Model 70 Winchester...HELP!!

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Couple a weekends back, I went to the local gun show. It had been a rather busy buying and selling day and I actually saw this one when I was on my way out the door.

It was a Model 70 Winchester maple stock in a 7mm Rem. This BEAUTIFUL gun was sitting in the middle of a a bunch of ar-15s, odd spot to have it. The seller saw how quick I was to react to the site of this gun. It had a old Leopold and was sitting on a bi-pod. After some dealing, I ended up walking out with it for $500. The gun is in great condition. There was a little scratch on the barrel but nothing that stuck out. I got to the house and tried doing some research on it. On the Winchester website I found a model 70 super grade in the same maple stock but when I looked at the calibers available, it did not show it was offered in a 7mm Rem mag. Tried looking through past model 70s but didnt see any that had the same maple stock. I have been all over trying to find info this gun but have had no luck.

Again it is a maple stock model 70 in a 7mm rem mag. I noticed, one of the stamps on the side of the barrel says "Classic Sporter". This is my first Model 70 so Im not to familiar with how the serial number system works on these, but this is showing G3000**. The one I found on the winchester website says the barrel is 24inches. I stood it next to another rifle I have that is 24inches, the model 70s barrel was a good couple inches about that, id have to say the barrel is 26 to 28 inches.

Anyway, I was really hoping someone can help me ID this gun so I know exactly what I have.
 
Lots of rifles have aftermarket stocks on them.

I've found no reliable info to date Winchesters made after 1963 by the SN on the internet. There may be someone with a book that can look it up for you.

From 1964-1979 or 80 they are pushfeed Winchester manufactured rifles. Not the best years for quaity.

United States Repeating Arms Company bought the company in 1979 or 80, can't remember, and used the Winchester name. They will have USRAC stamped somewhere on them. Quality is somewhat better

If you have a "Classic" it will have Controlled round feed which was bought back in 1992. The Classics were made until 2006 when Winchester closed. There were none made again until 2008 when FN started production again.

Most of the Classics are darn good guns and would be a steal at $500 in the condition you describe. Some of the last guns made were problematic, but if yours has a 6 digit SN it is a pretty early gun made in the 1990's.

The stock I cannot explain. My guess is either aftermarket or a limited production run that may not have been cataloged.

Over the years they have offered both 24" and 26" barrels on magnum chamberings.
 
While not a direct answer to your question, I was at my LGS a couple of months ago. I noticed 2 brand new m70's behind the counter. Behind the counter is where sold and customer owned weapons in for repair are kept so as to prevent unwanted fondling by other patrons.

These 2 m70s were a FW an I think a Sporter. The sporter had dark walnut wood with blonde accents, I figure maple. The FW was blonde with very dark checkering. I was told by the dealer that these were ordered direct by a customer and some sort of custom order or limited edition if I recall. I do not remember what the engraving on the floorplates said.

Said all that to say this: It seems that Winchester had/has some limited special edition stuff, or even custom ordered stuff that doesn't show up in places you might look to find them.

Here is the only pic I got of the two I mentioned above.
 
Here are some pictures of the rifle.
 

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Those are quite beautiful. I think the walnut stock is the Ultimate shadow 75th anniversary edition. I actually looked for one of those for a long time but they are 1 in 1000 so that is not and easy find.

It says "Classic Sporter" on the side as you can see in the picture. Is this the "Classic" you are referring to and if so, what does that mean?

I figured $500 was a steal. Like I said, it was in the middle of a bunch of ARs, i'm guessing someone used it as a trade and the booth owner wasnt 100% sure of what he had. Of course, getting it that cheap also made me uneasy. I had the barrel checked out, its in great condition and is a tack driver. The one I found on the Winchester website is almost identical and is a Super grade. But again the 7mm rem mag is not shown as a caliber offered.

http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/catalog/detail.asp?family=001C&mid=535218#center

Yes, the serial # only has 6 digits with a G# in front of it. Its G3000 and then 2 numbers.

Again, I'm just wanting to know exactly what I bought so when people ask I can say more that, Its a model 70.
 
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Is the rifle controlled round feed, or pushfeed. It will be CRF if it is a Classic.

The stock may be factory, but the shape and quality lead me to guess after market.

Good article and video describing PF vs CRF

http://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/controlled-feed-vs-push-feed-rifles/

If it is an older PF rifle, you did OK on price, not a steal, maybe a bit overpriced, but if you like the stock then it will be worth the price to you.

If it is a CRF Classic the price is very good. The stock does nothing for me, but if you like it you have a very good rifle.

