A good friend who lives in El Salvador would like to have his father's '56 Model 70 redone. I was thinking AHR, but any suggestions are welcome.

Who should I contact to determine the import requirements for this rifle?

Here you go:

Crying Eagle Imports

Model 70 what? No caliber, stock, sights, desires. Perhaps more information regarding ammunition readily available in El Salvador, game to be pursued, import/export restrictions, etc. may need consideration.

Any competent gunsmith could do what is desired if such is known. Do more homework and I advise to remain close to mainstream. Wildcats are cool, but come with a price in all calibers. Just my $5.00 worth accounting for inflation which, by the way, does not exist.

And, having any thing "redone" is open ended. Think last girlfriend. Specificity is needed.

Good luck,

Stephen

Thanks. I'll contact them.

quote:

Originally posted by Lord Frith:
Model 70 what? No caliber, stock, sights, desires. Perhaps more information regarding ammunition readily available in El Salvador, game to be pursued, import/export restrictions, etc. may need consideration.

Any competent gunsmith could do what is desired if such is known. Do more homework and I advise to remain close to mainstream. Wildcats are cool, but come with a price in all calibers. Just my $5.00 worth accounting for inflation which, by the way, does not exist.

And, having any thing "redone" is open ended. Think last girlfriend. Specificity is needed.

Good luck,

Stephen

Think the heading. 1956 Model 70 Winchester; (I assumed anyone would assume that; obviously, I was wrong), .458 (win mag). (Since the Lott wasn't around in those days, but 120 lb ivory was), restocked and refinished.

Obviously, there is very little in El Salvador that one would pursue with a pre-64 Model 70 in .458 Win mag, but the gentleman's father hunted Kenya in the 50's. He wants to have a very well worn, high mileage rifle updated. Since he occasionally hunts Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, maybe he wants to hunt his father's rifle. Hell, I don't know. All I know is he asked me to investigate and that is what I am doing.

For a nominal fee there has got to be a "Coyote" or whatever those border smugglers are called that could get the darn thing into the US along with all the drugs, immigrants and fruit imported daily.

Sorry, I just thought that was a little funny. Seems like our borders are incredibilly porous to anyone but a fellow trying to follow the law.

Yeah, you're probably more than a bit right, but we want to keep this legal for a variety of reasons, jail being primary among them.

No flies on AHR. Turnbull can do it too, so might Jim Wisner. Both are Winchester people.

Add Kevin Weaver of Weaver rifles to the list of Model 70 re builders.
Great guy to deal with.

www.weaverrifles.com

This is most likely a factory African. I would think it would be fairly easy to have a stock made in the US without any need for the gun.

If the metal was too bad he could get one of the durable spray-on / bake-on finishes applied by a local craftsman or there has to be someone who reblues guns in El Salvador.

Also everyone always recommends Turnbull to overhaul M70's. Everytime I talk to them they claim they don't touch bolt guns; they say they will blue it if all the metal prep is done ahead of time. They charge high premium just to dunk one. The big cost and also the part that you would pay the premium for is the metal prep.

Griffin & Howe imports/exports firearms on a regular basis. Call (908) 766-2287 and ask for Shari Buchanan.

Hi,

I could not do a spray 'n' bake on a pre 64 Winchester and such would not constitute restoration. Without seeing the rifle estimating a restoration is nearly impossible. Perhaps a chat with your El Salvadoran friend could convince to use as is and retain the "nostalgia" of an untouched mid-50s rifle well used.

I would not condone using a Coyote, smuggler or any clandestine method of transport. Difficult to hunt through bars.

A year or so ago I saw a pre 64 M-70 .375 H&H walking through a gunshow (this one had legs) with a for sale sign taped to the barrel. There was only a hint of bluing just above the stock line and the stock looked well bleached. I thought "How cool is that?" Unfortunately, I was buying dies and no gun money available. Dang.

Luck with this,

Stephen

Thanks, everyone. I just contacted Joe in NH and the import-export is no problem.

I haven't seen the rifle. Haven't been down there since September because of extended dental work, so when I get my hands on it in six or seven weeks, I can figure out what really needs to be done.

I think it is a factory African, BTW.

I appreciate all the good information. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by airgun1:
This is most likely a factory African. I would think it would be fairly easy to have a stock made in the US without any need for the gun.

If the metal was too bad he could get one of the durable spray-on / bake-on finishes applied by a local craftsman or there has to be someone who reblues guns in El Salvador.

Also everyone always recommends Turnbull to overhaul M70's. Everytime I talk to them they claim they don't touch bolt guns; they say they will blue it if all the metal prep is done ahead of time. They charge high premium just to dunk one. The big cost and also the part that you would pay the premium for is the metal prep.

I wasn't aware about Turnbull's. They still do some color case work on rifle parts. Too bad they decline restorations.

Turnbull's website says they do restorations on old Winchester lever guns. They have a few quite pricey items for sale and their work is beautiful. Apparently no Model 70 work.

Additionally, AHR turned me down. They concentrate on CZ's apparently and don't get into Model 70's.

It took me a while to find it but I had some parts finished with period treatments at Ron's Gun Shop.

I was very happy with how things came out but it was not a full restoration, just specific parts. I do know they've been around a while because I think it was 7-9 years ago when I used them.

In the US I would definitely not resort to spray-on finishes. But I would do that before messing around a year on paperwork and then having my metal marked by the importer.

I would buy the blueing equipment and learn to do it myself or have some local craftsman learn and then do it.

That importer mark on a pre 64 African just bothers me!

Thanks, tiggertate. They have a good looking website offering all that I think we're looking for. I'll give them a call on Monday.

OTOH, don't know yet what the bore looks like. We'll see.

I really appreciate all the good info. Thanks, everyone.

Good luck when you get started. I'd sure like to see the befores and afters!

Yeah, I'll post some pics, for sure. Probably gonna be a year, but who knows?

It is definitely a neat rifle. My buddy has two 120 pound'ers framing the breezeway into his informal living room that were taken by his father with this rifle. Beautiful ivory. So this is a labor of love.

Just my opinion, but all I would do is disassemble, clean, make needed repairs and MAYBE recut checkering and light refinish on stock.

Glad to be of help, jd. Hope it all works out.

quote:

Originally posted by Brice:
Just my opinion, but all I would do is disassemble, clean, make needed repairs and MAYBE recut checkering and light refinish on stock.

Talked to D'Arcy Echols for a while on Saturday and he suggested something like this, but he said some of those late 50's Africans stocks were sapwood and probably not worth any work. All we can do is get it to the states, eyeball it, and then decide.

What about contacting Winchester about it?

I spoke with them briefly about it when I called with the number to determine the manufacture date. Of course, the Custom Shop went down with the New Haven plant, and I simply forgot to ask them if they did refurbishments. Good idea.

Sounds like a great piece of history, I would love to see photos of it!

The trouble with 1956 dated model 70 Win Mags is they made too many receivers in 1956. There are original 338's and 264's that didn't come out until 1958 and late 1958 respectively with 1956 dated receivers.

There is a fairly good SuperGrade database at the museum in Cody, WY but the research has a fee. It is not complete by any means. There are features common to different years. A 1956 is going to be the cream for sure. Most identifiers later will be cheapeners with the exception of crossbolts; the did improve those as time went on before taking shortcuts there and elsewhere. Very late Africans may have mixed and matched steel/aluminum botoom metal pieces as more examples of cheapeners.

Thanks, airgun. That's good to know.

I'm going down to Salvador in a month or two and will get a look at it then. I've seen it on a Skype webcam, but the light in the computer room there isn't very good.