700 or 70?

I will agree with Sun and Steel 77 about the Featherweight, I had one in .270 and it just did'nt have the fit & feel I desired. I handled a TC Icon Classic and "Shazam". Now that's the bolt action I shoot.
 
Ardent said:
The Model 700 is a design made to be above all other things, cheap to manufacture. The 700 uses a roundstock receiver, three piece soldered together bolt, loose recoil lug sandwiched between the barrel and receiver, the worst safety in the business (all TV mockumentaries aside) and 'paperclip' extractor. It also works quite well, has a quick lock time, and is as accurate as anything else these days with its improved competition (Remington used to be 'accurate' in the marketplace).

Going to the Model 70, you get an actual extractor and controlled round feed, better bottom metal, a real one piece bolt with no solder, an action machined without compromise (it doesn't have to be made from heavy pipe as a design factor) giving you a real recoil lug system, and the best safety in the business (emulated all the way up to the best English gunmakers today). The Model 70 is twice the quality of rifle at essentially the same price as the Model 700 in my opinion.
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I have been corrected by a good member here, the new Model 70's are not one piece bolts,

"Not that it matters much, but the model 70s havent had a one piece bolt since the pre '64s. The bolt root is a collar that is pressed onto splines on the back of the bolt body."

I've only had Pre-64's for any length of time, and this is good to note. Still a better system than solder, but not the monolithic titan I've made it out to be, it seems. :)
 
Nobody has ever accused me of being a "Me too," type of guy, so I will repeat what I have said on CGN more than once.
I think the pre 64 Model 7o is over rated. It is called, "The rifleman's rifle," because Jack O'Connor said it was.
Shortly into the glory days of shooting and hunting with a plethora of hunting and shooting magazines, including their gun editors who made them famous, about 1948, my older brother, who bought everything claimed to be best, purchased a Model 70 Winchester in 270 calibre. He took it to a gunsmith to drill, tap and mount a Weaver K2.5 scope on it. Those early Weaver's were also a virtual protege of Jack O'Connor.
My brother lost no time in getting the rifle to me, to take on a day hunt for moose. This was an on foot, genuine hunt and well before the day was out, my arms were aching! It was heavy and far from comfortable to carry.
The next year I bought myself a new rifle and carrying that heavy Model 70 for a day, was a deciding factor in me getting a much lighter, easier handling early Husqvarna, with the slick FN Mauser action, even though it had a beechwood stock. I could just as easily have purachased the Model 70, but I have never regretted my choice. After I installed a commercial trigger, the rifle was in no way, inferior to the famous Model 70, in my opinion. And that beechwood stock has stood up, I think, even better than would have walnut.
 
H4831 said:
Nobody has ever accused me of being a "Me too," type of guy, so I will repeat what I have said on CGN more than once.
I think the pre 64 Model 7o is over rated. It is called, "The rifleman's rifle," because Jack O'Connor said it was.
Shortly into the glory days of shooting and hunting with a plethora of hunting and shooting magazines, including their gun editors who made them famous, about 1948, my older brother, who bought everything claimed to be best, purchased a Model 70 Winchester in 270 calibre. He took it to a gunsmith to drill, tap and mount a Weaver K2.5 scope on it. Those early Weaver's were also a virtual protege of Jack O'Connor.
My brother lost no time in getting the rifle to me, to take on a day hunt for moose. This was an on foot, genuine hunt and well before the day was out, my arms were aching! It was heavy and far from comfortable to carry.
The next year I bought myself a new rifle and carrying that heavy Model 70 for a day, was a deciding factor in me getting a much lighter, easier handling early Husqvarna, with the slick FM mauser action, even though it had a beechwood stock. I could just as easily have purachased the Model 70, but I have never regretted my choice. After I installed a commercial trigger, the rifle was in no way, inferior to the famous Model 70, in my opinion. And that beechwood stock has stood up, I think, even better than would have walnut.
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The FN has a few advantages over the 70/700/77s, particularly if compared to the versions from the same era.

