And another article.
This legendary rifle has been produced in three distinct versions, and its current incarnation may just be the best yet.
Winchester's Model 70 bolt action rifle has been in production for some 65 years. More correctly Winchester has produced rifles under the Model 70 designation for 65 years. The rifle itself has gone through three major and many minor revisions.
Early Model 70s
First offered in 1935, the Model 70 reflected the influence of the Mauser 98 and 1903 Springfield, as well as its Model 54 predecessor. A Mauser-type extractor provided controlled round feeding and engaged a wide arc of the cartridge rim to promote positive extraction. Like the Springfield, the Model 70 had a coned breech which helped funnel cartridges into the chamber.
The Model 70 trigger was the first really good trigger on an American bolt action rifle -- so advanced that it remains essentially unchanged to this day. Though not adapted to producing a really light pull, it can be tuned to around 3 lbs by a knowledgeable gunsmith. Properly tuned it is extremely tough and reliable.
The handsome, distinctive swept-back bolt handle of the Model 70 provided ample clearance of low-mounted scopes. The original safety on top of the bolt sleeve would work with a low-mounted scope, but was none too easy to access and was later redesigned to its present form.
This excellent safety locks the firing pin rather than just blocking the sear. Swung all the way back it locks both pin and bolt. In its center position the firing pin is locked but the bolt can he operated to load or unload. All the way forward is the "fire" position.
The quality of materials and workmanship of the early Model 70s helped establish the rifle's, reputation. Manufacturing the original Model 70 action was by no means a simple task. Machining the receivers required a large number of complicated operations, as did producing the bolts from a single piece of steel. It was a job for highly skilled machinists.
The pre-war Model 70s made up to 1941 (serial number range 1 to 31,675) reflect the skill and pride of workmanship of those workers. Stocks were of hard, straight-grained walnut, carefully shaped, inletted, and checkered.
Actions and barrels were made of the best steels available, finished with care and properly heat-treated. Barrels were cut-rifled, one groove at a time. Every rifle received a great deal of skilled hand work. Few production rifles have ever received such tender loving care.
After The War
Production virtually ceased during the war as Winchester was fully occupied producing arms and ammunition for the war effort. The post-war economic boom changed the firearms industry, and Winchester found that its beautiful, virtually hand-built Model 70 was ill suited for the high-speed production that the postwar market demanded.
It was Winchester's arch rival Remington that took the lead in redesigning its products for the new post-war world. Remington developed new models with ease of production as a central goal. As an example, the post-war Remington 721/722 action was essentially a round bolt moving within a round receiver, with a flat plate sandwiched between barrel and receiver to serve as a recoil lug.
The bolt handle and locking lugs were made as separate parts and brazed to the bolt body. The ingeniously designed and reliable trigger mechanism was made largely of metal stampings. Inletting stocks to accept the round barrel and receiver proved easier and faster.
By 1950, a Winchester Model 70 Standard grade rifle retailed at $109.50. At the same time a Remington 721 Standard grade listed at $79.95. Set them side by side and no one would dispute that the Winchester was a more handsome rifle with its checkered stock and polished finish. But in terms of practical utility the Remington did everything the Model 70 did -- and cost some 40 percent less.
Remington delivered another blow to Winchester's profits in 1962 when it redesigned the 721/722 series into the Model 700. The 700 was very similar in design to the 721/722, but with a better looking stock and generally better finish.
Winchester was in a bind. With the technology of the era they simply could not produce Model 70s at a price that would be competitive with the Remington 700 or the newer Savage 110. They could have opted to upgrade quality and raise the price, trying to appeal to more discriminating rifle enthusiasts. However, this upscale market has never been a large one, and in any case there would have been competition from Weatherby and the new Browning bolt action rifle.
Love It Or Hate It: The Post-'64
Design of a revised bolt action had been going on at Winchester for some years. In some ways the new action was closer in design to the Remington 700 than to the pre-'64 Model 70. Its bolt was made in three pieces with the handle and locking lug section brazed on. It had a recessed bolt face, an extractor built into the right locking lug, and a spring-loaded plunger ejector. The receiver, made by a die-forging process, was flat-bottomed with an integral recoil lug. The excellent trigger mechanism, three-position safety and slanted bolt handle of the old Model 70 were retained.
Knocking the post-'64 Model 70 action has been a popular sport for years. In fact it is a very good action, and for some purposes it is better than the pre-'64 design. Like the Remington 700, the post-'64 M-70 is a rigid, concentric action that is inherently accurate. Maybe it would have been better if Winchester had just given it a new model number and retained the old Model 70 as a special order item, as they did with the Model 12 shotgun, letting it retire with dignity.
The basic design of the post-'64 action was sound, but the execution of the first rifles was terrible. Receivers had a gray, matte finish that looked like cast iron. Barrels were free-floated (a good feature for consistent accuracy) by hogging out wood from the forearm until it appeared you could have stored your lunch and sleeping bag under the barrel. The "checkering" was simply stamped into the wood. Triggers weren't very good, and bolt travel was rough and wobbly.
