Doug,
If it means anything, I still want to find a nice pre-64 in 264, but it's low on priorities and they keep going up. It's more about the nostalgia for me. My BOSS equipped USRAC gun puts 5 hunting bullets at hunting velocities under 3/4" all day and on occasion a group under 1/2" when I can do my job and the conditions are right. I've got a few other rifle that are very good to decent shooters, including a good 03A1 sporterized that hangs around 1 MOA pretty well, so I can get along until I guess I make that deal on a real pre-64.

As for the new Winchester company, if they invested big money, they will have had their marketing people dig up more facts on the market for bolt guns than we'll ever see. That won't make what they decide necessarily "the right move", but it makes it more likely.

BTW, I'm also a 1911 fan. I have a few variations laying around. I think the popularity of the design today thrives on the strong basic design characteristics and the adaptation of modifications; from investment cast parts to carbon fiber frames, stainless steels, etc. etc.. Few are faithful to the original 1911 model in one way or another. Newer is not always better, but change is not always bad. I know as I age, I do get more skeptical of change though. I guess it's because we see more things that don't necessarily get better with change.

I don't know all the changes they made to the M70, but I did hear the guy say the trigger and the safety. That wouldn't turn me away from one of these guns.