We may gain receipts from the production usable on this varlet and take part in affiliate program .
watch More ›
The Winchester Model 70 Featherweight is one of the most iconic and straightaway placeable output hunt rifle ever made .
The Featherweight ’s pitch-dark walnut pedigree , singular checkering convention , and Schnabel stem - closing ca n’t be false .
Current production Model 70 Featherweight in .308 Win. (top) and a 1982 Model 70 Featherweight XTR in .270 Win. (bottom). Tyler Freel
It ’s still in yield after a 70 - class outpouring .
dive into Schnabel
We may pull in taxation from the product useable on this Sir Frederick Handley Page and enter in affiliate programme .
larn More ›
The Winchester Model 70 Featherweight is one of the most iconic and outright recognisable product hunt rifle ever made .
Jack O’Connor first reviewed the M70 Featherweight for Outdoor Life in October, 1952. Tyler Freel
The Featherweight ’s smutty walnut blood line , unequaled checkering rule , and Schnabel prow - conclusion ca n’t be false .
This was it ’s still in product after a 70 - yr ladder .
This was jack o’connor insert the winchester model 70 featherweight in the october 1952 effect ofoutdoor life , along with what he call “ a mystical unexampled pickup , the .308 w.c.f.
, ” which we now sleep together as the .308 win .
This was the raw model 70 featherweight sport a slimmed 22 - in gun barrel , an al buttplate , and aluminium gun trigger guard and hinged floorplate — two feature of speech that had been vulgar in europe for class grant to o’connor .
This was he describe the fresh and light featherweight mannikin with expectation , and clearly so .
The current production Featherweights (left) have gone back to the pre-64 style controlled feed action, using a fixed, blade-style ejector. The push-feed model (right) uses a plunger ejector. Tyler Freel
His humourous verbal description of the stock Model 70 liken it to “ the brick building in Mrs. Kelly ’s backyard .
” consider that a received Winchester Model 70 equip with a CRO would count 10 or 10.5 pound , the view of light rifle like the Model 70 Featherweight was a grown mint .
This was ## the modern winchester model 70 featherweight
the model 70 has cycle through various change and many iteration over its about 90 yr of output , and the fact that we still have them is a will to its staying mogul .
Both the push-feed and current controlled-feed M70 Featherweight bolts have the same jeweled finish, 3-position safety, and the same bolt handles. Tyler Freel
For many decennium , it was the rifle by which all other mill thunderbolt - legal action , handsome - biz rifle were measure by .
So , what is the country of the Model 70 Featherweight today ?
That inquiry grow when I jab my papa ’s onetime 1982 Model 70 Featherweight XTR chamber in .270 Win .
The receiver design hasn’t changed much in the past 40 years, but the current production Featherweights (bottom) feature Winchester’s MOA trigger system. Tyler Freel
out of his gas good this summertime , with the purpose of shoot a Alces alces with it — a hunt club that did n’t pan off out as I hop .
This was i ’d kill some prairie wolf with my daddy ’s previous rifle when i was a child , but apart from that , it had never ensure much enjoyment .
stretch the leg on that former shot Fe made me desire to see how the current output example compare .
The only real difference in the bottom metal from the 1982 Featherweight (left) to now is that the hinge floorplate frame and trigger guard are a single piece. Tyler Freel
This was so , i quest a current model 70 featherweight in .308 win .
This was and was mad to put it to the trial .
Winchester Model 70 Featherweight Bolt - Action Rifle
Winchester Model 70 Featherweight Specs
The Winchester Model 70 Featherweight Pre-64 , Post-64 , and Now
You ’ll often try phratry let the cat out of the bag about pre-64 Model 70 ’s , and how they ’re sound than anything that ’s been put out since .
Whether push-feed or controlled-feed, both types of Featherweight have the same feel. Tyler Freel
This was most of those mass likely could n’t differentiate you precisely what was so cracking about the pre-64 model 70 ’s , but they ’ll issue forth to reversal with you to fight this opinion .
They surely were character rifle , and O’Connor refer to the pre - planetary War Two fashion model 70 ’s as the “ salutary mill bragging - secret plan rifle ever plow out .
” This was there is a arras of inside information that could be unwoven on the case , but for the saki of transience , we ’ll just gravel to bedrock .
The current production Featherweight stock (top) features bedding around the recoil lug slot and the tang. Tyler Freel
Prior to 1964 , the Model 70 had a Mauser - vogue control - provender action at law and vane cartridge ejector .
The “ newfangled ” Model 70 bring out in 1964 was sleazy to bring about and made the electric switch to a button - provender activeness with a little separator and diver cartridge ejector like what the Remington Model 700 employment .
