I have been pondering getting a new hunting rifle. I have found a store with a Stainless Walnut Winchester M70 for a price I like.

Although I have not handled the rifle first hand yet since it is quite the drive to get to it. I believe it is CRF but will phone them as soon as I am able to make sure it is what I want.

I have only owned one winchester before and that is a M70 coyote in 243 that I am not very happy with. It doesn't shoot very well and the action looks like it was finished with a rasp. Maybe I got a lemon.

What are your M70 experiences. Accuracy is important to me but I am happy with anything that will consistantly shoot 1-1.5 inch 100 meter 5 shot groups.

Other than that I have been a M700 guy and used weatherby Vangaurds and tikkas.

Buy the winchester you'll probably like it. In my experiance of a couple dozen or so Winchesters is that they probably are not as consistant as Rem 700's. I've had some that will shoot 1 1/2" 3 shot groups at 300yds and some that will only do that at 100. I like the Winchester trigger (for a hunting rifle) better than the remington trigger. Winchesters can be tuned to feed smoother than just about anything else. I like the shape of Winchester stocks generally better than Remingtons.
Perhaps the most interesting way of looking at Winchesters is to see how many custom rifles are built on them compared with Remington, Weatherby and others. You will rarely see a wood stocked custom rife on a remington action (or weatherby). When people are spending serious coin for rifle art winchesters are there remingtons are not........DJ

Thanks for your input.

I know I love the look of a M70. It just looks like a rifle should look. As with everything though some are lemons and some are ringers. I remember one guy on this forum with a Sendaro in STW that he could not get to shoot better than 3 inch groups at 100 yards.

I'm not really into fancy custom rifles. I hike pretty hard and take some good falls and inevitably things get scratched up. That said I also hate the feel of a synthetic stock.

Anybody else want to share there opinion?

I have owned a few and always considered them a superior hunting gun. I feel they have a better action because of their controlled round feed, I also like the one piece bolt, trigger, ejector, cone breech and large flat bedding area with integral recoil lug.

My .02

I used my upcoming safari as an excuse to buy a new rifle. I ended up with a M70 Classic stainless with walnut stock, chambered in .338 Win. It's not quite as "traditional" as blued in walnut, but it's a nice looking rifle, particularly with a matte scope and black sling. I also have the option of dropping the barreled action into a synthetic stock to create an all-weather rifle.

So far the rifle has performed flawlessly. I've put a couple hundred rounds through it in the past couple of months and have had no problems with feeding, extraction, or accuracy. It shoots 225 Hornadys (my cheapie chugger load) into about 1.25" or so, and roughly duplicates that with 225 grain Barnes XLCs. I'll start working with TSXs this week. I just upgraded to a Williams extractor too, so we'll see how that works.

I say go for it. If the wife would let me, wink wink, I'd love to add a similarly configured .270 to the battery. I think that combination would be perfect...

Here is my pride and joy! Classic Super Grade in 264 Win Mag.



She shoots .45" at 100 yds with 125 Nosler Partitions at 3350 fps with RL 25. Also shoots the Grovve bullets at .481" again at 100 yds. Awesome shooting (and looking) gun!

Just think what you could do with it if you put a scope on it!

Chuck

We don't know what's going to happen with the next factory rifle that we buy let alone a gun that we cannot see. One thing for sure is the price. If you buy it right then you can sell it without loosing a lot.

Even if some rich guy has a top smith go over a rifle he may hear that something extra needed to be done. It's the chances that we all take.

When somebody likes a particular brand or model they may stay with it and see it through. I feel this way about M 70's and others have their favorites.

Both of the Classics that I have got in the last few years shot about 1.5 MOA at first. One is now shooting very well after a lot of work. The other is in the back row and I don't have time for it but it's shown 1 MOA on occasion.

You could ask the seller if they will take it back if it does not shoot well.

POP,

That ole winchester doesnt even have any sights on it, much less a scope

I think any time you buy a gun like a win mdl 70 you cant go wrong. I think the Rems have a slight edge in the accuracy dept, but the safety and the extractor are a plus in my books. The big thing I like about the win 70 is the trigger is easy to slick up and adjust and very safe in my books. The CRF is a good feature for a DGR and to mitagate peer pressure.

A fellow can pull out a Model 70 in 375 H&H or 30/06 any huntin camp and not much bad can be said about it.

Pop,

That's one MIGHTY fine piece of shootin' iron you've got yourself there! I wouldn't mind havin' one, but am holding out hoping I can find myself one of the pre64 westerners!

Thats a beauty POP,

Thanks alot for your comments guys. I'm going to have to take a look at the one.

When Winchester came out with the M70 classic in LH a few years back I could not wait to get one. I promptly ordered LH Stainless Action with wood stock in 30-06. A beautiful looking rifle. I only wish that it would have shot 1/2 as good as it looked. No matter what ammo I used that rifle would not do better than 3" groups at 100 yards!!!! The quality was also very poor. The follower would fall off every time I opened up the magazine. In short............I was VERY dissapointed in what I thought would be the best rifle I could ever own. The riflemans rifle. I had waited years for them to make a LH action and I get this pile of junk!!!!!!???????? I promptly dumped the rifle.



I still liked the way that rifle looked, and wanted to try again in hopes of getting a better one.........but after 99 I think it was Winchester dropped the stainless/wood option. In 2001 I found a gun shop that had an unsold model in LH, stainless & wood....but with the BOSS system. Again in 30-06. I ended up getting it. Although I hate the way the BOSS looks on the rifle....and the NOISE it makes..........it sure does work! This one shot 1/2 inch groups with factory Remington 165 grain core lokts. It may be ugly but with that accuracy it stays "as is"



Quality wise it is still lacking. The follower is PLASTIC!!!!! But at least it does not fall off when I open the floorplate.



I guess to sum it up, as with ANY rifle of current manufacture you take your chances. I do not see the current M70 being better than the M700. And I feel my Ruger M77s (CRF) have better quality than both. Accuracy wise I feel that the M700 wins out on avargae over the other (2). Hopefully you get a good one and avoid getting a REALLY bad one. Good luck

I love mine. Shoots great, functions great, and fits perfect. It's a 388 Classic, Stainless Steel, with a Leupold 3x9.







Most ammo will shoot about an inch and a half, but if I do my part, and I'm not flinching , I can generally get an inch. The only thing I need to do to this rifle is some trigger work. That'll be done before next hunting season.

I own five and have been extremely pleased with them. I have noted no problems and they all shoot well. I have bedded, floated barrels and done trigger jobs on all of them prior to even shooting them.

If You LIKE IT & WANT IT GET IT everyone else opinions be danged.
From the ones I have shot Accuracy of the Winchester 70 is very UNDERATED.

The Super Grade 7mm Rem mag in my gun safe is a real shooter. Real cozy on the cheek too.

The finish does not seem to scratch as easy as my A-bolts. Thats one of the reasons its a Super grade and cost $1200(can).

We picked up for $1000 though.