I am looking at buying a Winchester Model 70 XTR Featherweight. I think these guns are push feed, or this one is. How does this model of Model 70's rate with you people? If it matters it is chambered in 7mm-08. Thanks for any help.

Leo, I've had a few of the xtr's for many years and still have one in 30.06, all were very accurate and rugged, I wish I still had them all.
After years of use I decided to go the whole hog and customise the 30.06, she now has a 24" SS medium to heavy barrel, a beautiful N.Z. walnut stock made by a leading Australian stock maker Geoff Slee, epoxy bedded etc, it will group Woodleigh 180gner's into the inch shot after shot.
Yep good solid no frills firearms,,I'm a bit bias as 90% of all my firearms are Winchesters, I just love em...Les

I have 2 - one in a .243 and one in .280 Rem. Both are great and have taken many deer and elk. The .243 was used on kudu last year in South Africa. Great guns.

I had one in 270. Bought it back in 1978 I think, once I had the trigger reworked a little. It shot very well with just about anything I fed it. At the time I was shooting a lot of deer on Control for a Tree Farm. As I recall, my load was a 57.5 gr of IMR-4831 and a 130 gr Speer SP. It had a 4x Leupold in Redfield Rings and bases. Good rifles for the money. I wish some times that I still had that one.

Well Leo,

if this input matters, if it was sitting at a local gunshop where I live, and especially if in 7/08, YOU would not have the opportunity to think about buying it. It would be in my trunk on the way home with me!

Too bad New Brunswick is toooo far away from Oregon here!

Cheers and Good shooting ( eh!)
Seafire

What Seafire said. It could also be in .257R or 7x57, same applies.
bill

I think we,(read, we deer, elk etc hunters) put too much emphasis on controlled round feed. It's fine, and I admit I like the idea, but it is not needed for anything other than dangerous game. I once read an article, by Jack Oconnor, in which he wrote that the post '64 Winchester (ie. push feed) had many improvements in design over the pre '64's. I think the real problem with the post '64 guns, was one of perception. The gun writers decided to tank them in reviews, and Winchester made some bad decisions about the esthetics of them, which lead to a general dislike for them for a while. I know many people who were not big readers of gun writers trash, and were more hunters and shooters than most will ever aspire to be, and they used and relied on post '64's a lot. The difference was they hadn't been told how crappy they were supposed to be.
I'd buy it. Heck I did, I've got a Featherweight Classic 7mm-08 that is one of my all time favorites. I'd like it even if it wasn't CRF.
Just remember, you'll probably be dealing with CRS, as age creeps up, and then the argument over CRF won't seem so important.