doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Custom Left Hand Winchester Model 70

Found this today at a gun show... serial number put's it at 1948. I think the custom stock has characteristics of Leonard Mews work... the caliber stamping is really clean... curious if this may have been a customers rifle sent to Weatherby for the modifications? I seem to find odd stuff and this fits the bill... taking into account the value of the Leupold scope ($150) and Super grade floorplate ($275) & 1 1/4" Super grade swivels ($200), my cost rest of the rifle was $125. (Total: $750.) Curious of members thoughts on the stock.... cheers. Ben

Well that is the deal of the day! Very nice I can’t add to your assessment in any way other than general agreement. A very neat piece for the lefty that’s for sure !

Ben,
Very nice rifle and certainly a wonderful price. I have no idea who did the work but I am sure it was top end. I have a number of questions about it from an engineering view point. The biggest one is how does it work? I mean the gun was once a regular right handed rifle and when you lifted the bolt handle turned counter clockwise but now it appears that when you lift the bolt handle the bolt would turn clockwise. If that is true I haven't been able to wrap my head around that. Can you explain the function please? Can you provide more pictures of the bolt open and what some of that looks like? Thanks in advance.

After talking with a couple Weatherby collectors, it's been verified that the work was done Weatherby's shop sometime prior to 1954. I'll post some pics tomorrow of the action.

You need a short Buehler base for that rifle.

A very fine discovery that one, a 1948 left-hand Winchester Model 70 that has what seems to be a custom Weatherby shop job. The stock work does look like that of Leonard Mews, and the rifle looks highly refined with Leupold scope, Super Grade floorplate, and swivels.

As a collector or a shooter:

The left conversion is a rare and value-added process.

Practically, the bolt rotation following conversion is ingenious design; presumably the Weatherby shop made the necessary adjustments to the bolt and receiver to ensure it was cammed and locked up as intended when changing handedness.

These custom arrangements are suggested to be mounted with accessories such as the Buehler short base.

In short, high-end custom rifle of high quality at an excellent price, to shoot and as a collector.

Here are some pics of the bolt & receiver modifications...