The Winchester Model 70 Story
BY Herschel Smith
1 year, 10 months ago
This comes via Ken’s site. It should be a daily stop for you.
Remarks: Listen carefully to what the CEO said when they brought the idea for the predecessor to the Model 70 to him. In my own experience, CEOs rarely if ever make good or right decisions for companies. It would nearly always be better to put major company decisions up to a vote of the employees, bit a second option would be to use a random number generator to make company decisions. It would usually be better than what corporate officers decide.
On December 15, 2022 at 8:06 am, Latigo Morgan said:
That’s one rifle I’ve always wanted, but never acquired for some reason. I got excited when Winchester came out with the pre-60’s style re-release a while back, but could never find one so kind of forgot about it.
On December 15, 2022 at 12:20 pm, Georgiaboy61 said:
@ Latigo Morgan
Some years ago, I worked in the retail FA & accessories business for a major outdoor sports outfit. I had the opportunity to get to know the newest Winchester Model 70 bolt-actions quite well, since we carried them as one of our product lines. Fabrique National of Belgium now has the license to product rifles (Olin Corp. owns the name, if memory serves) under the Winchester and Browning names, and that’s whose product we were selling (amongst many others).
Many Americans, quite naturally, wish that these fine old brands were 100% American-owned and manufactured like in the old days… a sentiment I share to an extent. However, if any foreign concern is to make Browning and Winchester, FN is probably the best choice out there. Why? Because John Moses Browning himself had a long-standing association with the Belgian firm, and so did his son, Val. In fact, when the elder Browning passed away in 1926, he was visiting Fabrique National at the time.
Pre-1964 Model 70s are prized by collectors and shooters alike as a pinnacle of the gun-maker’s art and craft. Renowned for their quality and accuracy, they were known as “the rifleman’s rifle,” and with good reason.
Under market pressure from less-costly competitors such as Savage Arms and Remington, the story by which Winchester’s upper management dropped the ball, so to speak, by moving away from controlled round feed and other desirable but expensive-to-produce features, is now well-known, which is why a stigma of sorts attached to their 1965 and subsequent products for many years.
To clear the air, Winchester’s Model 70 has never been a bad rifle or even a mediocre one. Many examples of push-feed rifles from that era are very good or even excellent rifles; they were just not made according to the pre-1964 specs.
However, 1965 was a long time ago and Winchester has long since righted the ship. The Model 70s produced under the aegis of FN are superb examples of the art of gun-making and every bit as good as their pre-1964 forbearers. Better, as heretical as that might sound to the purists. And the feedback from my customers was uniformly positive; I never had a complaint from someone who purchased a model 70 and then used it on a big hunting trip or safari. Smiles and enthusiastic thumbs-up all the way around.
During the same time period, Winchester’s arch-rival Remington suffered a precipitous drop in quality and sales reflected that. Sad to see, really, given how storied a name in American manufacturing they once were. I could not then recommend the new Model 700 to customers, frankly, because they were so problematic. The old well-made ones? Yeah, no problem there. They were great.
If you hanker for a Model 70 but don’t have the coin to get one new, consider tracking down a used Model 670. What, you ask? If memory serves, Winchester made them starting in the late-1960s and discontinued the line in the late 1980s. These were Model 70 rifles in everything but name, but somewhat cheaper and lacking a few cosmetic features found on the parent rifle – but still with Winchester’s superb barrel, receiver, trigger and action. Naturally, you can also buy a Model 70 used, if that does the trick for you.
If the Model 70 suffers from anything, it is that the Remington M700 has much larger after-market product support in terms of accessories and parts. This is probably due to the long-standing use of the brand and model by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, as precision rifles. But unless you are looking to trick your rifle out like a Tactical Tommy, that isn’t necessarily a problem.
The times being what they are, Winchester’s product line now includes entry-level options – other models which are not Model 70’s – in order to compete with Ruger, Savage, Mossberg, and other budget-friendly makes. But if you can save a few more bucks and get into the Model 70 you won’t be disappointed.