Hello everyone.
I spend more time lurking than I do posting, but every once in awhile I get the bug (usually only if I have a question or something useful to say). I decided to jump in this time because it seemed overly difficult for me to find user provided information on this rifle. Don't get me wrong -- Winchester Model 70 gets brought up almost as much as the Remington 700. The problem is that it is usually in the form of "Winchester is better" or "I would get a Winchester instead" (or the opposite). But I have not seen many people put up their actual experiences. Hopefully posting mine will help other people out there who are wondering.
So in advance, thank you all for providing such a great place to share information.
Before anyone gets the wrong idea - I was raised in a Remington family. My uncle was an exhibition shooter for the Army. I learned how to shoot on a Fieldmaster, and I learned to manage recoil on my father's 742. My first rifle purchase was a 700 BDL SS DM in 30-06. The problem is that I don't really like synthetics or stainless, and I never 'bonded' with the rifle.. ended up trading it for a nice osage bow. I know what a good 30-06 can do, and there has been a big empty space in my rack ever since. I have been looking for a 30-06 I liked enough to fill that space for 8 years now. One would think that I would run out and grab a nice Remington 700 CDL considering my experiences, but I just kept coming back to this NIB Model 70 Classic LT that felt right. I never could find enough information about the post-64 Model 70s to satisfy my need to know if it was truly a good gun, but the bug finally overcame me so I purchased it a couple of weeks ago.
The Setup:
Winchester Model 70 Classic LT 30-06 w/ Weaver K4 on Warne mounts and rings.
Initial Impressions:
The gun is just a great fit for my frame (6'3" / 215lb) and everything feels well-built. It is very well balanced -- I have no problem holding it on target freehand for extended periods of time. I have noticed that the bolt takes a bit more strength to close when chambering than my Remington 700 did (should this be chalked up to the controlled round feed?).
At the Range:
I took her to the range for a sight-in with the expectation that I might be less than thrilled. I have seen posted on numerous occasions that Model 70s all benefit from bedding and trigger work. Not to mention that I had a constant 10mph crosswind with 20-25mph gusts. I shot 10 groups with the two most common off-the-shelf rounds in these parts. I bore sighted at 100 yards and went to town. It turns out that my low expectations were unfounded. I was only 6" off after bore sighting and I was smiling from that point onward. The first 8 groups were all scope tweaking -- I was not entirely sure of myself with everything blowing around so much. The wind steadied a bit as it got closer to sunset, so I shot two final groups at 100yd (one of each mfg) and then one cold bore shot at the bulls at 200yd. The target squares are 1" for reference.
Group 9: Remington Pointed Soft Point 180gr @ 100yd w/ ~10mph steady crosswind. Sitting position. This was the best group of the day.
Group 10: Winchester Power Point 180gr @ 100yd w/ ~15mph steady crosswind. Sitting position.
Final Shot: Remington Pointed Soft Point 180gr @ 200yd w/ ~5mph steady crosswind. Prone position. Cold bore (it was about 40 degrees out).
Ultimately, I am very happy with my purchase. I ended up with a rifle that feels right to me and is accurate with readily available (cheap) ammo. I might even put off the trigger and stock work knowing that it will shoot where I intend as-is. I understand that not all rifles are created equal, even ones from the same assembly line. But I don't think I would hesitate to own more of these.
Well that pretty much sums it all up. Hopefully this might give someone on the fence a little added insight to help them with their decision. Thanks for reading!
Adam
I spend more time lurking than I do posting, but every once in awhile I get the bug (usually only if I have a question or something useful to say). I decided to jump in this time because it seemed overly difficult for me to find user provided information on this rifle. Don't get me wrong -- Winchester Model 70 gets brought up almost as much as the Remington 700. The problem is that it is usually in the form of "Winchester is better" or "I would get a Winchester instead" (or the opposite). But I have not seen many people put up their actual experiences. Hopefully posting mine will help other people out there who are wondering.
So in advance, thank you all for providing such a great place to share information.
Before anyone gets the wrong idea - I was raised in a Remington family. My uncle was an exhibition shooter for the Army. I learned how to shoot on a Fieldmaster, and I learned to manage recoil on my father's 742. My first rifle purchase was a 700 BDL SS DM in 30-06. The problem is that I don't really like synthetics or stainless, and I never 'bonded' with the rifle.. ended up trading it for a nice osage bow. I know what a good 30-06 can do, and there has been a big empty space in my rack ever since. I have been looking for a 30-06 I liked enough to fill that space for 8 years now. One would think that I would run out and grab a nice Remington 700 CDL considering my experiences, but I just kept coming back to this NIB Model 70 Classic LT that felt right. I never could find enough information about the post-64 Model 70s to satisfy my need to know if it was truly a good gun, but the bug finally overcame me so I purchased it a couple of weeks ago.
The Setup:
Winchester Model 70 Classic LT 30-06 w/ Weaver K4 on Warne mounts and rings.
Initial Impressions:
The gun is just a great fit for my frame (6'3" / 215lb) and everything feels well-built. It is very well balanced -- I have no problem holding it on target freehand for extended periods of time. I have noticed that the bolt takes a bit more strength to close when chambering than my Remington 700 did (should this be chalked up to the controlled round feed?).
At the Range:
I took her to the range for a sight-in with the expectation that I might be less than thrilled. I have seen posted on numerous occasions that Model 70s all benefit from bedding and trigger work. Not to mention that I had a constant 10mph crosswind with 20-25mph gusts. I shot 10 groups with the two most common off-the-shelf rounds in these parts. I bore sighted at 100 yards and went to town. It turns out that my low expectations were unfounded. I was only 6" off after bore sighting and I was smiling from that point onward. The first 8 groups were all scope tweaking -- I was not entirely sure of myself with everything blowing around so much. The wind steadied a bit as it got closer to sunset, so I shot two final groups at 100yd (one of each mfg) and then one cold bore shot at the bulls at 200yd. The target squares are 1" for reference.
Group 9: Remington Pointed Soft Point 180gr @ 100yd w/ ~10mph steady crosswind. Sitting position. This was the best group of the day.
Group 10: Winchester Power Point 180gr @ 100yd w/ ~15mph steady crosswind. Sitting position.
Final Shot: Remington Pointed Soft Point 180gr @ 200yd w/ ~5mph steady crosswind. Prone position. Cold bore (it was about 40 degrees out).
Ultimately, I am very happy with my purchase. I ended up with a rifle that feels right to me and is accurate with readily available (cheap) ammo. I might even put off the trigger and stock work knowing that it will shoot where I intend as-is. I understand that not all rifles are created equal, even ones from the same assembly line. But I don't think I would hesitate to own more of these.
Well that pretty much sums it all up. Hopefully this might give someone on the fence a little added insight to help them with their decision. Thanks for reading!
Adam
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