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Hey my local shop got a collection in there is a pre-64 m70 in 30-06
barrels market feather weight and stock is a super grade with floor plate marked, I know this is rare if real but it came from an estate and they didn’t know what they had and listed it for 650 and now once I mentioned what it was they want to investigate if it’s real or not!? I screwed up I shouldn’t have opened my mouth!
but how do you tell if it’s legit?
iron sights
stock looks untouched besides a rubber recoil pad and a few scrathes
is there suppose to be a metal grip cap? And also a metal butt plate?
front sight is missing the hood
was built in 56 or 57 I can’t remember.
Is there any other way to know if it’s real? Read somewhere that they have a stamp under side of barrel of “super 30-06” I’m going to check it tomorrow
Thanks for any help!
November 5, 2014
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Hi dbrazil-
The M70 SG FWTs (less than 1000 total) were cataloged 1955-59, so they have all the characteristics of late pre-64 Supers that differ from standard grade rifles of the period.
In no particular order: 1) barrels are rust blued and marked ‘SUPER’ underneath; 2) Actions have a jeweled bolt body, extractor, extractor collar, and magazine follower (be sure to check that the S/N on the bolt body was applied on top of the jeweling so you know it wasn’t dressed up later); 3) the recoil lug is often (probably not always) stamped with a single ‘backwards S’; 4) the stocks are of the MC style (only) with a steel grip cap and lack a barrel bedding screw (no ‘diamond’ in the bottom of the checkering); 5) like all FWTs of the time the butt plate is aluminum with polished outside edges (NO recoil pads); 5) the front sight is a Redfield 255 (0.360″ tall) and the rear sight is the regular Lyman 16A single leaf folding variety.
So… The gun you’re looking at (if authentic) might be original except for the added recoil pad (it does not matter if the pad is marked “Winchester” or not – it’s almost surely not factory). Value is dependent on condition of the rest of the gun. An original unaltered 98% (or better) SG FWT in any of the four catalogued chamberings (243 WIN, 270 WIN, 308 WIN and 30-06 SPRG) could bring $6000-7000 these days. But once you factor in the recoil pad it loses a ton of collector value (those unique stocks cannot be replaced off eBay and the current repros are obviously wrong to anyone who knows what factory looks like). So it’s probably worth a lot more than $650 (again depending on condition), but A LOT less than an intact original. Photos would really help if you want a better sense of what that particular gun is worth.
Hope this helps,
Lou
P.S. Will one of the site administrators PLEASE fix the registration page so that new user’s e-mail addresses do not show up as their user names? Let folks choose their user name and make it obvious enough that they have that option. Like Leroy Merz said on this forum a while ago, I prefer people use their real name as a user ID, but they should not have to give out their e-mail address to post here. Just my take…
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
Louis Luttrell said
P.S. Will one of the site administrators PLEASE fix the registration page so that new user’s e-mail addresses do not show up as their user names? Let folks choose their user name and make it obvious enough that they have that option. Like Leroy Merz said on this forum a while ago, I prefer people use their real name as a user ID, but they should not have to give out their e-mail address to post here. Just my take…
Lou,
I do not have the access (or ability) to change the registration page. I do have the ability to change someone’s user Name after the account is created.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Hi Louis, Question please. Reference your words: “…like all FWTs of the time the butt plate is aluminum with polished outside edges (NO recoil pads)…” Wondering if that’s an over-broad statement. Weren’t the 264 Win Mag FWts wearing such as ‘issue’ factory red Winchester marked pads? Sure hope so! Request clarification/education. Thanks!
iskra/John
November 5, 2014
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Hi Iskra-
I was referring only to cataloged M70 SG FWT production. It would seem, if sources are to believed, that a few SG FWTs were made up in the FWT Westerner configuration (Class II OR III Special Orders as Roger Rule defined them).
ALL standard FWT Westerners had ventilated red Winchester recoil pads. They just were not cataloged as available in SG configuration.
Germane to your question (and lacking any better info on my part), Roger showed two SG FWT Westerners in his book. One has a pad, one (with tags) does not. I’d be inclined to believe the “with pad” version, everything else being equal. But the SG FWT Westerner (264 WIN MAGNUM) was not catalogued, so any example is a special order.
Hope this clarifies what I meant!!!
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
Hello – I came across this post looking for some help in confirming how original (or not) this rifle here is. It seems there are a lot of discrepancies:
https://www.gunbroker.com/item/914311557
Thank you for your expert input.
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