New to me - Winchester 70 .243 Model 70 circa 1968

I can see why she sure is pretty

Based on what I can see you have a really nice rifle. My first observation is to ask if it is a Supergrade. Does it say Supergrade on the floorplate? Does the checkering wrap over the top of the pistol grip? The forend tip isn't normal for a Winchester so if it says Supergrade the stock must have come out of their custom shop. The stock appears to have a crosspin through the web infront of the trigger which isn't normal for a 243 but it could have been placed there by the Winchester custom shop. Does each sling swivel base have two screws as was used on a supergrade? The recoil pad isn't normal for a Winchester but it could have been replaced by a gunsmith to shorten the stock. The barrel doesn't look to have the customary featherweight stepdown at the rear of the chamber. Does the barrel say Winchester on the left side of the barrel? These questions should confirm that it came from the Winchester custom shop as a Supergrade. Great rifle!

Great pictures. It appears to be a standard grade featherweight receiver, floorplate and barrel. The action is a push feed which was normal for 1968. The floorplate appears to be aluminum which was normal for a 1968 featherweight. The book says that Winchester went back to steel floorplates in 1968 but I think that applied only to non-featherweight rifles. Both the standard and featherweight rifles had aluminum trigger guards. The barrel is a 22 inch featherweight contour which was normal for a featherweight rifle. The stock has me puzzled because I have not seen one that looks like that. The book says that in 1966 Winchester began using one rivet with a bakelite plug for non-magnum calibers to reduce stock breakage. That explains why the rivet can only be seen from one side and it confirms that the stock was made by Winchester. It could be that a gunsmith re-worked the original stock to change the shape of the fore-end tip. None of the pictures that I have of post 64 rifles show a fore-end tip with that shape. Maybe someone who is more familiar with post-64 rifles has some ideas.

When I get a Model 70 one of the first things that I do is to adjust the trigger pull. It's easy to do. You will need two small 1/4 inch open end wrenches and a small standard slot screwdriver. I have been doing this for 35+ years. The two nuts on the rod will reduce the spring tension and the screw slot on the end of the rod will adjust the overtravel. Ask questions if you need help. If you shoot a lot of targets and want a better target trigger you can change to a Timney #401.

If you're going to use the rifle for deer hunting Berger makes a 87 grain VLD bullet that will shoot in a 1:10 twist with somewhere between 35 and 38.8 max grains of Varget. 38 grains of Varget shows a velocity of about 3000 fps.

Wow that is a beauty! Nice photos. Thanks for sharing.

Geno

Very nice! Would love to get a hold of something like that for my collection.

I'm fairly certain the stock is not factory. I don't think the FWT's came with that style stock until the 1980's. I'd guess it is one of the factory over runs sold by www.cdnnsports.com.

They've been selling various versions for several years now at very good prices. I don't see that exact stock currently offered, but it could have been in the past.

http://www.cdnnsports.com/gun-parts.html#category_2=GUN PARTS/STOCKS&manufacturer=WINCHESTER

Added:

Looking closer that is NOT a FWT barrel. The stock is FWT style made for a standard sporter barrel. Winchester offered the WSM's in a Featherweight style stock a few years ago. I'm betting this is one of the over runs of that stock. It would explain the standard barrel contour in a FWT style stock that would also fit a short action 243.

The ejection port opening is 2 3/4" on short actions, 3 1/8" on long actions. Earlier Winchesters were all long action and they used a spacer in the magazine and a bolt stop for shorter cartridges. I forget when they started offering true short actions but think it was prior to 1968.

Even if it is a long action it is still possible this is one of the CDNN stocks. I've bought a couple from them and have been following their inventory for the last few years. They have had some pretty oddball offerings.

But as a shooter it hurts nothing. I don't think this stock is original and that would hurt the value on a collectible rifle. This isn't a collectible. But will likely be a very good rifle that looks good in a new stock.

Don't know much about model 70s (Remington guy) but that is one pretty rifle and in my favorite deer caliber!

Something about those old school rifles. Very nice indeed.