AI 22-250

Amen to your heartfelt statement. I lost my dad just over one year ago. I owe him much.

Here are a couple of pics of my favorite Mdl 70. It's a 1939 custom by Murphy's Gunsmithing. 30-06 with Curt Crum turned blank in his pattern. Trap grip cap and his blind crossbolts. Very nicely done and shoots as good as it looks. Been to Africa several times.

When I grew up in the 50's we considered the M70 Winchester as the best rifle that you could get. I accepted this as a fact and today hold it as a belief.

Savage99,

That's probably the prettiest piece of factory wood I've ever seen!

Before I bought it, my 308 FWT had been mildly slicked up and bedded into a Pacific Research/Rimrock stock by Jim Cloward. I added a 4x Leupold scope with a 4a reticle from Premier. Once I realized that it was the best hunting rifle I'd ever handled, I had him build me a near-matching 35 Whelen on a pre-64.

The 308 is so nearly perfect that the 35 Whelen doesn't get out much. I shoot it more and better than any other weapon I own. If I go to the range, it goes to the range. I try to put 20 through it every time, but if I'm with my kid, sometimes I just empty the magazine a couple of times and call it good. I've put about 1,300 rounds through it since I got it, and the previous owner probably did about the same. Another 1,300 or so and I may pony up for a stainless 23" Lilja in FWT contour.

I take care of it, but I use it hard.


Okie John

quote:

Buster: Savage99, That's probably the prettiest piece of factory wood I've ever seen!

Ditto. And figured wood on old M70s is pretty scarce to begin with.

Just look at the life of this thread, and the hits. Pre-64s do interest folks even more than I originally thought. Sure hope to find myself one in 30-06 sometime in 06'. Thanks men for all the pics.

And its chambered for the 358 Win. cartridge!

Add one more 'ditto' for the superb wood on your 358 FWT (!) Savage99.

As a considerably less classy example, see below my old prewar-pattern standard rifle, "30 GOV'T '06". Action s/n recorded 1942, barrel date 1946.



This rifle is fairly complete, having a replacement Redfield 'Sourdough' front sight, blank in the middle sight boss, and the late Lyman 48 receiver sight pictured. Low comb, of course, and It has an old pad that is now as hard as the original steel buttplate. The blue is worn from the floorplate and bolt handle, and stock finish is pretty well gone from the area around the balance. Other than that, it's in surprisingly good shape considering the use it’s had. (Picture recycled from a post in another forum on this site.)

This rifle could be one of the innumerable similar, anonymous M70's seen on the used gun racks over the years. But this one has at least a partial history, as I have owned it since purchasing it in the summer of 1967. I believe it had only one previous owner. It is a reasonably accurate rifle, staying right around an inch with the pictured aperture/post sights. It might be better... with it I once won an informal 500yd "any rifle" match (purpose-made target rifles prohibited) with a 197-8X, beating quite a few scope-sighted sporters.

While I have several other prewar M70's, this is the only one in condition anything like original. I'm tempted to prattle on about where this rifle has been and what its done while in my custody, but that's not what this thread is about.