[BigG]

We had a good thread on the Model 70 Winchester. Was the Model 54 the predecessor to the Model 70?

I seem to remember a Model 70 type with a different safety that precluded low scope mounting. Is that a Model 54?

TIA

[Art Eatman]

I don't guess I've ever handled a Model 54, but, yes, it was the predecessor to the Model 70.

Probably find pictures with a Google search. The pictures in a "Gun Trader's Guide" don't really show the safety, but it appears to possibly be a flip-over Mauser type.

Art

[Mike Irwin]

Nice image of a Model 54 action from Gunbroker.com...

http://www.confederateordinance.com/winchestermodel54-1.jpg

[Gewehr98]

to the Mauser until I saw that flag safety! Thanks, Mike, beautiful picture. My dad told me to find a Winchester Model 54 in one of it's more rare chamberings, .30-30 WCF. Still haven't seen many. Not that I could afford one if I did stumble across it. ;)

[Jim K]

The Winchester 54 was pretty much a sporter version of the Model 1903 Springfield, not the Mauser, and it has the same cone breech as the Model 1903 and the later Model 70.

The .30-30 is rare, but the rarest calibers are 7.65 Mauser and the 9x57 Mauser. Both the Mauser calibers appear to have been made with the export market in mind. The gun itself is rather rare, only some 50,000 were made before the 54 was dropped in favor of the Model 70 in 1936. The guns have a lot in common, but I don't know what parts (if any) will interchange.

The main complaint on the 54 was that with its stamped trigger guard, it looked cheap; the Model 70 corrected that, and also had a better stock.

Jim

[Wildalaska]

The 54 was also very hard to scope....

But they shot like a dream...a 54 in 30-06 was my first bolt gun, I also had a carbine version that I kick myself for selling to this day....

WildnicegunsAlaska