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Hello forum. I have recently come into possession of my Fathers gun collection and have found a rifle that I am researching. A little google searching has brought me here. I think it is a Model 70 in 30-06, but I cannot find any markings to state the caliber. It has an extremely faint marking on the barrel that says US PROPERTY that I only found by accident under a bright magnify glass light. Its serial number is 3387xx . I have tried in Vain to post a picture in this post. I’m sure I will eventually figure it out.
A quick history on my father
He was career Army and was part of several shooting teams. He was stationed at Fort Richardson Alaska in the early 60s and was assigned to the US Biathlon Team whose training center was near Anchorage. Being an expert marksman, he provided training to the mostly civilian team. The team adopted him and taught him (a Mississippi native) to cross country ski and in record team he became a competing member of the team. He was extracted to Viet Nam in the middle of that decade and was badly injured and could not compete with the team. All was not lost as he was a shooting coach for the team in the late 60’s and early 70’s. He left the Army after 22 years and then was a Postman, a Gunsmith, and a Park Ranger. I dont know how he acquired this rifle, but I suspect that it was when he was coaching. Obviously the Biathlon team did not lug this Tank of a rifle with them, but he competed and was highly decorated marksman, especially small bore rifle competition and I have some of his other rifles as well.
Before I signed up as a guest I submitted a query to the “contact” section of this website with duplicate information, but I was able to put some pictures in that . I apologize in advance, if I am over communicating https://share.icloud.com/photos/072HqS0U_GZ2-hbCYxwHJypkA
Not a lot of information to give you a good answer. If it is a Model 70, the serial number would place it to 1955. Sounds like it was rebarreled. Coming from the factory it would state Model 70, and the caliber clearly on the barrel.
As stated above, your father’s rifle is a pre-64 Winchester Model 70, ca 1955, that has an aftermarket (non-factory) stock and a replacement (non-factory) barrel. Its primary value is to you, as it is a tangible reminder of your father. I suspect that if your father kept it, it must have been quite accurate. Thank you for sharing the picture and your father’s story with the WACA.
BRP
November 5, 2014
Offline
Here are several photos of Chris’ Father’s rifle. If anyone has any thoughts, speculation, information to share about how the rifle came to be or its use, please contribute.
A couple interesting things… The S/N 338764 is right in a block of M70 30-06 Target receivers. Actually several Van Orden Snipers that were sold to USART are very close to this one, but this rifle is not on the list of VO serial numbers. I cannot see if there is a clip slot in the receiver bridge (like a 30-06 Target receiver), but it does have a “T” trigger, suggesting it was originally a Target rifle. At present, I do not know what the rifle is chambered for, but I’m guessing it was converted to 308 WIN based on the magazine box/follower and the clip loading attachment affixed to the bridge.
I do not (yet) know the length of the barrel, but it’s 0.875″ at the muzzle. FWIW the M70 Bull Gun barrel (28″ long) is 0.845″ at the muzzle, so this barrel is indeed HEAVY!!! It might be bull gun contour but shorter??? The non-factory stock is glass bedded at the recoil lug and first couple inches in a way that reminds me of what was done to most of the “US PROPERTY” M70 Target rifles coming out of CMP these days.
All-in-all my guess is that this was originally a 30-06 (???) M70 Target rifle (???) that was rebarreled, converted to 308 WIN, and restocked by US Army armorers (???) for some unknown purpose, possibly related to shooting team training, since Chris’ Father was a shooting coach. Whether all the changes present today relate to the rifle’s time in the service or not is unknown pending discovery of further information. How’s that for a WAG???? 
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
Just a thought here, but I bet it does have a factory stripper clip slot in the receiver, which would be correct for a 30-06 Target mode., and most likely is a 308 now. I see it has an aftermarket clip slot adapter mounted on the receiver which extends a bit further to the front than the factory slot. This would make sense for a 308 which is shorter than an 30-06. The added adapter would put the slot just to the front of the bolt head at the full open bolt position and thus facilitate the charging of the magazine which is also shorter than an ’06.
Steve
Only a guess, but I believe that the rifle was made up after it saw service use. The receiver was reblued after it was marked US Property. The gun was most likely a Target .30’06 when it left the factory as others have suggested. The .308 Win Chambering seems right since it was and still is a favorite for tactical or match use. A chamber cast would be necessary to determine this. A neat gun that would be fun to shoot. We may never know who built it, but if it belonged to my Father I would be proud to own it.
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