Need Help Valuing Pre-64 Mod 70 Featheweight .308.

[mannyrock]

Dear Guys,

THIS IS NOT AN OFFER TO SELL MY RIFLE.

    I have a rifle that I am thinking of selling on consignment thru a local FFL, and I am having trouble figuring out what to ask for it.  Would you please give me some opinions, even if you express it in a dollar range?

    Rifle:  Model 70, Pre-64 Featherweight, in .308, made in about 1955.

    Metal:  98%  Even, honest wear, in the normal places. No rust, no scratches.

    Stock:  (here is where I have trouble in the valation):  Very nice burly wood, beautifully refinished in a satin oil finish.  No marks or scratches.   New very nicely done recoil pad, dark brown Packmeyer supreme, ribbed type, with no white spacer.

    Base/rings:  Leopold two piece steel base and steel rings.  Excellent

   This is a beautiful rifle, but due to the stock variables, I can't really figure out what an asking range should be.  It would really appeal to an Old School guy (like me).

   Thanks for all advice, opinions.

Mannyrock

   

   

[LONGTOM]

I have been a model 70 nut for over 40 years and own almost all of the callibers WINCHESTER ever chambered in one.
I have useing guns and true collector ones.

With the stock alterations you mentioned the true collector value is gone.
It still has value over a post 64 because of it's age and condition.
You say it has even honest wear, as a collector that would take it out of the 98% range and put it somewhere in the 80 to 85% range.
If it was all original in 98% it would be worth about $900.00 according to the BLUE BOOK OF GUN VALUES 29th edition and would most likely demand a premiun.
Even at 90% if all original it is only worth $650.00 according to the book.
80% drops down to $500.00.

In WINCHESTERs just a little difference in % can and will make a BIG difference.

I have this exact same gun made in 53 all original with an honest 93% and it is insured for $750.00-no scope.
If I were looking for your gun to hunt with I would want to buy it at around $400.00 to $500.00.
I have seen a few lately at the shows in your condition for as low as $400.00.
Your best bet is to hope for a lower end collector/user that can't afford the high end model 70s and doesn't mind that it's not all original.
Just wants to say he has a pre 64 model 70 featherweight.

I hope this helps.


LONGTOM

[mannyrock]

Longtom,

  Thanks for your reply.   I know that this piece is not for a collector, but the bluing is not 80 to 90%.  :-) It is definitely in the 96 to 98% range.  The very very small areas where it is thin are where you would expect it to be, e.g. edge of muzzle, knob of bolt, edge of trigger guard.

   I have never seen a pre-64 in anywhere near this condition, with added recoil pad (in the standard 30-06, and in the standard weight) go for less than $700 at a gunshow.  This one is a featherweight, and added to this, the featherweight in .308 Winchester is rare.  You just don't see alot of them. (I think that the blue book of gun values even notes the featherweight in .308 as "RARE".)

   What I do see go for $500 to $600 at gunshows are standard weight pre-64s in .30-06, with only 85% blueing and beat up stocks.

   So, geez, you can see why I am confused.  :-)

   Maybe it depends on what part of the country you are in??

Thanks, Mannyrock

[LONGTOM]

It may well be the part of the country as to how sought after a gun is.
As for the 308 in a featherweight being rare according to Blue Book that is not the case.
It is the 358 that is rare.
You would add 25% to a 308 along with others if it had the aluminum butt plate which yours may or maynot have had.

After reading the books % grading section again I can agree that the bluing may be in the range you stated and will concede to that fact, my apology's.

I was speaking more from a collectors view point and as such it would be very hard to place an over all % value that high with a refinished stock and a non factory pad added.
I know you said that % was for the bluing.

I guess I have to much collector in me when it comes to WINCHESTERS.

I meant no disrespect.


LONGTOM

[Rangr44]

They are beautiful, and appealing - no doubt.

But, no mattter how much you may love it -  it is still just a rifle with 96% bluing (original ?), a refinished stock w/pad added (50%), and in one of the most common calibers offered (.308 Win) in the day (1955-1963).

You may, of course, ask whatever you wish for it - or whatever you think your local market would bear - but I wouldn't pay more than $500 for it, bareback.

There's been a pre-war .220 Swift M-70 Gopher Special w/period varmint scope on consignment sale at a local shop for over a year, that's tagged at $1500 - less than 50% of the value of a bareback Gopher Special.
I expect it's owner is thinking as you are - he has to sell it, but he's still in love with it.

It's in about 98%+ condition, with the exception of the receiver, which had been D/T'd with the four holes for the scope mount.

Collectors don't even want it, and it's too expensive for shooters to buy. (per a private chat with the shop owner - a friend & fellow gun club member)

So, it sits...........and sits...............and sits.  Oh, Yes - it occasionally gets a look-see, but then goes back on the hooks, and..............sits.

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[mannyrock]

Hey Longtom and Ranger,

   No offense taken at all.  I sincerely appreciate your viewpoints. :-)

   Yea, I think you are right.  This is the type of rifle that someone who is a hunter/shooter, and has wanted a pre-64 Winchester all of his life, and likes a beautiful rifle, would be looking for.  (1.5 MOA with factory ammo).  Collectors and utility hunters would have no interest.

   When I use to shoot this at the range at the Memphis Gun Club (huge, 600 acre club), everyone on the firing line would come down and ask me what my rifle was.  Then they would handle it, and ooh and ahh at the beauty, and pass it around.  Memphis had lots and lots of guys with money who were interested in rifles and hunting.  They would not hesitate to lay out $800 to $1,000 for a hunting rifle, just because they liked it! The .308, .270 and 7 Mag rule in that area.  (Long beanfield shots on big deer, at 250 yards, are not uncommmon.)  Almost nobody out there brings a .30-06 to deer camp.

   Guess I'll have to think on this.  Seems maybe it is valued around $600 to $700 range for someone who is looking for just this type of thing. I compare this to the price of brand new rifles that are no where near as nice as the pre-64 Win,  such as the new T/C Icon, or a new Sako. 

Regards, 

Mannyrock




 

[Rangr44]

Please cogitate - a lot.  There's no way I would sell it, only to get a (heavy) T/C ICON or a Sako 85.

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