HI All...recently, I acquired a Win pre 64 from a close friend "on the job" who passed away recently...it belonged to his grandpa who gave it to him...he was an occasional hunter...not much into firearms....his wife was also not into firearms but is not anti-gun...she just did not want any weapons in the house...more the fear of the unknown.....
OK...Win pre 64 M70 serial # 659xx...1946-47 production...
30 GOV'T 06, so inscribed on the 24" bbl...has front sight hood...and the seldom encountered "widow's peak" STEEL buttplate...the action has the pre-war clover leaf tang...stock is high comb type walnut...looked to me like someone put a coat of rather shiny varnish on it in the past...all metal is about 97-97% Win. Blue...really nice bluing....it is wearing a Bausch & Lomb 3x9 made in Rochester, NY..
I turned it over to my gunsmith who is a close personal friend and my hunting partner.....Last month, he called me and said come to the shop...he completely dismantled it...the scope mount screws were finger tight...and the scope bases were reversed....back one in front and vice-versa...ring screws were also only finger tight...he contured both bases to match the top of the action and leveled both bases...mount screws are now secured with locktite and he lapped the rings and locktited the ring screws...also he optically centered the scope...ALL metal is again 97-98%...no rust or pitting anywhere...he took apart the bolt completely..cleaned and lubed it....trigger assembly dismantled ..cleaned and lubed...he borescoped the bbl and found only a mild copper wash in front of the throat and a faint carbon ring just ahead of the throat...butch's bore shine removed the copper wash and IOSSO paste on a nylon brush wrapped with a patch removed the carbon ring pronto...otherwise the bore showed sharp clean rifling its entire length....He did not like the crown...said it showed some evidence of cleaning rod wear....he radiused the muzzle and cut an eleven degree target crown...
As for the stock....well the bedding was awful...in fact, he said it had NO bedding..many high and low spots and you could rock the action every which way...he eliminated the high spots and cut away the varnish inside the stock....and barrel channel....he glass bedded the entire barreled action and just the first inch of bbl ahead of the action..rest of bbl is free-floated, including the bbl boss...the rest of the stock received a rottenstone rub down to cut the glarish shine of the unknown varnish....and he totally degreased ALL metal to let that nice Winchester blue shine thru...all in all, this WIN. turned out pretty nice...noooo..its not a pristine collector piece....just shows evidence of some minor honest little use.....maybe only taken out once in a blue moon to hunt or shoot.....How many more weapons are just lying in closets somewhere forgotten....?????????
I picked it up this morning and will now retire to my loading bench....we'll see how it shoots tomorrow....
Pete

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the last early 0-6 i reloaded for had a supertight chamber,in fact it would barely chamber factory ammo.
airc it really liked rl-19 and hornady 165 interlock bt's.

quote:

...stock is high comb type walnut

I think the prewar with original stock was a low comb, I could be wrong on that.

The clover leaf tang is a giveawy for sure
Does this rifle have the spatula type safety that sticks up?
Or the more modern type, if the more modern type it is probably a transition model.

Anyways congrats on a very fine firearm.



Cal30