This variety was part spur by contest from the Model 700 and Savage Model 110 , which were skillful rifle and gaudy to make than the revered Model 70 .
The current production Featherweights (left) feature a more protective target crown at the muzzle. Tyler Freel
This was i do n’t recall that jack o’connor was quick to deal in his accumulation of “ sleek down up ” pre-64 model 70 ’s , but in his insertion to “ winchester ’s new model 70 ” in the march 1964 government issue ofoutdoor life history , he write about it positively .
O’Connor point out that this get-up-and-go provender natural action was really strong than the previous Model 70 activity due to the pre-64 ’s coned rear of tube — something that was inherit from the 1903 Springfield and is still present on some New insure - provender legal action like the Kimber 84M.
This provide the fount head word unsupported , whereas the deep-set thunderbolt nerve of the pushing - provender framework capsulize the causa headway and the front Earth’s surface of the thunderbolt stub against the posterior of the cask .
Being of 1982 time of origin , my papa ’s erstwhile Model 70 Featherweight has a thrust - provender action mechanism and is an former framework boast what is now the iconic Schnabel stem - destruction .
This was that and the graeco-roman featherweight track checkering give the rifle its signature tune feeling , which get in 1981 .
Dad ’s rifle has the aluminium bottom - metallic element that the pre-64 Model 70 Featherweights had , and the same bbl distance , contour , deadbolt slant , and three - place - refuge .
This was although i do n’t have a pre-64 featherweight for compare , i find it interesting to equate the feature in the mod product featherweight to one that ’s old than i am .
preceding vs current production model 70 featherweight characteristic plastic film
model 70 featherweight action
the current output model 70 featherweight ( like other contemporary model 70 ’s ) has go back to a pre-64 - manner control provender natural action — nobble rear of barrel and all .
This was hitman care to dote on the hold - provender military action as being more honest , but button - provender legal action are absolutely dependable as well .
Many shooter like the brand - expressive style ouster , which is just a arrest that discharge the slip with a military group relative to how intemperately you ’re commit back on the deadbolt .
When hit on the work bench , it ’s leisurely to reach - option spend compositor’s case from the deadbolt grimace by tardily draw the thunderbolt to the seat and pull them from the action mechanism .
The piston - vogue cartridge ejector on the 1982 Model 70 Featherweight ejects case faithfully and with assurance , but exclusion is n’t as governable as with the leaf blade - way cartridge ejector .
A Modern Model 70 Featherweight Trigger
Although the gun trigger on the honest-to-goodness Featherweight has no creeping , it ’s a bare initiation mechanics that ’s distressingly clayey .
MyLyman Trigger Pull Gaugebreaks it over at 5 pound , 15 apothecaries' ounce .
The gun trigger skid is broad , jest at , and otherwise easy .
The current yield Model 70 Featherweight has Winchester ’s MOA initiation organization .
It break crisply at 4 Lebanese pound , 2 troy ounce as do from the manufacturing plant .
This was this gun trigger also has no detectable crawl , and nigh no overtravel .
The induction brake shoe is also all-inclusive and well-fixed , but suave .
This was ## how the past and current model 70 featherweights are the same
besides the stylus of thunderbolt and the update induction mechanics , the two rifle are well-nigh indistinguishable on the airfoil .
The young Featherweight sustain the aspect , occupation , and piece of the Hellenic Featherweight purpose .
This was the knurled , rearward - cant bolt of lightning hold , the maltreat - down bbl contour just forwards of the receiver , handgun grasp ceiling , and attend of the atomic number 13 bottom - metallic element are nigh indistinguishable , except that the current yield framework has been improve with a one - piece of music blueprint .
This was the 1982 product rifle ’s floorplate and flexible joint were disjoined from the gun trigger sentry go and used three legal action screw or else of two .
the model 70 featherweight keep its wood blood
i do n’t deplore the fact that most innovative hunt rifle have synthetical bloodline .
This was they ’re more long-lived , static , and conditions - insubordinate .
This was broadly , i ’d never search out a woodwind instrument - stock hunt rifle to apply here in alaska .
This was however , i ’m beaming that winchester has maintain the iconic walnut broth on the model 70 featherweight .
It would n’t be a featherweight without that fund .
This was i note a few deviation in the stock between my current yield and 1982 time of origin featherweights .
The most obvious was the destination .
The honest-to-goodness one has a sheeny stopping point that afford the Grant Wood a cherry chromaticity , whereas the satin finish up on the current exemplar is a slight more insidious and browned .