The new rifle in your link is one of the current production FN manufactured rifles. Same name, very similar features, but not exactly the same gun. They were made in South Carolina from 2008 until about a year ago when production was moved to Portugal. Your rifle was made in the original New Haven factory no later than 2006. If it is what I think it is it was probably made in the late 90's. You can call Winchester for more accurate info.
 
s this the "Classic" you are referring to and if so, what does that mean?
Click to expand...

I realized I didn't answer this. Prior to 1964 all model 70's were controlled round feed (CRF). In 1964 in an effort to reduce production costs Winchester changed the model 70 to pushfeed (PF) along with some other cost savings.

In 1992 they brought back CRF. Those rifles were basically a copy of the pre-64's and in many ways better. From 1992-2006 they made both PF and CRF. The PF rifles were basically the budget versions and the Classic's with CRF the top end Winchesters. Winchester closed in 2006.

FN had bought out the rights to the Winchester name a few years earlier and started producing a very similar gun from 2008-present in their factory. The New Haven factory was closed.

The early Classics are highly regarded, almost as much as the pre-64's and in my opinion are a better rifle. At some point quality gradually started slipping and the closer you get to a 2006 made rifle the greater the odds of a lemon. Most of the Classics with 6 digit SN's are regarded as the better versions, but even most of those with 7 digits are good rifles.
 
I must admit, I really love this site. Always learn something new.

jmr40, thank you so much for all the information you have given me. The link you provided helped as well. It has helped me figure out exactly what I have.

It is in fact a CRF. After learning this, I looked up Winchester model 70 classic maple and found an article on Gun Broker with this exact rifle. Guy had seen one in a shop and wanted to know what it was. I want to give credit where credit is due so I will post the link and then give a break down description of what is says.

http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=381031

The man that found the gun described it as "Custom Maple" edition, this is something he found in a gun book. Another gentleman says Winchester made a round of these rifles where they built the barrels and sent them to a gunstock company named Fajen. From what I have found this is a well reputable company. "All they did was send some barreled actions to Fajen and let them screw them into these stocks." He went on to say, it was easy to identify them by the maple stock with the checkered pattern stained black. He also goes to comment that a lot of people were turned off by this, which might be another reason why I got it for the price I did. I found this rifle again on and auction site in a 7mm rem mag identified as "Winchester Model 70 Custom Classic Maple." It sold for $2500. On another auction site I saw that when Winchester came out with this, it was priced any where between 2000 - up to 4500. Now I've been around guns long enough to know, a gun is valued at what ever the consumers see it as not the producers. I'm sure Winchester came out with this gun thinking it was going to make a killing, but as I said most didnt find it as attractive as I did. I did learn it is an earlier make, as you said, due to my serial number being so low.

Once again, thank you for helping educate me on this rifle. I Just happy to know exactly what I have now.
 
if you would show us the action from the other side it would help. Actually the push feed rifles were generally more accurate than the earlier controlled feed. However the stocks on the early push feed Model 70s were often poorly cured resulting in warping and were better used as a club. I had a friend with one that I tried to free float by sanding. The forend kept moving over, but he said keep going. With more than a quarter inch of gap, it finally free floated after which it was a tack driver, but ugly.

By the way, yours is lovely, a real steal regardless of action type.
 
One of the Ckearfield, PA gun shops had a "special run" of Model 70's made up by Winchester, with maple stocks and engraved with the shop's name of "1 of XX?". I believe a few of those are still available NIB at the shop.
 
Judging by the info you have dug up I would say you got an excellent deal!

That stock looks to have a profile that's sort of between the longer and more slender Super Grade and the shorter and fatter Sporter. Angled forend cap is a nice touch, I always liked those on the older XTR's and Rem BDL's. Wish they would adopt it with the white spacer for the Super Grades.

Very interesting piece fore sure. Nice grab!
 
I knew the stock design wasn't anything I'd seen on a Winchester and thought it was aftermarket. Which in a way it is. You have one of those rare and unique rifles. To be honest on a rifle I was actually going to use I wouldn't want it, but that is what makes it unique. If I planned on actually hunting with it I'd buy a McMillan Edge for it and save the Maple stock. You'll reduce the weight by close to a full pound and have less money invested in both the rifle and stock than you would have spent for a new rifle alone.

I really like the Classic series and think of them as the best of the Winchesters. With only very minor design changes they copied the pre-64 design, but made it to much tighter tolerances by using modern CNC machining. Most of the Classics are really put together better than most of the pre-64's.

In some ways the new FN produced guns are better still, but they changed the trigger design. The older design was not as easy to get a smooth, light trigger pull, but was as bulletproof and rugged as anything ever designed. Your rifles trigger might need a little work done on it to get it acceptable, but it isn't that hard nor expensive.
 
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