I've always had a thing for the Winchester model 70 match target rifles. I finally got a chance at one for a decent price and won this one at auction. Luckily I have an unused Redfield International rear sight and an Olympic front tunnel sight.
The International is still a great sight as long as it is mechanically tight. The Olympic is a primitive front sight compared to what is available today. I put all my Olympic fronts in a drawer and replaced them with 22mm Gehman's (or Anschutz) front sights that have adjustable aperatures and, very important for old eyes, a magnifying lens. I think they are called "Eagle Eye". Get a 1.25 to 1.5 eagle eye and an adjustable aperature and life will be so much better.
I have a 22 mm Anschutz on the front of this.
You are fortunate to find an un modified NM M70, because, when these things got in the hands of individuals like myself, they quickly became modified. I never liked the hand stop rail location on those rifles, so I inletted my pre 64 M70 marksman stock for a new hand stop rail. Then I added a Freeland adjustable butt plate. All modifications look decidedly unprofessional, and thus my rare stock only has value as fire wood. Then, I did not care for the marksman stock, so I installed this Cloward stock. Which was an improvement in my opinion.
I shot out the original 30-06 Winchester barrel, and that was a good barrel, and installed another 30-06 barrel, then installed a 308 Win barrel, which is currently on the rifle. The collector value of my rifle is negible, though someone might recognize the stripper clip slot on the receiver which for the serial number date, would identify the receiver as a National Match. I have two pre WW2 M70's, both are cut with a stripper clip slot. I don't know when Winchester stopped doing that, but it has to be in the 1950's. The only actions with stripper clip slots are the National Match actions.
In so far as configuration, the NRA set the rules for rifles for use in NRA competitions. The Army was the 800 lb gorilla in the rules room, and the Army wanted civilian's shooting guns which were close to the military rifle in configuration. So, the marksman stock is not that far from a type C M1903 stock, or a Garand buttstock. Same basic stock was on the Winchester small bore rifles of the era:
see the resemblance?
The lightweight "standard" NM pre 64 M70 is very rare. The thing is too light for comfortable prone shooting, I know an owner. He thinks the weight of the rifle was required to be close to that of a Garand. Then the rules changed. The "bull barrel" rifle was more common.You want the rifle heavy enough to reduce recoil sitting and prone, but not so heavy to be ungainly shooting off hand.