It is sort of ironic that FN produces Model 70s seemingly successfully today, and not 98 pattern rifles.
 
H4831 said:
Nobody has ever accused me of being a "Me too," type of guy, so I will repeat what I have said on CGN more than once.
I think the pre 64 Model 7o is over rated. It is called, "The rifleman's rifle," because Jack O'Connor said it was.
Shortly into the glory days of shooting and hunting with a plethora of hunting and shooting magazines, including their gun editors who made them famous, about 1948, my older brother, who bought everything claimed to be best, purchased a Model 70 Winchester in 270 calibre. He took it to a gunsmith to drill, tap and mount a Weaver K2.5 scope on it. Those early Weaver's were also a virtual protege of Jack O'Connor.
My brother lost no time in getting the rifle to me, to take on a day hunt for moose. This was an on foot, genuine hunt and well before the day was out, my arms were aching! It was heavy and far from comfortable to carry.
The next year I bought myself a new rifle and carrying that heavy Model 70 for a day, was a deciding factor in me getting a much lighter, easier handling early Husqvarna, with the slick FM mauser action, even though it had a beechwood stock. I could just as easily have purachased the Model 70, but I have never regretted my choice. After I installed a commercial trigger, the rifle was in no way, inferior to the famous Model 70, in my opinion. And that beechwood stock has stood up, I think, even better than would have walnut.
Click to expand...

I bought mine in .270 for the exact reason as your brother. "The riflemans rifle" I repeated the saying in my head a few times and it sounded good, so it must be the "bees-knees" right?.
The fact that the Featherweight/Stainless version is so drop-dead gorgeous didn't help my bank account either.
It certainly wasn't the first time I have succumbed to slick marketing, and probably won't be the last. My WSM days come to mind!
I genuinely tried to muster the blind-faith for the Model 70...but found it just didn't get me hard.

I have always wanted to shoot a Husky lightweight, and it sounds like it was a good option for a mountain hunter. Maybe I'll try/buy one in the future.
Thanks for the info Bruce.
 
I wouldn't sneeze at a R700 in the BDL line, but would happily kick it aside for the right classic wood and blued M70 in the same calibre.
 
H4831 said:
Nobody has ever accused me of being a "Me too," type of guy, so I will repeat what I have said on CGN more than once.
I think the pre 64 Model 7o is over rated. It is called, "The rifleman's rifle," because Jack O'Connor said it was.
Shortly into the glory days of shooting and hunting with a plethora of hunting and shooting magazines, including their gun editors who made them famous, about 1948, my older brother, who bought everything claimed to be best, purchased a Model 70 Winchester in 270 calibre. He took it to a gunsmith to drill, tap and mount a Weaver K2.5 scope on it. Those early Weaver's were also a virtual protege of Jack O'Connor.
My brother lost no time in getting the rifle to me, to take on a day hunt for moose. This was an on foot, genuine hunt and well before the day was out, my arms were aching! It was heavy and far from comfortable to carry.
The next year I bought myself a new rifle and carrying that heavy Model 70 for a day, was a deciding factor in me getting a much lighter, easier handling early Husqvarna, with the slick FN Mauser action, even though it had a beechwood stock. I could just as easily have purachased the Model 70, but I have never regretted my choice. After I installed a commercial trigger, the rifle was in no way, inferior to the famous Model 70, in my opinion. And that beechwood stock has stood up, I think, even better than would have walnut.
Click to expand...

I use Model 70's that are lighter than buddy's husky's.
 
I'd go with the Winchester M70 as well. My Featherweight in .308 is one of the nicest handling and pointing rifles I own. It shoots sub moa with my handloads, feeds extremely slick, and has the best safety system. (Ruger also uses a similar safety)

The Rem 700 with its cheesy three piece bolt, tin "extractor", and poor safety isn't for me.
 
