Has Winchester discontinued the Mdl 70 featherweight stainless guns?

M

MAD DOG

New member
I am having the very devil of a time finding these at any of the Winchester distributors.
It would seem that some muffin head at Winchester has ordered them discontinued, but I can not get through to Winchester to verify that. It would be just my luck to have them discontinue the best rifle package they make...
Anyone have a lead on them?
Especially in .308? Preferably with the Mcmillan stocks, but wood is OK too.
 
Winchester/Browning called me back at last.
they have discontinued that particular weapon, and several other 70 variants. Several reasons for this:

1) They moved their production facility for the 70s from Boston to South Carolina, and it is only running at about 50-60% capacity.

2) Demand. They said that there was not enough demand on the Stainless Featherweight Classic to keep it in production while production was slowed. I had a hard time believing this, but it may be true.
(The distributors tell me that they get tons of requests for these though, and they can not get Winchester to send them any. Go figure.)

They did say that I could get a special run of them done after the first of next year, when they anticipate their production being sorted out. I would have to order at least 300 weapons through a distributor at about $550.0 a pop for a total of ~$165,000.00, or become a distributor myself with a commitment to do one million dollars a year with them.
UURRRGGHH!

Uh, anybody wanna buy a LURCR???
I may have to do a lot of them in order to do any of them at all.
 
Man, that sucks. I've been trying to get my hands on a Win. short action in stainless with no avail. How many clams for a LURCR like Mr. Lucibella's? Feel free to E-mail me if prefered.
 
How much for a LURCR?
Good question, and one that I am trying to hang an answer on as the LURCR Project plot thickens.
What with all of the parts and labor, a one off unit like Rich's would run about $4k.
This includes the Leupold Vari X III optics, express tritium sights or Ashley ghost ring, Aimpoint Comp M, Leopard Light, lightweight bipod, interchangable butt pads, all QD rings and bases, sling and flush sling swivel bases, foam fitted hard case, etc.
This price would not include the night vision accessory.
The only other additions that I may consider making to the package are a threaded muzzle that can accept a flash suppressor, and an Ashley type Scout rail ahead of the action.
These are the only options not included on the original LURCR that I feel may be needed at all.

I want to bring them out as a complete, ready to shoot, guaranteed sub MOA package at a more "affordable" price. Until we get the whole action thing sorted out, there is little hope of that.
What I do not want to do is offer endless variations on the theme, as that will complicate things on this end dramatically, and pretty much defeat the concept.
 
I think Winchester hit their peak when they turned out the Classic Stainless and the Stainless Featherweight models- especially the short action rifles. Damn near perfection in my mind.

I've been searching for about a year for one, in .308 naturally. Sporadic leads but no gun in my arms yet... I'd even take one with a BOSS hanging of the end of the barrel-- I have a hacksaw...

You might be able to get a blued Short Action Classic in .308- the Classic Compact might fit the bill (seen these cheap,too)- order a synthetic stock from Winchester as a replacement part and have the gun parkerized or Robared.

It seems to me that the short action demands a considerable premium given the custom shop charges about $2000 for a blued short action rifle nowdays... Even if you managed to get a Classic Compact and disgarded everything but the action and installed a high end barrel you still pay about $1100 by my calculations...

Do you have a second choice of actions for the Lurcr? Why are all the "good" guns always discontinued?
 
...And it's happened again! For some reason when guns get scarce in the US they seem to appear here in far away argentina. I just bought and took delivery (because of our registration thats a gap of about ten days) of a Model 70 Stainless Classic. Perhaps it has something to do with demand - stocks in this small market probably take longer in drying up. On the other hand i'm having a devil of a job getting good mounts and rings for the Swarovski 6x42 thats going on it - some fairly shabby Millet parts turned up (not what i'd expect from Millet) and i've put an order out for some Redfield sets. By the way, do you think the 'low' mount should clear the barrel with the 6x42? The contour gives the impression it will.

It does seem a great rifle. it will have to see me through this season (opening now here) - meanwhile i'm building another .308 on an argetnine Mauser 98 action, Shilen Barrel, Timney trigger and hope to get a McMillan stock (got the bl. and trigger). We'll see how they compre - should be interesting. So does the LURCR but that would complicate life in this uttermost part of the earth even further.

Hasta pronto - Peter Knight
 
Second choice...
Well, due to the scarcity of *great* short actions for the "L" (as in lightweight) portion of the LURCR concept to be fulfilled, I would have to say the second choice would be a blued version of the same Winchester action, perhaps finished in hardchrome and/or a spray on, bake on finish for corrosion resistance.

The Dakota 76 short and long actions are absolutely marvelous, but their $1200.00+ wholesale price tag is a bit much for some. I am currently building a .358 Norma Mag on one of the long actions with a magnum bolt face.

Failing the pony up $$ for a Dakota shorty, I would make the leap to 30-06, as there are still stainless and blue versions of that in the model 70 classic available rather plentifully.
It also opens the door to creating a rifle based on other classic actions like the P14/17, the Springfield (my all time favorite), the Mauser, etc.

