model 70

[billy]

Has anyone seen a new model 70 if so what was your thoughts on it? They may not be in stores yet not sure ,haven,t seen one myself.

[Lawful Larry]

For what I hear the MSRP will be, I can wait a long time.  I have three of the old model 70's and don't see any reason to buy a new one. 

[tanoose]

Well i'am waiting for the all weather model to come out in 375H&H and i'll grab it right up . I hope they come out in 2009

[kyelkhunter3006]

All of the MSRP info I've seen really puts them in the class of semi-custom and custom guns, honestly.  Most prices are in the $2000 range and higher.

[MGMorden]

All of the MSRP info I've seen really puts them in the class of semi-custom and custom guns, honestly.  Most prices are in the $2000 range and higher.

Dang.  That's pretty steep.  I could buy a used one and have it restocked, reblued, and rebarreled into whatever I wanted for less than that.  I think I'll be passing on these for sure.

[Lawful Larry]

At these prices why are they waisting their time.  These prices put this gun out of the hands of the average guy. 

I guess Remington doesn't have to worry about the Model 70 being any competition for them!!!

[mjbgalt]

not so fast...check out the MSRP on a nicely blued, walnut remington 700...one that is as nice as the winchester still costs way over $1,000...

remingtons just aren't the great deals they used to be.

are they worth the money? yeah, but i have better uses for $1,000...

-Matt

[kyelkhunter3006]

I think that FN USA isn't worried about the average guy this time.  That's what put Winchester under the first time, worrying about the average buyer. 

This time they are banking on the sterling reputation of the Model 70 and the improvments in machining, finishing, and accuracy to justify the price.  Just like the FN bolt action sniper rifles, they aren't for everyone, but those who want them bad enough will pay the $$.  Then there's the "prestige" of being the first to own the new breed...

What other controlled round action offers what the Winchester does?  The Remington 798 isn't even in the same ballpark.  Ruger?  Well, it's a fine design and super strong, but it doesn't have the romanticism of the Winchester, never did, never will.  The only available design that comes close (very very close) is the Montana 1999 from Montana Rifle Company.  I'd actually rather have the Montana action myself, but that's me.  I'm not to worried about having Winchester's name on my rifle.

[Lawful Larry]

Ya know we keep hearing about the new and improved Model 70.  I still don't know of anyone that has seen one other, then maybe a few people at the shot show if that.  I have seen no reviews of the gun so I will put this gem in the who cares column and go with what I got in my safe (4 model 70's from another era). 

If I can't touchy feely it, it don't exist to me! 

As far as the money goes, I own one expensive rifle.  I have a Kimber 84m in .338 Federal and love this gun.  It has a VX III scope on it and this is my one and only high dollar rifle.  All my other guns are no BS field guns for hunting. 

[tanoose]

The MSRP on the all weather model is $1149.00 If i am correct thats about what the remington 700 XCR goes for

[kyelkhunter3006]

I decided to do some searching, and I stand duly corrected on the MSRP.  When I first read about the M70 some months ago, one of the issues was the price.  According to Howard Communications (Winchester's PR people), prices will range from $999 to around $1200.  I think that's a pretty good price, really. 

They will "guarantee" MOA 3 shot groups with the proper ammo and good optics as well.  The all weather model is a sweet gun, with a fluted stainless barrel and a Bell & Carlson stock, not an injection molded job.  The price of $1150 is good for me, as when this gun was a Custom Shop offering, the MSRP was over $2500 (I priced one in 30-06).  That compares very favorably with most companies stainless guns, especially if you include the price of a good composite stock to replace the injection molded jobs.

I don't know about the new trigger, one of the strongest points of the M70, IMO, was the simplicity of the trigger design.  Easy to adjust, easy to clean, it was all right there in front of you.  Not that the new one is complicated (compared to many other designs), but it's not as simple as the old one.

[MGMorden]

The all weather model is a sweet gun, with a fluted stainless barrel and a Bell & Carlson stock, not an injection molded job.

