I have been watching a few 375 H-H classic stainless mod 70's lately. The going rate for one of these now is 1200+ .

Whats your thoughts on this?

Seems pretty crazy to me. If I want a stainless CRF 375 H-H that bad I'd get a MRC1999 stainless and get a good stock for it.

I've noticed that the flyers are advertising the "last of the American made Model 70's."

I wonder if this means they will be made overseas now?

There is no fact on that they will ever be made again.. But even i would be surprised at that.. There thinking is that they will be made in Japan since the browing a-bolt is.. When I called winchester the stated that they would not be made over seas.. But you know as well as I do that anything can change.. Here are the facts,
Winchester american made models cannot be made again until 2008. The contract for the use of the name from oien is up in 2007...

As for the price of the composite stainless 375 , all I can say is what??? First off it was about $300 less than the safari express.. I just bought a safari express 458 NIB for 1,100.. This winchester pricing is crazy... Godd thing I got in on all of mine right after the announment.. Except for the 458.

I have heard rumor Winchester will be going to Japan from a local gunsmith.

Is the price reasonable? Well, I don't think so, but, just last summer William's Gunsight wanted to sell me a new Win M70 .375H&H for $1100 + 6% sales tax. I told them "no thanks".

I did a search on Gunbrokers last week and couldnt find any Win 375's for sale. This week there are several with very high prices! I still have a NIB stainless but I may hold onto it for awhile to see what will happen. One thing is for sure, they will not lose any value if you bought them before Win announced the shut down of Model 70's
But buying a MRC for $900 and then adding a McMillan stock puts you right up there at $1,300 plus. And it will not have iron sights

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
I have heard rumor Winchester will be going to Japan from a local gunsmith.

Is the price reasonable? Well, I don't think so, but, just last summer William's Gunsight wanted to sell me a new Win M70 .375H&H for $1100 + 6% sales tax. I told them "no thanks".

Winchesters have been made in Japan for at leats 5 years, only the model 70 some shotguns, and the '94s have been made in Coneticut. I have a model 52 re-issue sporter made in Japan, the quality is first rate. I am sure that the holding company owning the name will either make production or sell the name while it is stll viable. It could take up to a year to properly tool another factory to produce the rifles, and given that the Coneticut factory hasn't been gutted or offered for sale lends credibility to the Japanese option. While it is sad that the finest rifle of our times will move overseas, it will still be nice to own a modern mod 70 that is built well and can be afforded by most.

John

I thought they moved (or tried) the M70 production to Georgia (down South anyway) about 2002 to try to get away from high labor prices up North.

They got away from their experienced labor pool alright! The quality suffered badly IMO.

If they don't cheapen the materials, the move to Japan may result in better quality overall. Machining tolerances of the Japanese-made A-Bolt appear to be an order of magnitude better than my M70 classic Super Express was out of the box.

Ever since all them near sighted Nips got outfitted with proper glasses after WWII, they have moved to near the front of the class in the gun making business.

Heck, I'll drive their cars, listen to their stereos and shoot their rifles. The hell with the United Colors of Bennetton, I go for the United Firing Pins of Miroku.

Here boys, check out my model 1895 replica in the .405 Big Lion Medicine caliber made famous by Teddy "No-Hyphenated-Americans" Roosevelt.

lawndart

As we speak there are offers being made to continue the Winchester heritiage, i hope the deal goes through. March 31,2006 may be the end for one hell of a gun and a legend that cant be copied.The 70,1300, and 94 will be no more. Every time a forgien made rifle is bought it puts one more nail in our firearms manufactorings coffins. Next time you buy a new one please buy American, it will cost a few dollars more but then its our dollars buying our firearms, going back into our economy,not some former iorn curtian state or a south american country who wants us to lay down roll over and play dead. If you want to get a piece of the legend buy one now they will only go up in value as the world finaly realizes what it has lost. Charlie

Charles, mc,
Who or what is trying to keep them going??? I hope to god they can!

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?item=44744278#DESC

Check this out boys if you haven't noticed already!!!

msorenso,being self employed in the global market you hear things and know people who know other people. There are a few concerened American business men who do not want the Winchester name to go the way of the do-do bird. A deal is being offered to obtain the Winchester name and all rights to that name along wuth the New Haven plant. Wether the deal goes through or not, well we will have to wait. Charlie

Charles,

Thank you for the info! I appreciate it! Keep me updated on whats up!

Someone will come along to fill the void, I'm not worrying about it. It might take a couple years but perhaps in the end a higher quality product could even be the result, who knows...