The Great War and the Rise of the Bolt Gun
The Great War (World War 1) changed a great many things. It drove Imperial Germany down, resulting in the disastrous Weimar Republic that, in turn, gave rise to National Socialism and Adolf Hitler. It put a final end to the Ottoman Empire. It saw the United States in its first major European war.
One of the results of that last item was the fact that many American soldiers and Marines who cut their teeth on Winchester and Marlin lever-action rifles went to war with the M1903 Springfield and the M1917 Enfield bolt guns. Those troops came back to the States with the memories of the tough, reliable bolt guns and the powerful .30-06 cartridge. That’s what they were familiar with, and that’s what they wanted.
Before 1917, the lever gun was king of the American game fields. After 1918, things tipped, and the ascendency of the bolt gun began.
The Winchester Repeating Arms Company was the king of lever guns. The Browning-designed Model 1886, Model 1892, Model 1894, and Model 1895 lever guns were their best-sellers.
Winchester was, however, already making another M1895, the “Winchester-Lee” rifle, a straight-pull bolt rifle chambered for the 6mm Lee cartridge, which was adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
But when Winchester wanted to break into the sporting-rifle bolt gun market, they decided to go another route.
Forerunners
In 1925, Winchester released to the market a new bolt-action sporter, based on the famous 98 Mauser action. The famed Winchester engineer Thomas Crosley Johnson designed the 7 ¾ pound rifle, which was sold as the Model 54. The rifles were slim, good-looking, reliable, tough, and offered in a wide variety of chamberings, including the .22 Hornet, .220 Swift, .250-3000 Savage, .257 Roberts, .270 Winchester, 30-30 Winchester, .30-06 Springfield, 7x57mm Mauser, 7.65x53mm Argentine, and 7.92x57mm Mauser. It was also available in several grades, including Standard, Carbine, Super Grade, and Target.
There were a few unforeseen problems. One of them was that the rifle was designed to work with open or aperture sights, meaning that the safety and bolt handle got in the way of a telescopic sight. These new “scopes” were a relatively new thing to sporting rifles at the time, but they were clearly the coming thing. Some changes were required.
Ultimately, the Model 54 was produced and sold for only 11 years, from 1925 to 1936. A little over 50,000 were made. You can still find them, but one in good original condition will be on the pricey side.
Then, in 1936, the Rifleman’s Rifle.
The Model 70
The Model 70 was, for the time, the perfect bolt-action rifle. As Winchester made the Perfect Repeater in the Model 12 shotgun, they made the Perfect Bolt Gun in the Model 70. Winchester was at their peak, and the Model 70 was one of their finest products. Based on the ground-breaking 98 Mauser, it had the Mauser’s controlled feed, in which the big claw extractor engages the rim of the cartridge and retains hold of the round as it moves into the chamber. It also used the Mauser-style blade ejector. Again, like the Mauser, it had a bolt with two big, tough locking lugs, making it bank-vault tough.
The Model 70 also corrected some problems from its father, the Model 54. The new rifle’s bolt handle angled down and back, and along with a new fore-and-aft, three-position safety, made the piece suitable for telescopic sights, from the factory.
Thus was born the Rifleman’s rifle. Initial chamberings included the .22 Hornet, .220 Swift, .250-3000 Savage, .257 Roberts, .270 Winchester, 7x57mm Mauser, .30-06 Springfield, .300 H&H Magnum, and .375 H&H Magnum. Many more chamberings were available as the decades went on.
The rifle quickly gained some high-profile fans, including the inestimable Jack O’Connor, who was a regular user of the rifle.Read More: Sunday Gun Day Vol. III Ep. XIII - The Inestimable Jack O'Connor
Then, in 1964…
Winchester, in the early ‘60s, was facing some serious competition, particularly from the also-excellent Remington Model 700. The Model 70 was an expensive item to make. To fix that, the post-1964 Model 70 was heavily revised. The old Mauser-style claw extractor and controlled feed were replaced by a much smaller extractor and a button ejector. The old machined steel trigger guard and floor plate were replaced by cheaper, stamped versions. Jack O’Connor, until then one of the Model 70’s greatest partisans, wrote of the revamp:
I was informed by Winchester brass that the Model 70 was being redesigned. I told them that I was glad to get the information so I could lay in four or five more before they loused the rifle up. Then I saw the pilot model of 'New Model 70'. At the first glimpse, I like to fell into a swoon. The action was simplified, the trigger guard and floor plate made of a flimsy looking one-piece stamping.
Actually the post-1964 Model 70 is not a bad rifle in spite of the fact that rifle aficionados have never taken it to their bosoms the way they did its predecessor. It is a stronger action than the pre-1964. The head of the bolt encloses the head of the case. It has a small, neat hook extractor, which is adequate. With this extractor the cartridge is not as surely controlled as it is with the Mauser-type extractor. However, the new model seldom gives feeding problems.
The new Model 70 was still a solid rifle. But a lot of the pre-64 magic was gone. In an attempt to make the Model 70 just like all the other rifles, Winchester made it… just another rifle. It was a good rifle, but not so much a great rifle.
Read More: Sunday Gun Day X - The Grand Old .30-06
In 1980, the rifle got a new owner, as the Winchester company was undergoing some reorganization. From 1980 to 2006, the Model 70 was made by a company called the U.S. Repeating Arms Company, under license from the Olin Corporation, which owned the Winchester name. In 2007, production resumed at FN Herstal in Belgium, and later in the FN Herstal plant in Columbia, South Carolina.
Today’s Model 70s are made at the FN/Browning plant in Portugal.
Still, through all this, the Model 70 stayed in production. Through several iterations of the company, the Model 70 stayed in production. It was and is one of the great success stories of American arms.
What About Now?
Of course, the company calling itself Winchester today is still making the Model 70. It’s still a pretty good rifle. You can once again get a Model 70 with that big, comforting Mauser-style claw extractor. It’s available in a wide variety of calibers and styles. With modern metallurgy, machine tolerances, stock designs and materials, and calibers ranging from the .22-250 to the .458 Winchester Magnum, it is today one of the best-made and most versatile models on the market.
Winchester isn’t the same Winchester anymore. But the Model 70 is still a gold standard in bolt-action sporters.
The Model 70 is still the Rifleman’s Rifle. Along with the Remington Model 700 and the 98 Mauser on which both American rifles were based, it is one of history’s great bolt-action sporters. It is a rifle that is very nearly without peer, and will no doubt still be in production on its 100th birthday in 2036.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to search the online auction sites for a pre-64 Model 70 in .375 H&H Magnum. Someone (me) needs a new bear and moose rifle.
