Winchester model 70 target u.s. property

Supposedly these were used by the shooting teams of all branches of service. Is it would be interesting to find out which this rifle belonged to. The Cody museum is no help as their m70 records only cover those made between 42 and 46. It doesn't appear to be one of the Evaluators Limited rifles as the s/n doesn't show up on the list of those known to have passed through their hands. Where else could one look for info on where this rifle went when it left the factory? S/N is 409601 made in 57. Caliber 30-06 in heavy target stock 24" medium weight barrel .790" muzzle dial. U.S. Property ep'd left side of reciever. Apparantly it saw little use, over all condition is 99%. Closest thing I've ever seen to a nib pre 64 m70.

This M70 Target in 30-06 caliber was manufactured around 1947. It was sold in a lot of 12 M70 rifles that ranged in good condition with broken stocks, to excellent condition (like the one in photos) by Great Lakes Naval Station around 1966 or 67 to a local dealer by auction.

Outside of the knowledge that the dealer purchased these rifles from the US Navy, there is not any record of these serial numbers to be found. These were (I think) team riflesAttachment 100022Attachment 100023Attachment 100024Attachment 100025

iv owned a few M70 U.S. marked model 70s over the years, most were target rifles. and one was a standard hunting rifle.
I also have owned a few Remington 700 U.S. marked rifles, however all of those had heavy barrels.
and now own one Remington 721 that is known to have been owned by the U.S. Army.
the reason I listed those .
as much as we all want to think that these were match, or sniper rifles.
fact is. that during that time frame. some hunting clubs would check out rifles for active duty , that wanted to hunt and or shoot.. the 721 I have as well as the model 70 I had were most likely loaner rifles, both are in mint shape the 721 came to me with a M82 mounted on top. and has a rack number 4 on the bottom of the pistol grip. when I took the rifle apart it was packed with cosmoline and had been for a long time. Cody has some sporting rifles that were Government property owned as well, some Winchester 100 rifles in .308 that had been modified to take a M1 carbine bayonet, and had been parkerized..

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Originally Posted by chuckindenver

some Winchester 100 rifles in .308 that had been modified to take a M1 carbine bayonet, and had been parkerized..

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Wouldn't mind stumbling across one of those in the wild!

the ones I saw, sit in the Cody museum.. very cool...

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Originally Posted by chuckindenver

Winchester 100 rifles in .308 that had been modified to take a M1 carbine bayonet, and had been parkerized..

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Originally Posted by rcathey

Wouldn't mind stumbling across one of those in the wild!

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You COULD have... Winchester Military Model 100 Semi-Automatic Rifle | Rock Island Auction

No no, I want to be the guy that found it at a pawn shop for about $600 haha!

I've been able to run a few of these US Property Model 70's like this, in the low 400k range. Everyone I have ran so far has came back property of the US Army.

There is a joint US Army /Air Force manual for these from July 1959 that covers the competition rifle/pistols and has such items as the Rem 40X in .22, Win model 70 in 30-06, S&W Masterpiece in 38 SPL, Win 52, High standard .22 pistol, etc.

Number is: TM9-1005-226-14 (US Army)
: AFM50-11 (Airforce)

Same manual has both numbers on it.


Win 70 (special match grade) was equipped with the Lyman 48 WH rear and 77 front.

In that post Korea, pre Vietnam period there was a lot of interest in competitive shooting in the US Army and Airforce. There was an entire competition package for the Airmen who were interested in competition.

Types of Winchester M70 target rifles.
Imgur: The magic of the Internet
The M70 NM was very rare. Someone indicated that there were only ~2000 manufactured
Target Model was the most popular. Mostly in 30-06. It was never offered in 308/7.62 , but many were converted to this caliber
The Bull gun was most popular in 300H&H though it could be had in 30-06
This is my Bull Gun with a 12X 1 1/4 inch Unertl
Imgur: The magic of the Internet
FWIW

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Originally Posted by Cosine26

Types of Winchester M70 target rifles.
Imgur: The magic of the Internet
The M70 NM was very rare. Someone indicated that there were only ~2000 manufactured
Target Model was the most popular. Mostly in 30-06. It was never offered in 308/7.62 , but many were converted to this caliber
The Bull gun was most popular in 300H&H though it could be had in 30-06
This is my Bull Gun with a 12X 1 1/4 inch Unertl
Imgur: The magic of the Internet
FWIW

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It was never offered on a production basis,but the pre_64 M70 target rifle could be had in 308, by special request(not to be confused with special order) starting in '59 or '60. I've seen standard targets in .270, 220 Swift, and.243 on auction sites and photos of a .308 on another forum.
Oddly enough, the.270 chambering was a standard option up till 1949, IIRC.
I've read that Winchester would make you one in .222, .222 mag or .300 Win Mag if so requested but have yet to see one.
BTW, that's a nice looking bull gun. What year was it made?

In 40+years of high Power competition, (I made master in 1960 and elected to be a Lifetime Master in 1962) I have never seen a factory made pre 64 Target M70 in .308, though I do not doubt that you are correct and they were available as special order. If you look at the pre WWII ad that I posted, you will see that the Target M70 was available in several calibers - the .308 excepted, for it had not been developed at that time. As I understand it, all pre WWII receivers (with the exception of the .22 Hornet and the Magnums) came with clip slot and all calibers were built on the same receiver-i.e., no short actions. After WWII the receiver was modified several times. According to the catalogs of the era, only the 30-06 Target came with clip slots. After WWII, the M70 Target was advertise in only three calibers. 243, 30-06 and 300 H&H. I have actually examined a Model 70 Target in .243 with the idea of converting it to a .308 Target rifle, but the lack of clip slots made it not feasible.

I have seen and converted many standard M70's to .308 after it became popular as a target caliber. The parts(short magazine box, short follower, follower spring, ejector and bolt stop ) used on the sporting rifle could be purchased from Winchester. The .308 version required a special ejector because the bolt throw was shortened so that the face of the bolt came only as far back as the forward edge of the rear receiver bridge. Mo and Roy Dunlap fabricated clip slot adapters that could be used-I have used both types and they are satisfactory. Sometimes the receiver rails required modification, but I never had any problems. Roy Dunlap made a practice of shortening standard actions by removing a 1/4 inch section and it worked very well. This was a very complicate action not viable for the average "bubba".

When the first post 64 Target models were introduced, they came in 30-06 caliber only. Later the .308 was added, but it took a special receiver with the rear receiver bridge extended to accommodate the clip slots. I saw several, when the All Army team came to one of our matches. I scored for an army shooter who was using one in .308 at 1000 yards. He was not having much success for the rifle had a 1 in 12 twist, which made the 200 grain Remington bullets marginally stable. It was built on a special factory receiver.

I might add, that when the .222/.223 round became popular it was discovered that the .22 Hornet bolt could be satisfactorily modified to accommodate this cartridge. Since Winchester would not sell this bolt openly (one had to return the rifle to Winchester for bolt replacement) I know of one .22 hornet that must have had a dozen bolt replacements. Winchester must have thought that California riflemen were careless with their rifles. .

After Winchester went out of business, the succeeding companies made some short actions for the .308, 243,etc. I do not know if any were built in the Target version.



I do not remember the date of manufacture of my Bull Gun but it was post WWII and pre-64 in 300 H&H.
FWIW

Date of manufacture of Bull Gun is 1957
FWIW