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November 19, 2006
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I don’t think he locks it in with his Roger Rule reference.
And there is a 9×57:
Assuming they cycled fine, I could see either of them working well for deep north woods deer hunting. Although at the moment, I can’t get a Savage 99 .250-3000 off my mind for deer.
November 5, 2014
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Steve-
I think everyone knows that I am skeptical of all pre-64 M70s in “uncataloged chamberings”, especially oddballs, e.g. 218 Bee or 219 Zipper, for which viable options, e.g. 22 Hornet or 220 Swift, existed in the product line at the time. IMHO factory documentation would be essential, especially when something is described as s “possible prototype”.
As for Lot 101R in the Redding Auction, a M70 Standard rifle in 303 British, I had no record of the rifle before it was sold in the Morphy (Denver PA) auction in Dec 2025. Morphy’s described it as fabricated… In four months it traveled all the way to Gettysburg PA and got re-consigned… As for the references cited, Rule lists 303 British in a table of reported non-standard M70 chamberings and claims at least one documented factory original example exists. Whitaker’s reference is also in the form of a table, and he mentions “test barrels” and one rifle by serial number.
If you want to see a “genuine” Pre-64 M70 303 British, go back to my old thread form 3 years ago… This one is “the real deal”… 
https://winchestercollector.org/forum/whats-new/genuine-pre-war-model-70-in-303-british/
As for Lot 100R, a Standard rifle in 9 M/M Mauser, the story is even more bizarre… I have s/n 38379 recorded from Gun Broker as a 270 WCF Carbine (I didn’t record the date). Perhaps it was a 270 WCF with non-original (shortened) barrel, hence fodder for a rebarrel job. Perhaps I recorded it wrong… In any event the rifle, now in 9 M/M was also in the December 2025 Morphy auction, where it was described as fabricated, and has also made the move to Redding’s.
Maybe someone naively bought the Morphy guns in good faith then developed concerns and is trying to recoup his money, or maybe someone got the guns at Morphy’s for cheap b/c they were described as forgeries and is now trying to flip them for profit hoping someone believes them to be genuine…
Just my take..
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
November 19, 2006
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Very interesting Lou. It’s great that you are able to track and record these rifles. Now that you mentioned it, I do recall the previous action these came from.
My comment that these rifles would make good deer rifles is a tentative comment. I think probably the 9mm would feed and function ok, but I have my doubts about the .303.
November 5, 2014
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Hi Steve-
Yes… The 9×57 should work fine through a M70 action. According to factory M54 blueprints (where both cartridges were cataloged), the internal parts (magazine box/follower/spring, extractor, ejector) of the 9 M/M were the same as used for 30-06.
In the world of fakery, therein lies the problem… A 9 M/M is nothing but a 30-06 with a “new” barrel. Ditto the 300 SAVAGE, which is a 220 SWIFT with a “new” barrel… Anybody wonder why take-off M70 220 Swift barrels are so easy to find? It’s not b/c they were “shot out”… 
As for the 303 British… I don’t know how well it would work either… Seems you’d need at least one slanted partition in the magazine box to keep the rimmed case from jamming, like they used with the semi-rimmed 220 Swift. But I don’t know about 303 British cartridge OAL in a partitioned M70 magazine box. OTOH, Winchester made a gazillion British P14 Enfields in 303 during WWI, so I sure they COULD have figured it out (if they ever wanted to…)
FWIW… Here’s a “genuine” 303 BRIT barrel stamp (from the #6 test barrel that was in my earlier post. The current Forum setup doesn’t seem to let you enlarge thumbnails anymore, otherwise I would not repeat this…
Cheers,
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
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