Is This a Pieced Together Model 70?

Fairlane66 · February 10, 2010 19:09

I'm looking at an unusual Winchester Model 70 that's billed as a Classic Stainless Featherweight. Serial number is G493xx and it has the claw extractor. The 22" barrel seems to be the tapered featherweight version, but it is not so marked. The barrel is simply factory stamped "Classic Stainless" like most of the standard grade rifles I've seen. Also, the stock is a bit odd. Instead of having the black composite featherweight stock with the schnabel forend, this rifle is equipped with the factory standard composite sporter stock. Given all this, the rifle seems to be a bit of a mismatched piece. It's a featherweight that's not stamped "Featherweight." It's billed as a featherweight, but it wears a standard sporter stock. If this rifle was produced at the end of Winchester's New Haven run, that might explain the odd mix of parts. The smiths were probably just pulling what was available from the parts bins. However, if this is an earlier gun, the parts don't seem to match and someone may have thrown it together. I've been looking for a stainless Model 70 in 243, but I'm a bit leery of this rifle. What do you experts think? Original or someone's backroom project?

Is This a Pieced Together Model 70?

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