The LURCR is designed to be a lightweight short action concept, but there is no great whopping reason that you can't make a little more weight go a long way. The 30-06 is a great choice, but the .280, .270, and 6.5mm-06 could be great choices as well, depending on what the rifle is intended for. They all offer greater range than the .308 due to their flatter trajectories. All offer superb accuracy as well, when built correctly.
I would gladly build rifles on any of the above mentioned actions and calibers, utilizing the rest of the LURCR principles to the largest degree possible.
Maybe call it a SLLURCRR (Slightly Less Lightweight Utility Rifle Concept Re Redux) :D
 
i gather lack of controlled feed nixes using the remington 700 action

the rifles inc M700 is 4.75 pounds
on the model 70 action it weighs 5.75 pounds

dZ
 
Well, Mad Dog, why not try to interest Dakota in the concept? They could probably offer the the basic rifle in their round receiver/Hunter action with a synthetic stock for under 2K, then the sights for something extra. I am sure it would be a good rifle.
I don't know if a rifle in the under 2.5K range would be considered affordable, but it's better than the 4K you estimate for a custom job. It would be in the price range of the Steyer Scout, but probably better.
I have said it before, but I don't believe you can get superb reliability anymore in the under 2k range. Below this, they are scrimping to much on the fit, finish, components and quality control.
Winchester can make the basic rifle for lots less, but it won't have the reliable quality you want unless it comes from their Custom Shop, in which case it will again surely bust the 2K mark. But if the basic factory model came with a decent synthetic stock you would want to keep, then you would only have to worry about rebuilding the barreled action at some point to have a really great rifle. This would save big bucks int the long run. This stock wopuld have to have at least some adjustability to it like the Steyer so it could be easily modified for the user.
I don't think any maker would guarantee sub MOA accuracy, no matter what the cost.
 
I would disagree about the "out of the box" reliability issue, at least in part.
I have taken many model 70 Classics right off of the shelf, mounted a scope and shot them with great results. They average about one MOA without any "tricky" mods. The barrel quality from Winchester has been consistantly excellent. Rich's LURCR uses the factory barrel, and shoots under 1/2 MOA with everything I ran through it.
For a 20" barrel, that is pretty damned good.

"Out of the box" reliability is excellent. Only one has had a rough chamber which needed cleaning up to assure ease of extraction. Wouldn't you know it was Rich's LURCR...

My wife has a .243 Featherwieght Classic in blue with a wood stock, and it shoots great. All I did to it was mount an Aimpoint on it and lighten the trigger. This required no serious mods, only a couple of 1/4" ignition wrenches and about 10 minutes of work.
It is otherwise "box stock".
I will eventually get around to bedding it, and doing some other neat stuff, but she loves it the way it is, and frankly, wouldnt really derive all of the benefits of another 20 hours of work on the rifle, so why bother? It is completely adequate as it is for her usage and abilities.

The Dakota 97 action lacks the integral recoil lug, and is consequently out of the running. I also dislike blind magazines. They are OK for some, but I like the versatility, capacity and ease of maintenance on the magazines with a floorplate. Granted, it is considerably lighter than the other Dakota/Winchester controlled feed actions, but for $1000.00 per action, I want an integral recoil lug!

The Remington 700 is out of the running for me, but there are those that swear by them, so I suppose that a decent LURCResque rifle could probably be built on one. I just won't be the one to do it.

Bear in mind that the full boat custom LURCR job at ~$4K (one off) inluded EVERYTHING that you need to have the full LURCR package. It is a complete system. It is not just a stripped rifle with a nice stock, which is about what you could expect from a Dakota 97 for under $2K. The "extra" components alone would set them back nearly $1.5K, and then there would be all of the fitting and installation.
Do the math:
$1-1.6K for action (D97 $1K, D76 $1.6K), $1.5K for "extras", ~$300 for a barrel, plus the building time, plus markup $$... starts to sound like about $3.5-4K minimum out the door in production.



[This message has been edited by MAD DOG (edited May 07, 2000).]
 
I was going to go the route of modifying a blue Classic Featherweight by trimming the barrel to 20" and having it parkerized. I was then going to install a banded ramp front sight and the Warne rear peep base and accompanying front base. The ususal tuning and bedding. Not too fancy. This project is now on hold because I have a line on a Classic Stainless in .308..! Hmmm... Sniper/Scout???

The .308 Classics in any configuration are getting scarce-- Did Gunsite buy these all up to make Scouts?

I see plenty of magnum action stainless featherweights like 7mm, .300 and .338 as well as .270s/.30-06s- too much caliber in a lightweight I think. I should probably buy any .308 Classic I come across as an investment... I just can't plunk down 2K on a rifle I might actually shoot... That $500 gun is reliable enough and accurate enough for me.

If you did order a run of stainless short action classics from Winchester, how would you have them configured???
 
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