Pre '64 .220 swift

[ElToro]

I may have opportunity soon to get a barrelled action (no stock) of a pre '64 m-70 super grade in .220 swift about 52 or 53 production depending how you read the blue book. bore is nice. the only thing is that it came back from europe 20 years ago and while it was over there they put on the wackiest scope mounts. kind of a quick-dectach-rube-goldberg-fiasco.. and silver soldered the forward mounts on the the barell at the end of the action. they drilled new holes in the rear for the other mount .. still has the factory screw holes.. still has the iron sights.. barrell blueing is nice ecept for about the one inch area all around the barell where it screws into the action that will be nasty when i take the mount off and the parkerizing on the action is nice except where the non factory holes were drilled. 26 inch barrell

I know this will never be a factory gun again and thats the reason the price is going to be so good- but it is still a nice p'64 m-70... how much money should i put into this project? i've seen nice stocks around for 100$ - 1000 $ should i get a nich sythetic and make it a hunting rifle or a nice laminate and make it a bench-rest driver? optics is a separate issue and i'll deal with a quality zeiss or leupold when the time comes.. i've been told that the "super grade" marked floor plate will command 150$ by itself! of course when the .220 swift eats the barrell up i can rechamber tyo .243, then .257 then .308 right ? anyway...all comments appreciated... i just want to turn this ugly duck into a swan at minimum cash outlay.. i'm allready seeing vaporized varmints at 300 yards!
TIA
Tim

 

[cratz2]

Hrmm... well usually when I hear the phrase 'pre-64', I like it. This one sounds like it might be some work. First off, I don't I don't recall ever seeing a parkerized pre-64 but that certainly doesn't mean they didn't make them. The possibility of extra holes may or may not bother me... are the funky mounts screwed on and soldered or just soldered... as far as you can tell? If they're just soldered, you could remove them, sand and polished the crap down and have it refinished which I would want to do any... never really envisioned my ideal pre-64 being parkerized.

Not sure how fancy you are wanting to get with the stock but Boyd offers the JRS semi-inletted and would work with minimal work. I think it's a great stock... not really heavy but it would work as a lighter varmint rifle with a heavy barrel or with a sporter weight barrel. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'd like to build a 6.5x284 or 6.5-06 with a nice blued action and barrel - probably about a number 5 or 5 1/2 contour and use one of these JRS stocks in the black and grey laminate. I think a little dark finish, maybe something like transparant black would be pretty neat.

As for value... who knows. Are you capable of doing much of the work yourself or would you have to have someone else do pretty much everything. If you could do a bit of it yourself, then maybe set a $600 (or whatever dollar amount) limit including the action. Figure on about $500 to buy and have another good barrel fitted when that time comes. There's probably no chance you'll ever come close to getting your money back out if it, but would make a nice personalized rifle.

 

[ElToro]

the front mount is soldered on the barrel and overhangs onto the action, the rear mount is screwed in with non factory drilled hole.. I said "parkerized " for lack of a better term the barrel is a nice polished blue but the action is bluish but rough finished.. kinda like parked but not.. you know what i mean ?

I was thinking along the lines of a nice personalized rifle as well.. i could do some of the work but i have no bluing tank or anything like that. i know that some projects are just money pits and you'll never recoup the costs (anybody have nice old car ?) i would like it to be nice, just not expensive as heck to be made that way.. i was thinking of a max budget of 6-750 without optics. and go from there...

 

[Art Eatman]

You can remove the silver solder with sandpaper, elbow grease and patience.

You can use regular Model 70 mounts, filling the extra screw holes with blind screws. The mounts will most likely hide them, anyway.

So, really, all you're talking about is a stock, scope and mounts, and maybe a reblue if you wanna. You can cold-blue the area where the silver solder is removed, if that's all you want.

I've got my father's 1951-vintage Super Grade Swift. Even with some of his 1968 handloads, it'll shoot three into 3/4 MOA. IMO, you have a good project.

Art

 

[ElToro]

what kind of grit sandpaper would you us eon a firearm ? what about 000 steel wool ? I was thinking this wouldnt be all that difficult a project.. just so many options

 

[BHP9]

The .220 Swift is a varmint cartridge and therefore seldom used in conditions where it might be exposed to the weather for long periods of time.

I think putting a classic barreled action like this in a hunk of plastic is about a aethetically pleasing as putting the inner workings of a fine old fashioned pocket watch in a plastic outer case.

I personnaly would have an expert stock maker make up a classic custom stock for it. Sure it will cost you some money but the resale value alone will skyrocket over the years. This weapon if put in a plastic stock would carry a very low resale value now and in the future.

 

[Gordon]

I'd lurk on e-bay a couple months until I found an original old Mod 70 stock in reasonable or better shape and in the mean time remove mounts and buff out spots where soldered and touch up blue, or if you got the bucks send to firearm restorer for factory like refinish like Turnbulls does. Then a nicely refinished original Mod 70 stock and you'd have a valuable work of art worth $600 up to what it is worth to you or anybody else. Put on an old 1.5" or bigger 10X Unertl scope or a B&L 6-24(old model ) and you can relive when we would let loose this thunder across the green fields of the East Coast 'pasture poodlin' . It was a more civalized and decent period of heaven IMHO.

 

[DeBee]

I know what you mean by 'parkerized finish' on the receiver, it's the factory original finish. I'm told it can by duplicated by sand blasting then wire brushing down the frosty metal... The finish is desireable to Winchester fans- if you can get the bridge hot enough to melt the solder but not cook the whole action, the solder can be brushed off with a wire brush for the most part- it's probably not much solder...

Actually, I duplicated the parked finish this winter on my Sako Walking Varminter project by leaving the rust blue solution on the metal too long... Doesn't look bad- just not what I expected...

Short answer: Get the gun first

You may find that the mounts could be as expensive or more than the Super Grade floorplate- perhaps they are German Claw Mounts- a base and ring set would be quite valuable to those of us who like to build 'classic rifles'- try not to bugger them...

With any luck, the 'non factory holes' are factory spec spaced and common Pre 64 bases will fit. If not, I think Brownells still sells Leupold Gunmaker Bases- essentially a blank undrilled base.

I understand the Lothar Walther company makes a Winchester Pre 64 factory barrel profile complete with dogknot- I'm still looking into the details of that one- but you might consider it if your barrel is shot out... Factory take off barrels are common, but not in .220

Now, if you do a good job of removing the silver solder and preserving the bases and rings-

AND if you were to slap the action in an era Super Grade stock, you'd probably have something with pretty good value. I agree with BHP9, if you put the action in one of the widely available generic aftermarket stocks it would be a tremenous waste of a Super Grade action, lessening it's value considerably and wasting your time and effort...