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November 19, 2006
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Tedk said
Chasing uncatalogued M70’s is a Fool’s Errand
Ted –
It’s hard to disagree with this. And I wouldn’t. And I haven’t pursued these rifles but I will admit I have had spells of temptation. Most of my temptation has been for the M54 in non-cataloged rimmed cartridge chamberings. Off the top of my head, chamberings that caught my attention: .22 Savage HP, 25-35, .303 Savage, .30-40, .303 British, .32-40, .32 Special, .38-55, .405. I assume for those that were faked, .30 WCF donor rifles may have been used.
Back to the M70, maybe the .218 Bee and .25-20 would require less engineering to fake than some others. If you slapped a fake .218 or .25-20 barrel on a Hornet action, maybe that wouldn’t be require much modification to the magazine box, bolt face etc.?
Faking a .405 in the M70 would be tougher given the M70 never chambered a larger rimmed cartridge (not even a .30-30). As far as faking a .303 Savage in the M70, would a .220 Swift donor action be the most favorable choice?
Just exercising my brain a bit as I’m watching football but not paying much attention. 
November 5, 2014
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Hi Steve-
I think you are correct about 218 BEE or 25-20 WCF in the Model 70. After all, the M43 was made in 22 Hornet, 218 BEE, 25-20 WCF and 32-20, and the only differences were the magazine, bolt face, and extractors. Many M70 Hornets were converted to 222 Remington, which was more work than fiddling with the feed lips of the inner 22 Hornet magazine box, opening the bolt face, and modifying the extractor…
405 WCF would be more of a challenge, as would things like 303 British and 348 WIN… But Winchester did, I think, make (at least) one M70 in 405 WCF, if only to prove it could be done…
One I have not yet come to grips with is that I once got to examine a pair of M70 Standard rifles (early oval tang guns) with CONSECUTIVE SERIAL NUMBERS!!! Who would take a consecutive pair of 22 Hornets (already valuable) and convert them to 218 BEE??? Of course maybe the serial numbers were faked too… 
Best,
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
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