stole it.!
In todays market featherweights NIB believe it or not are for sale for nearly $700 to $1200.
Did he have a featherweight with sights in 6.5x55 too?

Unfortunately the 7x57 was the only one available.

Congrats man, you got a monster of a deal.

WOW! I go thru Cumberland MD, four or five times a year enroute to the inlaws house. And I didn't even know there was a Gunshop there. And a M70 in 7x57 would be sooo nice... (sigh)

You got a deal so good that you should buy a Lotto ticket before your luck ebbs back to mere mortal levels.

and Congrats on the Rifle. I have one myself good luck with yours.

Well that is not a steal in my book when I compare it to the deal I got on my Model 70 featherweight a few years ago...

Mine was used.. but evidently NOT Much! and the guy had a really nice declearator recoil pad on it, along with a set of Leupold Bases and Rings....

When I saw it on the back wall at Roseburg GunShop and asked about it, the guy at the counter said, "you probably won't like this rifle, because it is chambered in a real oddball caliber"

So I asked what Oddball Caliber and he said 7mm Mauser.... asking how much, he said it was on consignment.. and the customer needs $300.00 for it....

There was a huge sonic boom as I whipped out my debit card.. and an ink pen to fill out the FFL form...

I got it home, mounted a 3 x 9 Leupold with a Heavy German Number one reticle on it, that I had laying around without a rifle under it...

Then I took it to the range, and with several handloads, the darn thing thought it was a varmint rifle, instead of a featherweight.....

so now it has a permanent home at the seafire abode, and I seem to carry it a lot, when I am not having the 260 Remington bug....

44 grains of 4064, with a 140 grain Ballistic Tip gives me an MV of 2800 fps.. and 42 grains of 4064 with a 160 grain Speer Mag tip gives me an MV of 2700 fps when we are looking for an elk or two...

so I made out better, but we both have a rifle that a lot of these other guys wish they had!!!!

I also have a featherweight in 6.5 x 55, but that started out life with a 30/06 barrel on it and a factory laminate stock on it.. I bought that one with a shot out Donnelly barrel on it, and a 6.5 x 20 Leupold in Leupold Bases and rings...Paid $500.00 for that one..

The Scope went on a varmint rifle...

the barrel went into my spare barrel stash..

and a Pac Nor 27 inch barrel with a one in 7 twist got mounted on the featherweight, with a Leupold 3 x 9 scope...

This one also has a Packmeyer recoil pad on it, and it also thinks it is a varmint rifle...

Gidday Guys,

You make me green with envy the prices you pay. I bet the only thing missing is the year round hunting and the selection of species we have here.

I'm either time rich money poor or vice versa.

Bugger

Happy Hunting

Hamish

Yeah Hamish.. I moved to Oregon 12 yrs ago, to be in the middle of hunting paradise...

The liberals ban cougar hunting, the cougars kill off all the deer, are now working on the elk....

Then I am here, another place all of those city folks come to be in the 'great outdoors'.. yet I have to go to the city where they live, 200 and 300 miles away, to shop in all of those great "hunting and fishing stores"....

So wildlife is on the decline in the western USA, but thriving in the eastern part, where you have a hard time and a lot of obstacles finding a place to hunt them....

some days it is just amazing when you look at it, on how much politicans and liberals can screw up what was once a perfectly balanced world....

Brystar, I picked one up, like new at my local GM for $429. It is the XTR Featherweight w/sights. It is a sweet companion. gduffey

Brytstar, is your rifle push feed or controlled feed?

My long-time go to caliber is the 7x57. I have a bunch of heads clobbered with it up to the size of elk and a 55.5 in. kudu. Get you some H414 and Nosler 160's or Barnes TSX and kill some game with it.

i had one..... very nice PF gun, and very accurate. i think i had it in like 96... very fun rifle, and someone else wanted it more than i

jeffe

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:
Get you some H414 and Nosler 160's or Barnes TSX and kill some game with it.

H414 is the best powder in my two 7x57's.

Don

quote:

Brytstar, is your rifle push feed or controlled feed?

Ditto? There is a big difference in value.

I don't think the 7 x 57 Made it to the CRF chamberings...at least not in the featherweights...that or the 257 Roberts.. the other heavily desired rifle in a featherweight...

I have thought about doing a 6mm Remington on a Featherweight long action...

I bought a 7X57 XTR (with K4 scope) at the Goddard Gunnery in December 2004 for $650. Never regretted it for a second and it is the most accurate rifle I have ever shot.

