SmallCaliberCentral

I am looking for a solid, all weather 30-06 and have narrowed my search to the Winchester 70 Extreme Weather SS or Kimber Montana 8400. I have handled the Winchester a little and it feels a little thick in the stock but not horrible. I have yet to get my hands on the Kimber and may have to make a trip out of town to a dealer. I would like to get opinions and thoughts from those who have owned one or both of these rifles. So what would you choose and why. Thanks in advance.

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Ok, what are your thoughts on the Thompson Center Icon compared to the new Winchester 70?

One vote for the new FN-built M70. You just can't argue with 75 years of proven performance (well, maybe not during a slight hiatus after 1964, but you know what I mean.)

Maybe I'm just showing my ignorance but what's the +'s of the Pre vs Post-64 Winchester Model 70's? Is it the control-feed or what. My Ruger-77, CZ-527 and Remington-720 (which I've never shot) also has the control-feed system but my Remington 700's do-not.

Just curious,

Jim White wrote:Maybe I'm just showing my ignorance but what's the +'s of the Pre vs Post-64 Winchester Model 70's? Is it the control-feed or what. My Ruger-77, CZ-527 and Remington-720 (which I've never shot) also has the control-feed system but my Remington 700's do-not.

Just curious,

I have several pre-64 M70s and they are really decent actions. The story I have is that the legendary smoothness was due to hand fitting and finishing of those CFA actions. In general, they were competently built by the craftmen of the day and then improved by smiths that worked on them after sale.

But what really made them special was comparing them to the new model 70s created after 1965, which in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs were made with less care and were in comparison particulary bad! Remington 700s never compromised their quality and soldiered on building a respectable reputation.

However, my experience with recently produced M70s tells a story of spotty quality. Tooling marks on recievers demonstrated a lack of quality control, particularly in reciever machining. Best advice I can give is carefully inspect the weapon before laying down the cash.

Personally, I was allowed to review a number of M70 rifles when I purchased my 7mm WSM, and picked the one with the best fit and finish. I then promply sold the gun store the barrel, stock and trigger, which were not required for the custom rifle I was building. Those were replaced with parts from Jewell, Lilja, and McMillan.

Thanks Dave. I've never owned a pre-64 and probably never will because those that have them don't like to part with em'.

Jim