Gun Dog Forum

Winchester has announced that as of march of this year the model 70 will once again be in production with plans to commence production of the model 94 in a few years. The gun will feathure some improvements and apparently was in some way developped with brownings new x bolt. I read it in sports a field and couldn't beleive it.

good news. hopefully they keep the quality.

From what I have read, the new old new model 70 is being manufactured in the USA at FN's plant in South Carolina. There is a small side bar article about it in the January issue of Rifle Magazine.

So what about all those guys who were paying $150-$300 over list to get the "last" of the Model 70s about two years ago? That was a great deal for Gander Mountain, Cabela's, etc. who previously were having a hard time reducing their excess Winchester inventory. Now there's a certain amount of pent up demand again. Kind of reminds a person of the "new coke" vs. the "old coke" campaign.

Even as Browning was shutting down the New Haven plant that produced Winchesters, there were high expectations the Model 70 would be back in a couple of years, most likely being produced overseas. It's nice to see the production remained in the U.S. although I'd guess a lot of the New Haven employees were negatively impacted by the change.

It's said the trigger mechanism has been substantially improved. Savage seems to have started the push to improve triggers. Some of the best news is that it's going to be a lot harder to find a bad trigger from any of the major mannufacturers.

I heard that what few changes they made have all been good and that the new model 70 will be better than ever.

dudley wrote:I heard that what few changes they made have all been good and that the new model 70 will be better than ever.

You're probably right but it's hard to put a lot of stock in the opinions generated by those who make their living by marketing the products they're writing about.....

The model 70 may be back. The quality may be back. But, the bar has been considerably raised by Cooper and others.

I'll never buy another factory rifle, period. It's too easy and too economical to build up a custom based on one of the several custom actions that are out there today (e.g., Stiller Predator).

Greg J.