New Birthday/Christmas rifle from my dad. Beautiful!

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Nature Boy said:
I believe all pre 64 Model 70s were built on long actions. If I'm wrong
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I think you're right. Even though pre-64 Model 70s were chambered in .308 for over a decade, Winchester never made them with short-actions. If I'm (we're) wrong about this, sure enough (and thankfully), there'll be an expert to come along shortly to clean up the mess we've made. :oops:
 
Winchester didn't produce a short action pre-1964. They had three types in that era: standard (long action), short magnum and H&H magnum; I believe was their nomenclature.
 
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Ratshooter said:
What a nice looking rifle. Dad deserves a big hug and a tearful thank you. I didn't know Boyds could make a stock that nice.

But I have one question. If the rifle started out as a .308 how is it able to handle a 30-06 length round? I thought the action was a half inch shorter for the 308 round.
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Yeah, not sure about the stock. He told me a name of who made the stock, and I thought he said Hoyt, then I googled stock makers and Boyds came up, so I figured that was it. I know most of his gunsmithing was done either by Al Biesen, Mel Smart, or a couple of other guys in Montana. I'll have to ask him again.

But the action started off as a .30-06 and the barrel was a later model XTR Featherweight in .308.
 
The problem is that the Mauser claw extractor isn't specific to pre-64. What's the action opening length?

For instance my current Model 70 is CRF and with a Mauser claw extractor.

One change from pre-64 to ALL post-64 model 70's is that the bolt with the handle on pre-64's were made from one piece of steel.
 
courtgreene said:
Back to the .300wsm, I’m a fan of them. Having said that, your dad is correct. That’s just 31fps slower than my pet 180gr load. So it pretty much matches it.

Beautiful gun, I hope you enjoy it.
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He is a grumpy old traditionalist who thinks the .308 is a new-fangled cartridge, lol. He was trained as a Marine Corps sniper and he mentioned that he was a bunkmate with Carlos Hathcock at one point, maybe at the Camp Perry National match in `65. Dad was on the pistol team, IIRC.

Anyway, he doesn't like all of the new calibers coming out saying you can do whatever needs done with the standard stuff if you know what you're doing.

I looked up dad's load for my rifle and it is 5 grains over max charge listed by Nosler, so I will probably back that down a bit but use the same RL22 powder.
 
What a great rifle. That's heirloom stuff right there.
You mention your father had custom work done by Al Biesen. I remember reading in Bob Hagel's "The Game Rifle" that one of Jack O'Conner's favorite .270s was a custom piece by Al Biesen built on a pre-64 Winchester action.
I do not know a lot about custom rifles, but his stuff is obviously top notch.
 
Arkansas Paul said:
one of Jack O'Conner's favorite .270s was a custom piece by Al Biesen built on a pre-64 Winchester action.
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O'Connor had quite a few pre-64 Model 70 rifles made by Biesen-Mr. O'Connor was known for having good taste in rifles (and he made it abundantly clear that he was no fan of "California-style" rifles; aka Weatherbys and their ilk).
 
That is a beautiful rifle.. Simply said dotted the i's and crossed the t's

Ratshooter said:
But I have one question. If the rifle started out as a .308 how is it able to handle a 30-06 length round? I thought the action was a half inch shorter for the 308 round.
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The barrel was a .308 barrel which was chambered to 30-06 AI
 
Arkansas Paul said:
Are you going to leave the "cheap but serviceable" scope on it, or replace it?

Personally, I think a rifle of that quality deserves a high quality piece of glass. I think I would go all out on a scope for such a beauty.
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I'll put something nicer on it, but I really can't afford the kind of glass it deserves. Whatever it ends up being will be matte finish and traditional looking; no tacticool turrets or armor.
 
Trey Veston said:
I'll put something nicer on it, but I really can't afford the kind of glass it deserves. Whatever it ends up being will be matte finish and traditional looking; no tacticool turrets or armor.
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You could use the one that's on it for now and save your pennies.
It's something to think about.
Even if it takes a year or two, it would be soooooooo worth it.
 
Trey Veston said:
He gave me a box of his reloads that he claims will push a 180gr bullet to 3000fps using 67grs of Reloader 22, which is supposed to match the performance of the .300 WSM.

View attachment 878448
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I bet you will get 3,000fps out of that load. I’m getting 2,875fps with 60.5g of reloader 22 from my 24.5” barrel ‘06. Accuracy is really good too.

Beautiful weapon man!
 
What a wonderful Christmas present! Take care of that rifle and enjoy it. The day will come when your dad is gone and that rifle will take on a special meaning for you. I have a Smith & Wesson K38 that my dad gave me the Christmas after I turned 14. I’m 68 today. My dad has been gone for a number of years now. When I shoot that revolver it still feels like he’s standing there smiling. I still miss him but I feel closer to him when I shoot that handgun. Merry Christmas!
 
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