I too have the Winchester M70 Featherweight in 7x57. For a while, I thought I might have a lemon. I put a Leupold M-8 4X scope on the gun and groups were terrible. Still, I really liked the feel of the rifle, so I went to my friendly gunsmith and had a trigger job and a glass bedding job done. back to the range I went. No improvement. The trigger was good, all the screws were double checked and were properly tightened, what could it be? There was a gun show coming up and I was about to take it and trade it off, when I wonder??? Why don't I try another scope? Holy cow! The first five shot group after sighting in was .75" and that was with factory ammo. Then, I tried a handload and the group with it was .375". Nothing I have tried in that rifle has been over one inch with the exception of some bulk Winchester 150 gr. Power Points. Winchester should ee ashamed of selling such trash. I weighed a sample of 20 bullets and the variation was plus or minus two full grains. That is, the weight varied from 148.0 grains to 152.0 grains. Pure total crap!
About a year ago, while cruising a gun show, I spotted a Ruger #1B in a cartridge I did not already have. (I collect Ruger #1s.) The fellow also had a NIB Winchester M70 Featherweight in .257 Roberts.I couldn't afford both and for some reason passed on the Ruger and took the Featherweight home. I figured my wife might like to shoot that one. Her favorite rifle in an old 1969 issue Winchester M70 in .243. That rifle BTW is an absolute tack driver. I had a spare Featherweight long action stock laying around and I put the .243 into it, but she wanted the old stock. Women!
All I can say is those M70 Featherweight stocks seem to be a perfect fit for my frame. I'll be looking for a couple more in cartridges I'm interested in.
One thing is for sure. If I ever have to sell off my guns, that 7x57 Featherweight will never go. It's a keeper.
Paul B.

quote:

Originally posted by DMB:

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:
Get you some H414 and Nosler 160's or Barnes TSX and kill some game with it.

H414 is the best powder in my two 7x57's.

Don

I like H414 or WW760 for bullets of 1`50 grains and under. For the 175's, I like MRP or RE 22.

Bought my Featherweight M70 7x57mm in 1983, when they were brand new. Never heard of them being bad shooters until years later, and I always wondered why. I know the whitetails and feral hogs I shot with it didn't complain. The rifle is still in the rack, but has been supplanted by a couple of 6.5mms which I think are even better for Texas deer (I'm a minimalist) This is a very good rifle, and seriously under appreciated due to the ramblings of certain gunwriters.

LLS

Sadly I don't own a mod. 70 light or feather weight 7mmx57mm. All I have is 2, 7X57s ,mod. 98 sporterized (By me)with in the white 19" barrels I screwed on, with scout mounted pistol scopes and home made muzzle breaks.

They ware home art type stocks that have been skeliteized. I guess they are kind of like range mules compared to the thuorough breds you guys are talking about. One or maybe two things; they swing fast and hit at what I'm shooting.

However , you got a peach of a buy. roger My 4th of july hamburgers are almost done.

That is one heck of a deal. You just cannot beat the cartridge. In 2003 I was in on some horse trading for a friend of mine. He had a Romanian SKS that would shoot patterns on a good day. We went into a gun shop and back in the corner, behind the gun racks, sat a Model 70 XTR. The caliber, 7x57mm. I asked Tom if he would mind a 7x57mm and he said he would like to have one after seeing what mine could do. The kid at the counter started telling us it was in a real unusual caliber and all. We finally got the kid to trade, straight up, the SKS for the Winchester Model 70 XTR. Tom put a Leupold 4x12 scope on it. With 150 grain partitions, he is good to go. His rifle has a special like for H4350. The long and short of it, you got a wonderful deal. My 7x57mm, a CZ 550 American, is a wonderful elk rifle, a fantastic whitetail and mule deer rifle, a rip-snortin antelope rifle, a premium wild hog rifle, a dead-right-there bear rifle and I even used it once in South Texas to pop a wild turkey. Tom Purdom

quote:

Originally posted by brytstar:
Unfortunately the 7x57 was the only one available.

Well, it was extremely fortunate for you!

I think the 7x57 is one of the greatest cartridges ever invented.

And the Model 70 is arguably the greatest hunting action (not the greatest target action!) ever produced.

______

More information.

The rifle is a FW XTR, NIB, Mfgr'd 1985. All tags still on rifle, all manuls and papers are in box.

As to the question of CRF or push feed, I belive all the M70's built from 1964 until 1992 were push feeds.

I am torn now as to whether I should keep it in it's current condition or set it up and use it. I need another hunting rifle like I need another wife, but....

LE270, where do you live in the "Free State"?

Brytstar, thanks for the response. I wasn't exactly sure as to when they started to produce CF, but I knew it was late 80s or early 90s. Lou

quote:

I am torn now as to whether I should keep it in it's current condition or set it up and use it. I need another hunting rifle like I need another wife, but....

Well, load it up either to factory standard (wimp loads) or up to where it should be. Either way, once you start shooting it, you may for go the harding kicking rifle forever, at least for non-dangerous critters. It's that good.
Regarding another wife? Wll, I'll leave that decision up to you. I'm sure you'll makw the thr right one. ???? Or maybe not.
Paul B.