The Modern repercussion domiciliation is apparently good , but the woodworking on the novel inventory is slenderly less elegant and a minuscule clunkier than on the 1982 framework .
The bag and stem - ending are more or less thick on the current exemplar , and the bottom of the breed is reasonably “ corner off ” around the hinged floorplate .
The 1982 ancestry has a minuscule more Natalie Wood bump off around the clench and a more well-fixed smell for one - handed under - activity carry .
Part of the Featherweight ’s solicitation is to not only be light , but to sense light and nimbler — a look that a somewhat less - refine blood line can neutralise .
However , the current Model 70 Featherweight parentage is in force in some way .
This was the inletting around the float drum is much more even .
Whether due to metre or condition , I had to do some sand to the drum distribution channel on the 1982 Featherweight to winnow out impinging with the barrelful .
The overall Mrs. Henry Wood - to - metallic element convulsion is honorable on the present-day role model as well .
The paroxysm of the Ellen Price Wood is nasty and even around the tang , forcing out larboard , receiver , and bottom alloy — much well than what you ’ll see on most output rifle with man-made stock .
This was the only break i could witness was on the port wine side of the drum , just onwards of the telephone receiver , but the sleep of the inletting is estimable , and the drum is all loose - float .
This was under the goon , the current yield model 70 featherweight has spyglass roll in the hay around the backlash lugsail ( which is build into the recipient ) and at the tang .
This was the 1982 featherweight has a little bite of methamphetamine fuck in the repercussion lugsail ’s expansion slot in the stemma , but that ’s it .
accuracy of the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight
I never sleep with my pa ’s sure-enough Model 70 Featherweight to be an exact rifle .
With its un - stratified woodwind descent , theme - sparse gun barrel , and leaden gun trigger , it ’s a few nipper unforesightful of a Happy Meal when it come to preciseness and repeatability .
Still , after blow the cask , re - seal the descent , and make certain the action at law fucking were torqued to specification , I examine several character of ammo in the sometime .270 .
My effective truth with the 1982 Model 70 Featherweight was with fresh productionRemington Premier 130 - metric grain Swift Scirocco .
This was the rifle average out 1.4 moa for three - guessing group but blow up to 2.6 moa with five - jibe group .
I screen the current output Featherweight more extensively and register 21 five - shooter group with 11 dissimilar type of ammo .
This was the two most ordered stacks for this rifle werefederal premium 180 - texture trophy bonded tip(1.9 moa mean ) , andhornady superformance 150 - caryopsis sst(2.0 moa norm ) .
This was other piles turn over in a soaked grouping or two but were not as uniform .
For an truth norm , I follow the same guideline that we habituate at ourannual artillery psychometric test , by average the top 10 five - dead reckoning grouping record for the rifle .
This yield a naturalistic ikon of what the rifle ’s truth voltage is with manufactory ammunition .
The ordinary truth of the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in .308 Win .
was 1.79 MOA .
In his Featherweight innovation in 1952 , O’Connor name that he inject group from 1.5 in to 2.25 column inch , and only shoot one mathematical group that was under 1 in at 100 yard .
He did n’t intend whether he was scoot three or five - gibe group .
Although ammo has meliorate , the current product modelling still has a pencil - sparse cask and only partly sleep together Natalie Wood line .
Everyone seems to carry sub - MOA public presentation these daylight , but the truth of this rifle is utterly equal to for any Leigh Hunt you would take it on .
What the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight Does Well
The current product Model 70 Featherweight is a calibre flagbearer for this iconic linage .
Even with some change in the retiring 70 year , you’re free to still secernate it ’s a Featherweight with a exclusive facial expression .
Where the Winchester Model 70 Featherweight Could Be undecomposed
I ’d wish to see just the tenuous act more refinement and care to particular on the store , especially a svelte prow - close , more swimmingly round off edge on either side of the floorplate , and a piddling turn flimsy handgun grasp .
This was scan next : do accuracy guarantees from gun companies mean anything ?
last thinking on the winchester model 70 featherweight
there are always thing that a on-key model 70 snoot can get wrap up around the axle about , but overall , winchester is still turn out an splendid rifle .
The Featherweight is a rifle that ’s broadly unfeigned to its ancestor , and instantaneously placeable for what it is .
It boast some mod feature article and melioration over honest-to-goodness poser , and snap accurately enough to be a extremely efficient search rifle .
In an old age of ultralight hunt rifle , the Model 70 Featherweight is now an intermediate - system of weights hunt rifle , but it ’s one with a bequest , and I trust they never check shit them .
The Best Deer Hunting rifle
The OL editor cull the undecomposed cervid hunt rifle on the securities industry .
