Pre 64 Winchester. What does it mean?

dpv · 02-23-2004, 06:50 PM

I was shopping for a lever action 30-30 recently. I went with a Marlin but I saw lots of references to pre 64 Winchester. What's the deal? I did a few searches and found nothing that explained the significance of the reference.

David

diyj98 · 02-23-2004, 07:04 PM

Around 1964 Winchester went thourgh a massive cost savings program. Many models, 94's, 70's etc went thorough changes to make them cheaper to produce. Some models were just dropped for totally different (cheaper) designs. The quality on many of these post 64 guns just plain sucked. It was quite a few years till Winchester's reputation came back. Collectors will pay a premium for pre 64 Winchesters versus the 64 and later guns.

JagMagMan · 02-23-2004, 07:54 PM

I'll second that! Plus on the M70's they went from a "claw extractor" to the "push feed bolt!"
To many that was THE cardinal sin!
To me, the push feed works just as well, many brands including Remington, have never had a claw extractor, and have worked just fine!
While they may also have cheapened their products in other ways also, todays Winchesters are just as good as any comparable guns on the market!
As Diyj98 said the pre 64's bring premium prices though!

TREEDOG · 02-23-2004, 08:59 PM

Chuck hawk has a right up on the pre 64, but it may be on his "subsribers" part of his site now [>:]

rkbo · 02-23-2004, 09:55 PM

Here's an interesting story for you. I live in las vegas and the pawn shops are as thick as 7/11's around here. You can never get a good deal on a gun unless you find a pawn shop going out of buisness. I found one and bought a 30-06 for $200 with sears stamped on the barrel. After a little investigating I found out it is a pre 64 win model 70. Now here's the neat part. Surfing the McMillan web page I found they had a clearance page. I guess it was full of barrels someone oredered and didn't pickup. They had a 26 inch match grade barrel chamber 30-06 for the pre 64 win model 70 in an 8 contour size. It cost me $97 including shipping. When I got it I was supprised to see it had a target crown already. Now I think I'll get a choate tactical stock and look for a gunsmith..........Just though you'd find it interesting.

02-24-2004, 01:44 PM

rkbo, gun isn't worth it. Sell it to me for 200 and I will save you the heartache. Just trying to make friends.

bigbulls · 02-24-2004, 04:15 PM

AAH, forget bigcountry!

I'll give $200.99 for it. You gotta make a little money.

rkbo · 02-24-2004, 05:01 PM

come on guys I've only made a couple of good deals in my life and that was on of em. It'll be more of a trophy than a rifle when I get it done.