Winchester M70 Manufacture Date

[Polinese]

So I have this Model 70 Classic Sporter I bought used. I took it to my smith to get the bases taken off and all the workers took interest in it, particularly wanting to know when it was made. So they looked it up by serial number which had it manufactured in 84-85... problem with that being I was under the impression it wasn't until the 90s they started making CRF versions again.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Serial is G176***

 

[jmr40]

They didn't make those until 1992. They were made until the factory closed in 2006. I've found no reliable on-line source to look up numbers on these. But I know 6 digit SN's are usually pre-2000, or very early 2000's anyway. These are generally considered better guns than the later versions with 7 digit nimbers.

I have a 1994 made rifle with SN 148***. I have another SN 824*** made in either 1999 or 2000. My best guess is 1995 to 1997.

 

[Polinese]

Gotcha I figured the records I looked at must be unreliable I was like there's no way this thing was made in the 80s they weren't making these then. It's a very nice rifle never had any problems with it so I figured it must be an earlier classic.

 

[reloder56]

I also have a Winchester M70 Classic Sporter .270WIN that I won in a raffle back in 2003. The serial # is G374xxx. It must have been sitting in a dealers rack for a while.

 

[jmr40]

I also have a Winchester M70 Classic Sporter .270WIN that I won in a raffle back in 2003. The serial # is G374xxx. It must have been sitting in a dealers rack for a while.

I've seen new guns still in back rooms at gun shops that were more than 10 years old. Several years ago K-Mart stopped selling guns in California, their guns were shipped to stores in other states. I saw a Marlin 336C priced about $50 less than it should have been in a local K-mart. SN dated it about 10 years old. Clerk told me it, and several others had recently came in from California stores. It still had the original price on the hangtag. Of course even the local K-mart no longer sells guns.

There is an older, eccentric gentleman who owns a hole-in-the wall type of gun shop near here. He keeps all of his stock in a back room and only brings one at a time out. He normally doesn't let customers just look at what he has in stock. You come in and ask for what you want and he gets it. My brother was granted a rare visit into his vault and found a Marlin 375 still in the box. They only made them one year back in the 1980's. He bought it for the price put on the box 30+ years ago.

 

[Nunya53]

While trying to research mine (SN G182xxx), i found a thread over at another forum that stated Winchester reserved blocks of serial numbers, some used, some not. When USRA bought them out, they used some of the old unused reserved serial numbers so it is hard to say.

Based on jmr40's information, I would say my 300WM is a 94-95 production but I can't say for sure.

Thanks!