Eh.  Plastic is plastic to me, and I don't like any of them .  Naturally that's personal preference but I don't seriously consider any synthetic stocked rifle.  I only own 1 and I really don't like the stocks on that at all, but it's an old SMLE sporter so walnut stocks would cost more than the gun did.  For any new rifles though the price for me starts at the wood stocked base price.

[kyelkhunter3006]

B&C stocks aren't made out of plastic, they're a composite of Kevlar, Aramid, and fiberglass.  They are solid like a wood stock and can be worked with various tools like a wood stock too.  Walnut is much prettier, but when you go out in the field, do you take your pretty sports car or do you take the ole' 4x4? 

I love good wood, I hate disfiguring it even more.   

As far as I am concerned, a couple of decades of the military using plastic and other synthetics as stocks on weapons has proved their superiority for field use.  When I'm out, I want the most durable choice I can get.  That's synthetic.  Just my opionon.

[MGMorden]

B&C stocks aren't made out of plastic, they're a composite of Kevlar, Aramid, and fiberglass.  They are solid like a wood stock and can be worked with various tools like a wood stock too.  Walnut is much prettier, but when you go out in the field, do you take your pretty sports car or do you take the ole' 4x4? 

Well, since you asked, I DO actually take out a sports car hunting because it's the only vehicle I have (I don't take it down through the mud or anything - I'll generally park along side the road and walk in to where I want to go).  If I bag a deer I call for assistance (read: a family member with a truck) .  And to me: synthetic pretty much is plastic, even if the formula might not officially be so.  To me, a wood stock is beautiful, but a beautiful tool that never gets used is worthless.  If I were to strap on a black synthetic stock to a rifle, I have effectively made it as ugly as it'll ever get (in my eyes naturally ).  Unless it were burned and chopped to bits I could never beat up a wood stock enough to match that level of repulsiveness.  So why worry about it?  I take out a pretty wood stock and no matter how much abuse it reaps I know that it still looks better than a synthetic.

I totally understand them from a utilitarian perspective, but that's just not how I view guns.  If I was utilitarian I would have bought an '06 many years ago and been done with buying more guns.  The simple fact that I keep getting more of them means that I'm interested in more than just toting them out in the field .

[kyelkhunter3006]

LOL, the whole car/truck thing was purely rhetorical.  Back in my younger days, I buried my 90 Pontiac Sunbird in the river mud more than one while getting to my favorite fishing hole.  Same with hunting.   

You said that you can't beat up a wood stock enough to make it as ugly as a synthetic?  Well, here's what converted me to synthetics.  I slipped and slid about 100 feet down a rock slide once, while climbing it.  Slid the whole way on my back.  Guess what was on my back?  That wood stock was so torn and splintered on one side that it would have made a hell of a fire starter.  If it was a synthetic of any kind, I could have just sanded it as smooth as possible and slapped a coat of paint on it, and not worried about it ability to stand up the weather and such.  With the wood, eh, don't think that was going to happen.  When I'm out, I don't want to worry about damaging something to that degree again.

I find the beauty of a rifle lies in its lines.  As long as it all flows together, it's pretty.  You could take the most beautiful piece of walnut you've ever seen, and make a horribly ugly rifle if the lines don't flow well.

Anyway, I think that we're a bit off topic now.  Maybe someone should start a rifle stock thread, ha ha.

[tanoose]

What i like about the B&C stock winchester chose is that it has a full length alum block not just piller bed like the ruger has on there hawkeye.

[Coltdriver]

CDNN has a FN Barrelled action in 308 for sale at $399.  Thats a 24 inch barrel, chrome lined, fluted, with a scope base and rings, three position safety and a four round mag.

FN calls it a PBR.

That is a pre 64 style Model 70 (with the claw extractor) brand new built at the CT factory (FN bought Winchester).  You can put a short action stock on it for about $100. 

The 300 WSM version is $449.

These are shooting cloverleafs at 100 yards.  That is a smokin deal!

[MGMorden]

Coltdriver: is that listed on their website?  I'm having trouble locating it.