I went to a gunshop the other day, one that I have not really frequented before. I saw an old rifle on the rack and asked to look at it.
It turned out to be a Win 70 in 30-06, supposedly pre-war model. The blueing wasn't that good, looks like it had seen lots of use, but the wood was decent and the bore appeared shiny. This rifle had what appeared to be a factory stripper clip guide, the barrel was stamped 30/06 Government, not the usuall 30-06. It had a 5 digit serial #, I beleive 59XXX.
They wanted less than $600 for the rifle, and being that I am in the market for a replacement for my 03A3, I was thinking of buying it.
Does anybody have any advice or opinions on this rifle? It has also been tapped for a scope mount, don't know if this is bad for an old rifle like this or not.
Thanks in advance for any advice...

You can't beat a Win P-64 for 600 bucks. You didn't mention if it was a std or featherweight. If the gun is in good overall condition this is a good price in my estimation. Just the action is worth $400 or better. You mentioned it is drilled for a scope. Collector value may depend on if this was a receiver mount or set up for a side mount. If you are interested in only the shooting quality this shouldn't matter.

Hello,
You might want to buy the rifle, but maybe not as a shooter. Just to keep, as an investment. The more it is shot, the more collector value you take out of it.

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Safety & Ethics,Accuracy, Velocity, Energy
Joe M

That is a late pre-war rifle; sounds a lot like mine.

If both the front and rear bridges are drilled for scope mounts, the price is about right; this would be a shooter not a collector's item.

If the bore is in decent shape this can be a fantastically accurate rifle with ammo it likes. Be sure to give the bore a good cleaning, as solvents today are far superior to those of the '40s and if it was fired with corrosive ammo, there may be some pitting which will tend to foul. (I know mine does.)

I would be interested to hear your chronograph results with various loads; mine generates sub-normal velocities with factory ammo or handloads (like 200-300 fps slow). See my post under "fast or slow barrels" in the reloading forum.

Enjoy,

John