I was just at WalMart and saw several Winchester M70s in their gun rack.  They all had a mat finish, black synthetic stock, and a mounted scope.  There were .270s and 7mm for as low as $270. I believe they had some other calibers for that price also. The 300 Win mag was $389, I think.  Does anyone know anything about these? Are they any good?  What could I expect for accuracy? The scopes appear to be cheap Chinese models, but I was thinking this would be a good way to get into a deer rifle for relatively cheap.  I could upgrade the scope later, and possibly go with a better stock and barrel later as well.  Should I spring for one of these or save my money for something better?

Thanks for your advice.

Scott

Funny you should ask. A friend of mine bought a M-70 last month. He brought it to me the next day. Seems the safety wouldn't engage. I couldn't get the safety to engage and couldn't find any obvious defect so I suggested he return it. He took it to a local gunsmith instead. The smith diagnosed the problem as an improper fit between the safety and firing pin. The smith was able to repair it and IIRC, Wal-Mart/Winchester covered the cost.

I think the M-70 is a top of the line rifle but if you're buying it at Wallyworld you should probably give it an extra look before handing over the cash.

Thanks for the input.  I'll be sure to check basic functionality if I buy one.  

I'm still a little skeptical; $270 for a rifle and scope seems too good to be true.  Anyone else have experience with these?

Just any other rifle, Wally World buys by the train loads and by doing this they get good prices to send on.

But just like any other thing you buy open the box and look it over real close, if you are not happy with that one ask to look at another.

Those scopes are $39.95 junk. It will, hopefully later rather than sooner, break. I'd upgrade it ASAP.

I bought one from wallyworld in 1998, it still fires great, is as accurate as the person behind it, and have had no problems. the scopes are crap though, dump it and get a good one.

I was thinking about buying one in 30.06.

It'd be a great rifle for beating around in the woods.

The new plastic stock is pretty cool. It's comfortable and light. The scope definitely is junk.

For the money it's a good package.

Quoted: Just any other rifle, Wally World buys by the train loads and by doing this they get good prices to send on. But just like any other thing you buy open the box and look it over real close, if you are not happy with that one ask to look at another.

Everything in guns are ordered from Lipsey in La. In fact you can order any gun in the world as long as Lipsey carries it.
GG

Hello all--

I nabbed a .270 M70 Black Shadow-wannabe (blind magazine) with a Simmons 3X-9X in cheap rings on cheaper 2-pc bases.
Not bad at all, esp. after the non-adjustable trigger was adjusted to allow the sear to break at less than the weight of the rifle itself!
I had to give the crown a bit of attention to get it perfect, and the front sling stud seems like it could be tighter, but, hey, for $299,
I have no complaints...Shoots better with the Bushnell AO 4X-12X installed, tho!

Regards,

FastVFR

I got one in 7mm RM in trade from a board member. It had a VERY light trigger pull but had never been worked on. I put a Loopie 3x9 on it and put 30 rounds thru it. No problems.
Sent it out as a B-day gift to a family member.
He has had major problems with it. It goes off when the safety is dis-engaged, FP follows bolt when its closed, it goes off if bumped etc. I've seen this happen first hand so I know its not just the operator.
Its the model that came with the blind mag and the Simmons (bind-O-matic)POS scope.
Its going back to Winchester (with a nasty note) very soon. That rifle being defective could have caused someone to get killed!
Take the saftey off and BOOM! Luckily it was pointed at a whitetail when that happend. (missed the deer, BTW) Needless to say, I was quite dissapointed in the workmanship of this rifle. The reputation of the M70's has taken a big black mark IMO. I'd check it out really really close before you lay down any $$.

Quoted: I nabbed a .270 M70 Black Shadow-wannabe (blind magazine) with a Simmons 3X-9X in cheap rings on cheaper 2-pc bases. Not bad at all...

I nabbed one myself a couple years ago (98-99?) like the one above.  The scope is a cheap simmons, but the rifle itself has been quite fine for me.  I'll probably have the trigger refined eventually, but for the most part, the price is right.

Slacker: you might want to try adjusting the trigger a little.  Perhaps it has been messed with before and was either not properly set or set too low.  You will generally not want to go below 3.5 pounds with a Model 70 without the assistance of a professional gunsmith.  recguns (which seems to be down right now) has instructions for messing with the Model 70 trigger.  It is probably the easiest trigger to work on.  Messing with the trigger does not void the warranty, unlike some other manufacturers.

Quoted: Slacker: you might want to try adjusting the trigger a little.  Perhaps it has been messed with before and was either not properly set or set too low.  You will generally not want to go below 3.5 pounds with a Model 70 without the assistance of a professional gunsmith.  recguns (which seems to be down right now) has instructions for messing with the Model 70 trigger.  It is probably the easiest trigger to work on.  Messing with the trigger does not void the warranty, unlike some other manufacturers.

Thanks imposter. Snipercountry.com also has good instructions. Its already made one trip to the gunsmith, got "fixed" then broke again, all in the same week. That thing is going back to Winchester with a nasty note. Hope they send me a whole new rifle. I'll post the outcome.