Winchester Repeating Arms Company vs USRAC

[TheSwede]

Hi guys! What do you think of the quality of the winchester m70 (post64) being produced by winchester and then later from 1980 by USRAC. I wonder becouse I had a winchester m70 in 222 produced by the usrac on the 80's and the quality was very good and very nice finish. With that gun in mind I was looking for another post 64 but in .30-06 and found some guns made between 1974-1978 made by winchester. But honestly, they were all kind of crappy. Steel quality and the assemble didnt look good at all. In fact, one recoil lug was badly made with an ugly cut. Do I have bad luck with those from the 70's or should I only look for those made by usrac from 1980 and forward.

Thanks!

 

[USSR]

I've got a WRAC made Model 70 made in 1980 just before the switch to USRAC, and the quality is excellent. They had some stinkers and some gems, so you pretty much have to evaluate them on an individual basis.

Don

 

[jmr40]

Overall the 1981-2000 guns were better than the 1964-1980 guns. Doesn't mean all the older guns were bad and the newer guns never had a lemon. But when USRAC took over they made an effort to improve quality, and I think they did, at least up until about 2000. Guns made 2000-2006 had more issues, but even most of them turned out OK. The guns made in the last year or so of production were the most troublesome.

I think guns from that era are generally undervalued since they are PF instead of CRF and are a good choice for someone looking for a deal on a used rifle. I simply prefer CRF and the Classics made between 1994 and 2006 are my favorites. But I also own a couple of PF rifles from that era that are darn good rifles, and I got them dirt cheap.

This is an early 80's Featherweight 30-06. I have about $300 in this rifle.

 

[sleepyone]

I've shared my thoughts on the FN made Model 70s many times on this forum. In my opinion, and the opinion on many others on this forum, the new Model 70s are excellent rifles. They are just as good as the pre-64 models. I might dare to say they are even better in some cases. I have a friend who has several pre-64s, and he agrees. If you do not want to pay the price for a pre-64 Model 70, I would buy an FN-made Model 70. I have three. All three are tack drivers and very high quality construction and craftsmanship. FN resurrected the Model 70 in 2007.

Wikipedia;

"In October 2007, FN Herstal announced that it would produce Controlled Round Feed Winchester Model 70 rifles at its facility in Columbia, South Carolina, where it currently manufactures the M240, M249, and M16 for the United States military, as well as its SPR and PBR lines, which are, in fact, variants of the modern Model 70 Controlled Round Feed rifles."

 

[TheSwede]

Thank you guys! Im not interested in CRF (got alot of em in mauser 98) but thanks for the tips of the new win m70. It seems like alot of winchester guns were sold in sweden between 1970-1990 (more than rem 700 actually) so there is alot of them on the used market. I think the post 64 system is very very underrated. Smooth action, 3 position safety, big flat strong reciever. But some of them är "lemons" and I think they were alittle bit better from 80 and forward as you guys confirmed. I'll keep looking.