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Is there a resource that illustrates all the different stock contours offered on the pre-64 M70s? I didn’t see anything in RR book but may be missing it.
Hi Ramsay-
Can you be more specific? I presume you mean external differences in shape, unrelated to inletting (type I/II versus type III), barrel contour (standard versus target versus FWT), and checkering (18 versus 20 l.p.i.)?
The information you seek is in Rule’s book, mainly in Chapter 6 “Style Changes”, where he goes through the period changes in each stock by style.
Is there something specific you need to see? I have saved a fairly large collection of M70 auction house photos and could probably cobble something together that provides comparisons, but doing a stock style compendium covering everything would be a chore (and Bert wouldn’t like me posting that many photos on the WACA server – might clog it up 
)…
Best,
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
Thanks Lou!
No specific reason for the request. Just trying to rationalize in my mind all the information from RRs book. There’s just a lot to take in.
I went back and read Chapter 6 again, paying particular attention to the stock descriptions for each style and that really helped addressing some of my general confusion. I got it now.
But as I read, another question came to mind. Is there a table in the book or elsewhere that lists out the production dates for all nine the major styles listed out in Chapter 6? i.e. Standard, SG, Carbine, National Match, Target, Bull, Featherweight, SG Featherweight, and Varmint? I’m guessing there is and I just can’t seem to find it.
Online
M70 Calibers and Their Styles, Table 4-21, pp. 118-119.
Table 7-1 to Table 7-19, pp. 192-235.
As Lou said, the info is all there.
Hi Ramsay-
One thing to keep in mind is that the dates in the tables in Rule refer to CATALOGED production, meaning the years that a given style/chambering was listed in the Winchester catalogs. While they’re a very good rule of thumb, there are numerous deviations. To further keep things interesting, keep in mind that the date of production you’ll get from the “When was your Winchester made” function on this website is based on the polishing room records, meaning it provides the year of receiver manufacture, NOT the year of rifle manufacture. These two things might cause you to dismiss a gun that could be legit. To give a few examples:
1. The 300 WIN MAGNUM (Westerner-Alaskan) was cataloged only in 1963 and they were likely all built in 1962-63, yet many were built using 1961 receivers in the 510-530K range.
2. The 338 WIN MAGNUM (Alaskan) first made the catalog in 1959 yet many were assembled using short magnum receivers that were made in 1956-7 with the intention of meeting anticipated demand for the 458 WIN MAGNUM (African) that never materialized. So 1957 (even 1956) serial numbers in the 390-410K range on Alaskans are not uncommon.
3. While the target rifles were not cataloged in 1952, and “special order only” in 1953-54, it appears that quite a few were produced during the period they were not cataloged. Hence, a target rifle with a 1952-54 serial number is not a rare bird and has not particular added value.
4. The most challenging ones are the “barrel clean-up” rifles, meaning discontinued styles (particularly carbines) and chamberings (like 35 REM) that were assembled much LATER than the year they were dropped from the catalog. Consider the ad below from the August 1954 issue of American Rifleman (apologies for the poor photo):
Hudson Sporting Goods in NYC was advertising not only the availability of newly manufactured carbines in 35 REM and 270 WCF (last cataloged in 1946), but of standard rifles in 250-3000 SAV, 300 SAV and 35 REM with MONTE CARLO stocks (NEVER cataloged with MC stock). Hudson’s was the distributor Winchester used to get rid of their barrel clean-up guns and there were a series of ads like this in 1954 offering M70s that had long been discontinued or were never supposed to have been made (other weird combos not shown above were offered in other Hudson ads that year).
As Ted said, most all this info is in Rule’s book, but sometimes it’s challenging to keep up with all the permutations…
Good luck!!!
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
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