I can't really compare between the two as I've never had a 700. I've looked at a few but for some reason, they've just never appealed to me. I have had three M 70's, one of which I still have, a Super Express in 458 WM.

Model70Winchester458WM.jpg


I had an earlier production M 70 in 300 WM and somewhat of a fancy grade that I gave to a buddy.

300WMWinchestermodel70.jpg


And I had a light weight or feather weight in 7x57 I sold to a young local guy.

In recent years I've acquired a few Husqvarnas, top down, a
Model 3000 in 270 Win
Model 4000 in 30-06
Model 1651 in 358 NM

TheHusqvarnaTriplets.jpg


While the Schultz & Larsen is my favorite bolt action rifle, I also like both the Winchester M 70 and the Husqvarnas and would be hard pressed to have to chose between the two.
 
Playing with the Winchester 375 H&H what a great rifle, very well made!
Just picked up the featherweight 30-06, also very well built. have not shot it yet, has very nice wood.
DSC03628.jpg
 
Thanks Longbranch! I wanted to see the action and trigger so I tried to take the stock off, took me almost a hour to get the barrel and action off the stock as it was so tight!
 
badbrass said:
Thanks Longbranch! I wanted to see the action and trigger so I tried to take the stock off, took me almost a hour to get the barrel and action off the stock as it was so tight!
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The bedding on my .308 Featherweight is very tight as well. Takes quite a bit of wiggling to get it out.

The would on your Featherweight is spectacular!
 
Being a leftie it would also come down to whether its available (without having to wait a couple of years!)but it seems to be almost a 50/50 thing here with the M70 still holding lead. I see mention of Husky so how does a Euro rifle like the Husky or CZ stand against the icons? I already own a couple of smaller CZ-the 452 and 527 minimauser both of which are lefties. I have to say they are pretty easy on the eye and tack drivers.
How would the CZ550 compare? Seems to me they all sell for about the same amount of money.
 
bogie said:
Being a leftie it would also come down to whether its available (without having to wait a couple of years!)but it seems to be almost a 50/50 thing here with the M70 still holding lead. I see mention of Husky so how does a Euro rifle like the Husky or CZ stand against the icons? I already own a couple of smaller CZ-the 452 and 527 minimauser both of which are lefties. I have to say they are pretty easy on the eye and tack drivers.
How would the CZ550 compare? Seems to me they all sell for about the same amount of money.
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I currently have 3 nice pre-64 Mod. 70s, half a dozen assorted 700s / 721s, 3 new Rugers and a CZ 550.
The CZ is by far the nicest for fit and finish and so far easily shoots as well as the others ... just my findings. :)
 
My favorite

among the three is my M70 chambered in 7mm mag. I have a 700, also in 7mm and a Ruger that I had accurized and rechambered in 7X57. The Winnie was not accurate when I bought it, so I took a hard look at everything and discovered that the bedding material was hot glue! Dug it out and did a proper bedding job and now it shoots into an inch (three shots - 100 yds). The Remington shot that well when I got it with no work on my part. The Ruger is one of my least carried hunting rifles because it is HEAVY. Now that I have weighed in on your choices and my preference among them, I'll let you in on a secret, the rifle I carry most and the one I trust to get the job done is a SS Savage that I rebarreled in 280 Remington. It is light, very accurate, the trigger is now excellent (not an accutrigger, but the older Savage triggers are easy to work on) and it fits me well. It doesn't please the eye but it definitely does the job. And in the interests of full disclosure, the Winnie is a classic built before production stopped and was moved to the FN facility.
 
All of the makes have their strong and weak points and in the final analysis one is not likely much better than the other. The choice is individual and reflects what appeals to you. I use M-70's pre64, post 64, fn for my big game hunting and Rem 700's for varmint and target shooting and Ruger's for plinking/target shooting and big game.

If I could only keep one it would be a custom win M-70 in 7x57.
 
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