Pre-64 Model 70 Varmint stainless barrel repair|Restoration, Repair and Maintenance|Forum|Winchester Collector

Michael-

What does the original finish look like?  Is it a bead blasted matt finish or smooth and “blued”?

Reason I ask is that during the time the 220 Swift Varmint rifle was being produced, the factory went through three distinct finishing processes for their stainless steel barrels, and I believe that all of them can be found on these rifles.

From the beginning of production, the stainless barrels (which could not be blued directly), were bead blasted, then iron plated, and then subjected to a conventional blue process.  

In the early 60s, the factory acquired rights to a stainless steel bluing process.  At this point they eliminated the bead blasting process. Supposedly the first batch of these polished stainless barrels was sent out to a contractor for finishing, and the factory mistakenly iron plated them anyway before shipment.  So these are stainless barrels that look just like CMS barrels.  

When they got the stainless blue process in-house, the last production barrels were polished and the finish applied directly on the stainless steel.  These late barrels have a slightly different “color” when looked at in bright light, but generally just look like blued CMS barrels.

To get you a good answer about who might be best set up to do the finish work, it would be important yo know which type of finish needs to be restored, i.e. iron plated or not, special chemical process or not, etc.

Best,

Lou