An Old Model 70 "Carbine"

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Joined
Jun 19, 2009
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1,443
Location
Pennsylvania
I picked up a somewhat neglected pre'64 Model 70 sometime back. It is a 1946 vintage gun with a great looking bore and some interesting custom features.

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Wood and finish look original and I left it that way - just cleaned the wood and checkering. Sling swivels are interesting - ones I've never seen before. And it has a small compass inletted into buttstock. Compass still works, and appears reasonable accurate despite the proximity of all the steel on the rifle.

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The barrel had been shortened to "carbine" length and a post'64 front sight added - looks nice and professionally done. The metal condition was rough in places with rust/pitting and blue missing on parts of barrel, buttplate and other areas of metal. I cleaned it up/polished and blended into the existing blue with the rustblue process.

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I left the vintage Bushnell scope on it - still works (with the pop-up post reticle and hinged scope mounts) with accuracy pretty good for a rifle of that vintage.

Overall a neat old rifle.

For info, I've added a couple of photos of the rust blue, but kind of hard to get good photos. Barrel forward of rear sight was completely refinished down to the white and rust blued. To the rear of the sight is original blue.

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T.A. WORKMAN

Hunter
Joined
Mar 24, 2006
Messages
4,266
Location
MANSFIELD, OHIO USA
Nice little rifle,,it kinda grows on you the more look at her! :wink:
I like the way you left her alone,, just a good cleaning and oiling.

If they could only talk! :wink:
Terry
 

tom black

Blackhawk
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Messages
913
Good looking old rifle. Forearm is oddly shaped as is the checkering pattern. Looks kinda like it has SG swivel studs on it. Should be a dandy hunting rifle. Bet she's gonna kick.
Tom Black
 
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
1,443
Location
Pennsylvania
Thanks for those comments. Some other work required on this old rifle was cleaning up the muzzle crown as it looked a bit rough - don't know if that made any difference, as I didn't shoot it prior to the work. Also, there was a significant "hitch" in feeding cartridges - a previous owner had done a lot of polishing on feed ramp and related surfaces, but it turned out to be an issue with the extractor. A bit of slow and careful file work on slopes and angles on the extractor cleared that up and retained the controlled round feed characteristics. So, the extractor was likely replaced at some point in it's history. And, the box magazine was installed incorrectly which left the bottom metal misaligned and proud from the stock when I examined it at the shop. And of course most of the screw heads were buggered a bit, but careful tap, tap, tap with the hammer and then some file work cleans that up to look nice again.

All part of the enjoyable and interesting work on used guns.

It is a handy rifle to carry - I haven't weighed it, but it seems reasonably light for a walnut stocked rifle. And yes, it does kick a bit on firing - just like any other 30-06 carbine I've ever fired.
 

BearBio

Buckeye
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
1,826
Location
Eastern Washington
From what I have learned, the early Model 70 (and Model 71) used a different factory sling swivel from other rifles. I have some for a Model 71 and they were the devil to find. I have found those "European" ones and they can be used. If you can find originals, they can cost $100 or more!

PS: I will be putting my 71 up for sale=so keep an eye out for it!
 

Rick Courtright

Hawkeye
Joined
Mar 10, 2002
Messages
7,897
Location
Redlands CA USA
Hi,

Nice find! And I'm glad it's in good enough shape just cleaning things up makes the job 90% done, too.

That little compass looks like it's related to my '50s vintage Marble's pin on compass, the kind I understand was issued to a lot of pilots, esp. in WWII-Korea years. Like yours, mine isn't all that badly affected by being close to iron/steel, though yours might be a smaller diameter than mine. The one I have is 1 1/8" +/- diameter for comparison.

Rick C
 
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
1,443
Location
Pennsylvania
I realize this is an older thread, but I'll bump it up and try to answer a question received on the vintage scope/rings on this old hunting rifle. I've hunted with the rifle and even in these more modern times the 1960s scope and rings are perfectly functional and effective. I don't use the iron sights, so the tip-off rings really aren't a useful function for me but they hold zero effectively so far so I've kept them. The glass is surprisingly good and the old style reticle takes me back to a much earlier time. I'm glad I kept it "vintage" rather than upgrading to modern optics.
 

Rick Courtright

Hawkeye
Joined
Mar 10, 2002
Messages
7,897
Location
Redlands CA USA
Hi,

Since we're reviving the thread to accommodate newer questions, here's one on the caliber: how long ago did Winchester use that ".30GOVT'06" nomenclature?

Rick C
 

Snake45

Hawkeye
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
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+4020
Great old survivor, great "time capsule." You did well leaving it alone. I hope you have many years of happy shooting with it! :wink:
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2004
Messages
3,208
Location
Alabama, in the bend of the Tennessee River
I've personally grown very fond of hunting with "vintage" firearms. And those pretty much seem to be the only ones that really interest me much anymore. Guess I'm getting old n my tastes as well as my years. My recent favorite hunting rifle is a 1954 model 71 Winchester I was able to pick up a couple of years ago. A Deluxe rifle with factory Lyman aperture rear sight. .348, of course.
 

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