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Here for your enjoyment is a real. papered Van Orden Sniper. It is still in it’s target stock and was purchased by the US Army at the 1954 National Matches. Some fool ground off the US markings on the receiver and made a mess of it. I have a copy of the original sales papers sent to me by my late friend Peter Senich. The rifle was a gift from my good friend Herb Rosenbaum, who is now the Chief of Police in a small town near Birmingham Alabama.
The Marine version had a non checkered sporter stock unlike the rifles the Army used. The scopes, early on, were 8X USMC marked Unertls left over from WW2. Marines never threw anything away. The Marine Unertls with the Micarta Can can go as high as $10,000. When and if you use a Unertl scope on a 30-36 do not use the return spring. The scope will make you bleed as it did my X BIL.
Picture is a genuine original Van Orden Sniper rifle with a Lyman Super Targetspot mounted. Big Larry Former US Militaria collector.
Great gun, Larry. Please read my December 25 post on the “model 70 USMC buildup” thread.
November 5, 2014
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Hi model21guy-
Congrats on your find. They turn up periodically, usually unrecognized. I think I’ve seen five of them (by serial number) listed in various auctions in the past few years (sometimes altered, sometimes original) but in only one case did the auction house recognize/describe the rifle as a “Van Orden Sniper”. Yours, like mine, was one of the “civilian sold” Van Ordens.
It’s hard to put an exact value on one but they attract the interest of military sniper rifle enthusiasts (even though most were used only for match shooting, e.g. Camp Perry) as well as Winchester collectors/target shooters, so will bring something of a premium if at least two bidders recognize it for what it is. I paid $2250 for mine, with the original unchecked standard style stock, and thought it was a good buy (RIA did not identify it as a Van Orden). A good one might fetch twice that under the right circumstances.
Please consider posting a photo of yours when you get it out to the range. If you cannot post photos directly, you could e-mail to me at [email protected] and I’ll post it for you.
Also, since you are heading to the range, you might like the following images of the original instructions that came with your gun. Note that Evaluators Limited referred to the rifles as “Sniper” or “Special Target” depending on whether it had the standard to marksman style stock:
Thanks for sharing your find!!! 
Lou
WACA 9519; Studying Pre-64 Model 70 Winchesters
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