Still, Winchester was able to sell them at a competitive price, and for a lot of people, price is what matters most. Moreover, Winchester did listen to the complaints from rifle enthusiasts and in 1968 announced a redesigned rifle.
The biggest design change was increasing the size of the right locking lug and then slotting it, the slot riding a rail on the right side of the receiver. This clever feature smoothed up bolt travel considerably and has been much copied. They also added a polished stainless steel cartridge follower and a reshaped stock with the barrel fully bedded.
Not As Good As We Remember
One of the enduring myths of the rifle world is that the pre- '64 Model 70 was a spectacular sales success, which the foolish and short-sighted management team at Winchester replaced with the cheaper post '64 model out of pure greed. Supposedly, this error promptly backfired on them when the marketplace rejected the new model.
In reality, sales of the pre- '64 were never that great, even in the boom years from 1945 to 1955 simply because Winchester could not produce them fast enough Eat a competitive cost. Far from being a failure, the post '64 Model 70 outsold the previous model by a considerable margin. From a business standpoint, the only mistake Winchester made was acting 20 years too late.
Responding to continued criticism from riflemen, Winchester sought to address a number of appearance issues. One of these centered on the quality of stock checkering, and Winchester developed a method to machine-checker gun stocks. Although their first efforts weren't as good as hand checkering, they were better in function and appearance than the awful stamped check ering of the early post- '64 guns.
Winchester quality continued to improve through the '70s. The bombshell came in 1981 when Winchester announced the model 70 Featherweight. It featured the beautifully contoured, slim barrel of the old Featherweight along with one of the most handsome and functional stocks ever offered on a production rifle. Winchester began taking more pains with accuracy-enhancing details as well, such as concentricity of chamber and bore, engagement of locking lugs, and proper fit of barrel and receiver.
One reason for this was likely to make the firearms division of Winchester more appealing to potential investors. For some time Olin had wanted to get out of firearms manufacturing in order to focus on the more stable business of manufacturing ammunition. Eventually the United States Repeating Arms Corp. was formed to take over the firearms division and licensed to use the Winchester name and trademarks. For a time Winchester fans feared the grand old name might not survive, but USRAC has done an exemplary job of maintaining a proud tradition.
Resurrecting The Classic
The most significant move of USRAC was introducing a third Model 70 action which included the fine qualities of the pre-'64 with a couple of worthwhile improvements. The redesign was made possible by changes in manufacturing techniques such as computer-assisted design and manufacturing.
The complicated machining process required to make a pre-'64 receiver, which could once be accomplished only by a skilled machinist with plenty of time, could now be done more quickly -- and maybe even more precisely -- by computer controlled machines. It's not as traditional as hand work done by a skilled artisan, but the end result is a rifle which echoes the precise construction of the pre-war Model 70s.
The Model 70 "Classic" action is similar in appearance and function to the pre-'64 model. It uses the Mauser-type claw extractor with controlled round feeding, a coned breech and mechanical ejection. The slotted right locking lug from the 1968 design is retained, resulting in very smooth, non-binding bolt operation.
To prevent powder gases from coming down the left locking lug raceway in the event of a case head failure, a steel lug attached to the bolt blocks the raceway. (Actually, modern brass is so good that case failure is pretty much unheard of unless the shooter does something monumentally careless, such as firing the rifle with the bore obstructed.)
Regardless of the legend that has built up around the pre-'64 rifle, the Model 70 Classic is a superior action. It is better designed, very well made, and the rifles have a much better shaped and finished stock.
USRAC tested the water with the new design in the early '90s. Acceptance was so overwhelmingly positive that the Classic action has become the mainstay of the Model 70 lineup. Wisely, USRAC retained the post-'64 push feed action for models in which accuracy is at a premium such as the varmint models and the economical Black Shadow rifle.
An interesting side effect of the new Classic action was that it reduced demand for pre-'64 actions. Fjestad's Blue Book of Gun Values (21st edition) shows a value for a pre-'64 Model 70 in .30-'06 (98 percent condition) at $700 in 1989, and a value for the same rifle of $650 in 2000, a 7 percent decrease.
Pre-'64s will always be collectible (there won't be any more of them) but condition has become more critical. New condition and prewar Model 70s will still bring premium prices but there seems to be less demand for actions as a base for custom rifles
Three different actions with the same model number does cause confusion. If someone says they have a Model 70, you don't really know what it is until you know if it's a pre-'64, post-'64 push feed or post-'64 Classic. In all three series there have been individual rifles that were excellent right out of the box and others that needed a bit of tuning. Current rifles of all makes usually come with heavy trigger pulls that need attention. Overall, current Model 70s are as good as any, and the stock designs are certainly the best ever.
In the 1960s we met a fellow who had hunted and trapped in Alaska for many years. His sole rifle was an old Model 70 .375 H&H. Modern shooters can wax sentimental about the "classic stock design" but this old timer hated it. The excessive drop at comb and heel increased muzzle jump and intensified felt recoil. By comparison the current stock design is a pleasure to shoot. Offer us a pre-war Model 70 and we'll grab it for its collector value, but for practical shooting performance we'll take the current model every time.
