Is It a National Match Model?

D

dbuffington

New member
Hi Folks!

In this week’s exciting episode of “What the Heck Did I Buy?” we have a Winchester Model 70, which was sold to me as a National Match model.

The serial number is 351433, which would place its date of manufacture in the mid-1950s. The barrel is approximately 24 inches long. The sights are Redfield International, front and rear.

Here’s a photo …

M70_quick.JPG


Please excuse the crappy cell phone image. I promise to post better images later, but what should I be taking photos of to establish whether or not it really is a National Model.

Thanks!
Dave
 
It LOOKS like a M70 NM with sporter weight barrel in Marksman stock, with target peep and globe sights.

Is the barrel drilled and tapped for a front target scope block?

Does it have a clip slot?
 
Hi Jim!

Is the barrel drilled and tapped for a front target scope block?
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Yes, I think. There are two drilled-and-tapped holes in the barrel. They're roughly 2 inches apart aligned front to back on the barrel.

Does it have a clip slot?
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I'm not sure. On the top of the receiver at the back of the loading/ejection port, there's a roughly oval cutout. Is that the clip slot?

I'll get photos of both.

Thanks!
Dave
 
Is that the clip slot?
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Yes that is the clip slot. and Yes I believe you have a NM Model 70.

Which by the way was quite popular back then for high power shooting. They were AND still are great guns.

I have one just like it in 308 Win.

Suckers are dern accurate and will serve you well if you decide to get into target shooting.

Get some stripper clips and learn to load it, they are fun to shoot and fairly fast.

DSCN0101.JPG
 
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That is one nice gun,

Your choice but if it was mine, I'd never let it go.

Take it out and shoot a High Power match, impress the kids and tacti-cool crowd.

I enjoy beating fancy high price guns with a relic.
 
Your choice but if it was mine, I'd never let it go.
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But I must, and it's up on Gunbroker now. I really bought the gun mainly to help out the very nice elderly gentleman who owned it for years. He's going into hospice shortly :(

I enjoy beating fancy high price guns with a relic.
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Oh, I do my best to do that with shotguns :p This morning I'm taking my $425 auction-bought Superposed up against a friend with a shiny new $3,000 Beretta. Wish me luck!

Thanks!
Dave
 
Yes, that's the original National Match model with a standard weight barrel
complete with rear sight boss. They used regular hunting/sporter barrels.
But I don't think those Redfield front and rear sights are original with the rifle; they were made after Winchester quit making the National Match models.

Here's another picture of a different one equipped with an Unertl scope typical of what WWII and Korean Conflict snipers used:

12220437_1.jpg


All the "National Match" models were made in .30-06. Later ones with
heavier barrels, including those made after 1964 with push-feed actions and
hammer forged barrels were plain "Match" models.

The "Bull Gun" was Winchester's first heavy barrel match rifle and first made
in the late 1940's (?). Chambered for the .300 H&H Mag, it was a popular
over-the-counter long range target rifle. One's shown below:

CSG4-Z-F2-L.jpg


Winchester custom made a dozen or so round actions with the receivers not milled out for a magazine. Solid bottom and weighed over a pound more;
one of the stiffest bolt actions ever made. And fitted with a .308 Win. chambered Hart barrel. All under contract with the US Army Advanced Marksmanship Unit in 1959.
Interesting link to this rare thing from Winchester:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=fw1...hester model 70 solid bottom receiver&f=false
 
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Dave, nope, not mine. Just pictures and info I got searching the web.

Missed a chance to buy one of the Win. 70 single shot barreled actions some years ago; a friend beat me to it. Had Winchester put that single shot action on the market, Remington's 40X ones would have never survived.
 
From the "who cares?" file of gun lore:

The terms "bull barrel" and "bull gun" do not come from any comparison to the size and weight of the male bovine, but from Freeman Bull, a Springfield Armory employee who advocated using heavy barrels for accuracy in the Armory's match rifles.

Jim
 
The terms "bull barrel" and "bull gun" do not come from any comparison to the size and weight of the male bovine, but from Freeman Bull, a Springfield Armory employee who advocated using heavy barrels for accuracy in the Armory's match rifles.
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I was really, really, really tempted to call BS on this, but here's more from a document on the National Park Service web site:

Freeman R. Bull &
The Springfield Armory Rifle Team
Freeman R. Bull deserves a large portion of the credit for introducing the shooting world to the precision of the Springfield rifle. Bull, machinist and gauge maker at Springfield Armory, began shooting Springfield rifles in competitions as early as 1875. He and his fellow Springfield Armory Rifle Club members profoundly influenced the design and manufacture of all small arms.

Bull built precision adjustable sights for Springfield match rifles. Before computer advanced ballistics, he developed accurate sights by firing the arms themselves. His sight designs were later adopted for use on U.S. service rifles. One of these was the Model 1884 Buffington Sight used on the later Krag*Jorgensen Rifles and the Model 1903s.

Bull's legacy as a sportsman continues today with the application of the term "bull" to describe the extra-heavy match barrels used in competitions. Freeman R. Bull was one of the first to fit such barrels to military rifles.
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Thanks!
Dave
 
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