M70 Mannlicher Questions|Winchester Rifles|Forum|Winchester Collector

Badger,
Pics of the whole gun, stock and mannlicher nose cap would be very helpful

Badger,  it happens I know a little bit about the Model 70 “Mannlicher.”  First of all, it was not a Custom Shop special order but rather a stock, catalogued style of the Model 70 for a brief number of catalog years in the early Seventies. 

It was not made in large numbers and was offered only in 3 calibers, as I recall, I believe the 243, 270, and 30/06. [EDIT: and .308]

The 19 inch barrel is correct for that style. 

I haven’t followed them closely but at one time they were considered hard-to-get and seemed to bring a good price. 

EDIT:  THE ROCK ISLAND AUCTION LOU CITES SAYS PERIOD OF MANUFACTURE WAS 69-71, total made about 2000. 

I just ran a closed GB auction search and turned up 3 in 2025. One crossed for over 4K, another for about 1.2k, 3rd one wouldn’t sell for a fixed 2.4k. Go figure.

Here are the three relevant pages from the 1971 Winchester catalog, and the Model 70 Mannlicher is pictured and described.

The Model 70 Mannlicher was available in .243, .270, .308, & 30-06.

BRP

It looks like our collaboration is filling in the blanks on the Model 70 Mannlicher. I think I can add one small thing to the pool:  Sights were removable. I think this is why some images of the style show an open rear sight and a hooded, ramped front sight, and others don’t.  This was true for the post-63 standard style as well. 

The rear sight was made by Williams and was attached by 6-48 machine screws. So was the entire front ramp, dovetailed bead sight, and slide-off hood. The Williams sights were high enough to give a good sight picture with the high-combed Monte Carlo stock, but easily removed for  low-mounted scope or one with a large objective bell.

The 1966 standard style .243 one of my sons now owns — with a big Bausch & Lomb 4x-12x variable — mounts, cheeks, sights and shoots as if it had

At one time, Winchester management was populous with serious target shooters, e.g. the late Dave Carlson and Tom Henshaw, and, despite the cosmetic atrocities committed against the Model 70 seen in the early to mid Nineteen Sixties, the handing and shooting qualities of the rifle were in some ways improved, e.g. barrels rifled by cold hammer forging instead of pulled button broaching. (Some but not all pre-64 Super Grade barrels were cut-rifled.]

Badger,

I see now the reason for your concerns.

The catalog length for the .Model.70 Mannlicher is 19″.  Your barrel is, by its roll marks, a factory Winchester barrel, in a caliber correct for that style. The stock is clearly the correct factory stock.

However,  the absence of 6-48 sight and ramp attachment holes top center of the barrel are suspicious, to me.  

Likewise, the fact that the muzzle of the barrel does not protrude past the nose cap but appears to be flush with it, is a second red flag. 

The sanding of the bolt body underneath the serial number that was inscribed with an electric pencil, was done to provide a field for the serial number free of jeweling. I believe this was standard practice for jeweled bolts and is not an indication of a substituted bolt. Our Model 70 experts can correct me. 

The absence of knurling on the bolt is curious but there may be an innocent answer: do you see any indication of a pin traversely through the arm of the bolt handle, near it’s root with the bolt body?

The bolt for a 1971 Model 70 action is made of two pieces – the body and the handle. The body is made with a stub and the end of the handle has a mating but undersized mortise. The parts are driven together under heat and pressure and then brazed or electro-welded together.

This connection was known to sometimes fail — as when the unlucky hunter applied superhuman strength to the bolt handle, with the bolt already at the bolt stop, trying to jack a fresh round into his rifle as the wounded Cape buffalo charged him. 

The advised solution was for a gunsmith to re-weld the departed handle — or another handle, perhaps unknurled — to the stub, and then drill the joint traversely and install a steel pin. Perhaps that was done in reverse order. This usually required the bolt handle to be refinished. 

The various stamps underneath the barrel are inspection marks and codes i don’t understand but I do not believe they indicate date of manufacture or barrel length. If our experts see a mark indicating a factory repair or rework, they will please chime in but I don’t have the knowledge to say.

To sum up:

I think the barrel is likely not original to the gun, although it is a post-63 Winchester Model 70 barrel. 

The rifle may or may not have been issued as a Mannlicher style Model 70 and there is no way to determine the issue. (You have not said any serial number was inscribed or stamped inside the inletting of the stock)

The stock obviously is the correct Mannlicher part. Whether it left New Haven as part of an original rifle or was obtained from the surplus parts market is beyond my ability to determine. 

If there is any evidence the bolt handle has been secured to the bolt body by a pin or additional welding, that would explain the absence of knurling on the bolt handle. 

These are only my opinions and I do not hold myself out as any sort of Winchester expert.

Hi Badger,

A couple of observations with regards to the bolt of your rifle. It’s hard to tell, but the word “FIRE” on the sleeve appears to be the early post 63 cast style with the oval surrounding. This was changed to die stamped in 1968. The bolt sleeve cap was also changed in 68 to have a more rounded dome shape on its back side. Again, it’s hard to tell, but yours looks like it might be the earlier style. These two changes are clearly visible on one of the catalog pages presented earlier by BRP.

These features seem a little bit out of place if your rifle dates to 1971. I don’t know how this play’s out in getting a better understanding your rifle, but I thought it was worth bringing it up.

Ned