Hi deewayne-

I’d already been shown your photos from another private contact.  This is what I wrote to him yesterday (off this forum):

“It’s an interesting and confusing rifle.  The barrel stamp, while not the clearest photo, does indeed look like a Winchester Style 3A (or a very good imitation).  The front ramp (which really cannot be seen) looks like it could be an integral #2.  So maybe (???) a factory barrel…  

But the bolt release button is the fancy checkered type used by custom builders like Len Brownell, Al Biesen, etc.  I’ve never seen anything like that from the factory.  The barrel is either stainless or reblued matte.  A photo of the muzzle face would tell the difference.  The bottom metal is finished similar to the barrel, so I suspect the whole barreled action was probably refinished, maybe at the time of the custom work?   The stock has probably been refinished, or at least improved with extra finish (???).  The leather covered pad (which Winchester would certainly do on order) looks old.

So all-in-all it’s confusing.  I cannot readily imagine a custom maker choosing to use a “fake” Winchester marked barrel on a rifle they were building for somebody.  OTOH if the intent was to create a “fake” uncataloged pre-64 M70 starting from a 30-06 barrel, then why add the custom bolt release and not try to replicate the blue finish on barrel and bottom metal?  I’m curious whether the bottom of the barrel is marked “1906”???  If the gun is an “honest” rebore/rechamber of a factory barrel, then the original caliber stamp underneath wouldn’t need to be changed, only the exposed one.  Curious…”

As suggested here, some things that might help are: knowing whether the muzzle face is “in the white” because the matte stainless barrels had to be iron plated before bluing and the muzzle face is always bare stainless; seeing the highest possible resolution closeup of the exposed roll markings, especially the regular roll marking as opposed to the caliber stamp; and knowing what’s stamped under the chamber on the barrel.  A POSSIBILITY here (not saying anything definitive) is that the rifle was converted from 30-06 to 9.3X64 M/M by a skilled custom gunsmith who also added the improved bolt release.  Since such a conversion would normally not have been intended to create a “fake”, the under chamber caliber designation “1906” might still be there.  

Let us know what you discover!!!

Lou

The M/M portion, in my humble opinion appears to have been altered in some way.

Sincerely,

Maverick

I find the M/M stamping particularly suspect.  In addition, there for sure, appears to be something going on under the M/M stamping.