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An experimental rifle. This is quoted from GB. “Up for auction is a very unique, one of a kind , find. Winchester Model 70 chambered in .22LR with special fluted barrel and adjustable barrel band.A little background :this rifle became the personal property of Raytheon engineer L.M. Temple who was employed by Winchester from 1946 to 1968.Temple lived in New Haven, Ct and was a avid smallbore shooter traveling to Camp Perry for many years.Winchester called upon Raytheon engineers for a multitude of projects, Temple spent time trying to develop an electronic trigger for the Model 70 rifle for use in precision shooting. His passion for smallbore had him develop several .22LR rifles, this being one of them.”
I contacted the seller and is getting a notarized letter from Temple’s son and photos of the rifle at Winchester.
Now I have to decide if I’m going to try to buy it. It is cool but doesn’t really grab me. What do you all think of it?
Vince
Southern Oregon
NRA member
Fraternal Order of Eagles
“There is but one answer to be made to the dynamite bomb and that can best be made by the Winchester rifle.”
Teddy Roosevelt
The work on the extractor, bolt handle and comb extension were done by some one far less than professional. It is kind of neat but it doesn’t trip my trigger…
Erin
Vince said
What do you all think of it?
Just about the most senseless, pointless, irrelevant, idea I’ve ever heard of–even IF the M.52 had never been invented! (Though, I acknowledge, no dumber than building rimfires on the high-wall action.)
Lem Temple who did the work on this rifle never perfected a design for supporting cartridge, i.e., loading ramp for the Long Rifle cartridge. Consequently, there is a massive hole where the follower should be. I have 2 of his other model 70’s that he converted. Bolt design/extractor system is crude and questionable at best. Here is a picture of one that was done correctly. It is 1 of the 6 “Free Rifles” that was built under contract to the AAMU at Ft Benning in the late 50’s by Winchester. The other 5 were 308’s. This is the only 22 Long Rifle that was made. It is still a bit of a pain to load since the rounds have to be placed in the chamber. These were all single shots.
Steve
Steve,
The Sako type extractor on yours is a huge improvement over the one Vince posted. Glad somebody went back to the drawing board on that one ! Just curious, how is the accuracy compared to a 52 of the same vintage? Wondering if the attempt to reinvent the wheel was worth the effort. I’m guessing not as it was never put into production.
Erin
Erin, it is really not a Sako type extractor. I would equate it to a post 64 M70 style extractor which was unheard of in 1958 when Winchester developed this rifle. It is a very common style now and used on some of the finest custom actions made such as Stolle, and even Savage uses the same design.
I have never shot this rifle, so cannot comment on accuracy. It was designed to use with iron sights, and I have never taken the time to shoot it. I wish it had provisions for scope mounts, but certainly do not want to d/t it. I really doubt that it would be any more accurate than a 52 of same period. These were made to me the ISU requirements for International “Free Rifle” competition. The receivers are massive rectangular blocks with barrel tenons about twice as long as a production model 70. The idea behind this was to make the most rigid receiver possible to support the long heavy barrels. The bolt is a very interesting design as are the factory designed double set triggers. This bolt has a 2 pc firing pin. The front half rotates with bolt, and rear half cannot rotate.
Steve
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