Winchester 70 info requested

Hey, yesterday a Winchester model 70 followed me home from the gun show. Should I keep it?

This should be easy to identify, but there are so many different grades of the Win 70, I'm confused. From googling, it might be a Super Shadow, but Winchester also made a Black Shadow, an Ultimate Shadow, etc. It has an el cheapo Simmons 3-9X50 scope which might have been part of the package (perhaps sold at Walmart?). The seller thought it was about 25 years old. It has a synthetic black stock that seems very sturdy. The bolt is push feed and it has a blind magazine (no bottom plate). The barrel is stamped made in New Haven, CT. It seems a little short (about 22") for a 300 Win Mag. The bore looks almost new. Only a few rounds fired. Except the crap scope, it's a great gun for hunting big game like corn-fed whitetail, muleys, elk, moose, or maybe even jackalope.

I love to tinker with stuff. I've had the rifle disassembled and added some "pillars" to the action fasteners. I had an old aluminum arrow shaft that was the right size diameter, so I made pillars out of this. The middle screw pillar interfered with the magazine insert, so I removed it for now. Just having the two outer screws pillar bedded seems to really mount it solid. I plan to shoot it before doing anything else. It's a hunting rifle, so it don't have to shoot cloverleafs. I'll probably replace the scope with either a Nikon Prostaff or Vortex Diamondback.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide about this Win 70.

How do I post a photo? Does it have to be hosted somewhere else?

Black Shadow: push feed, regular syn. stock w/ floorplate.

Wal Mart special: called a Black Shadow by many, cheaper stock w/ a big W on the forearm, no floorplate.

Super Shadow/Pro Shadow, same gun: Controlled push feed, new style syn stock w/ black raised grip dots, no floorplate.

Classic Ultimate Shadow: Pre 64 Controlled round feed, same stock as above except has gray raised rubber dots and hinged floorplate.

Click to expand...

This might very well be a Walmart Black Shadow (it does have the W on the forend). What I thought was a recoil pad was really just a hunk of solid rubber. My next mission is to find a good recoil pad that will fit this synthetic stock. This 300 Win Mag kicks like a mule, so I need to tame it a bit.

Thanks, now I can post a photo of the beast.

Most 300 Win Mag rifles I've seen have 24" or 26" barrels. If I measure from the bolt face like you said, I get a tad over 22-1/2". I googled a bit and saw you're right about measuring from the bolt face. I even tried carefully running a cleaning rod down the muzzle until it contacted the closed bolt (I cycled the bolt to make sure it was empty first). I get about 22-1/2". I suspect the barrel has been shortened, although the muzzle is crowned. I looked at it with a magnifying glass and the machine work is not as smooth and perfect as I would expect from a factory length barrel.

I located a Limbsaver recoil pad that fits several makes and models including the Super Shadow with synthetic stock. I think my stock is slightly different than the ones I see on the Super Shadows, but maybe the end plate is the same? I might try one to see if it'll fit.

This Simmons scope is purely a low budget optic, I'm looking at VX Freedom 4-12X40 scope by Leupold since it has plenty of eye relief and … well... it's a Leupold. That says a lot.

Thanks again.

Thanks for the ammo tips. This is my first 300 Win Mag, so I have a lot to learn. Heck, it's my first rifle bigger than a 30-30 (I have shot a 30/06 in the past). I picked up a box of Federal Fusion 165 grain @ 3080 fps for deer and got a box of cheap ammo that is also 165 grain (but "only" @ 2838 fps) to practice with and to zero in the scope. I'll probably lose a little muzzle velocity with this short barrel, but the nice thing is the 300 Win Mag has plenty of oomph to spare.

Drove an hour to Cabelas and picked up a new Leupold VX Freedom 4-12X40 scope and Leupold mounting kit I basically double the worth of the rifle. Of course, winter weather is forecasted through until the weekend. Maybe Sunday I can shoot it and zero in the scope if it warms up enough.

Well, the Winchester model 70 shoots good. I went to the range yesterday to zero in the new scope on the Black Shadow. I set up at 50 meters and tried to use my laser bore sight. But, in the sunshine I could not see the laser. Good thing I had played with it in the house and had it halfway set. The first round was off the target. After some adjustment, the second round was high and a little to the right, but was on the paper. The next 3 rounds were tweaked to fine tune the scope and the last round was nearly dead center. I had planned to finish up at 100 meters, but my shoulder had enough of the 300 Win Mag recoil for one day The rifle shoots nice and seems to be accurate, but it sure kicks like a mule. One more trip to the range and then it should be ready to go hunting.