pre6422hornet
Handloader
- Jan 24, 2012
- 974
- 12
Okay you guys have known me for a while so it is no surprise that I love model 70's. Well a few weeks ago I was at the local Cabela's here in Kansas City and like I always do I strolled through the gun library drooling over the double rifles in 470NE, the Colt SAA's, Winchester 21's etc... I came to the Model 70 area and they had the two rifles that have been in there for ever... A pre war Carbine in 300 H&H for $13,000 ( marked down from $18,000), and a 30-06 Carbine that looked to have been dragged behind a truck a couple miles for around $3,000.
Wait.. what is that.... I opened the case and took her out. Standard rifle, Drilled bolt handle, hand cut checkering, completely original, two small safe dings, swivels, front hood sight intact, all the screws untouched, not a trace of ever had a scope mount installed. I asked to unlock it. I open the bolt.. HOLY SMOKES... there's grease still in the bolt lugs and the feed ramp is completely untouched. Bolt face looks pristine as does the bore, crown, trigger guard, floorplate. I am not a NRA condition expert at all but I would call this rifle 98% in completly original stock finish and blueing. The serial number put it at 1959 or 1960 as I could not remember exactly the cutoff.
Now you may ask " whats the big deal about a 243win pre 64 model 70 in Standard configuration?". There are only 4 other chamberings in a standard rifle that are rarer....300 sav, 35 rem, 7mm, and 250-3000. Winchester only made 6812 standards in 243 win out of the 43618 243's ever made. Furthermore, there were 343133 standard rifles produced so out of the grand total of standards, the 243win was only 1.9% of production. So while not as rare as a Supergrade Featherweight in .308, it is a rare specimen and in this condition is pretty cool to me. I really like the rare ones and this one is the first I have seen with my own eyes that was attainable.
I tried not to hide my excitemenet as I turned the price tag over to see a price that is about 1/2 of what this one is at
http://daverifflegunsales.com/wincheste ... rifle_1961
I hesitated, pointed out the safe dings and asked " any wiggle room on this price?" The guy looked in the computer and came back with " how about 200 off the tag price"... :shock: :shock:
Lets just say I didn't walk out emptyhanded!!
Oh BTW it is a Nov 1960 production that wears a hand cut checkered stock. This was during Winchesters clean up years where if they found older stocks that were hand cut they would use them. Here she is being welcomed by the 1949 .270 and the 1941 22hornet.
Here are some glamour shots of her.
Now who has an extra couch I can sleep on while this one blows over??
Wait.. what is that.... I opened the case and took her out. Standard rifle, Drilled bolt handle, hand cut checkering, completely original, two small safe dings, swivels, front hood sight intact, all the screws untouched, not a trace of ever had a scope mount installed. I asked to unlock it. I open the bolt.. HOLY SMOKES... there's grease still in the bolt lugs and the feed ramp is completely untouched. Bolt face looks pristine as does the bore, crown, trigger guard, floorplate. I am not a NRA condition expert at all but I would call this rifle 98% in completly original stock finish and blueing. The serial number put it at 1959 or 1960 as I could not remember exactly the cutoff.
Now you may ask " whats the big deal about a 243win pre 64 model 70 in Standard configuration?". There are only 4 other chamberings in a standard rifle that are rarer....300 sav, 35 rem, 7mm, and 250-3000. Winchester only made 6812 standards in 243 win out of the 43618 243's ever made. Furthermore, there were 343133 standard rifles produced so out of the grand total of standards, the 243win was only 1.9% of production. So while not as rare as a Supergrade Featherweight in .308, it is a rare specimen and in this condition is pretty cool to me. I really like the rare ones and this one is the first I have seen with my own eyes that was attainable.
I tried not to hide my excitemenet as I turned the price tag over to see a price that is about 1/2 of what this one is at
http://daverifflegunsales.com/wincheste ... rifle_1961
I hesitated, pointed out the safe dings and asked " any wiggle room on this price?" The guy looked in the computer and came back with " how about 200 off the tag price"... :shock: :shock:
Lets just say I didn't walk out emptyhanded!!
Oh BTW it is a Nov 1960 production that wears a hand cut checkered stock. This was during Winchesters clean up years where if they found older stocks that were hand cut they would use them. Here she is being welcomed by the 1949 .270 and the 1941 22hornet.
Here are some glamour shots of her.
Now who has an extra couch I can sleep on while this one blows over??
