On a trip back North from southern Maine a friend and I stopped at LL Bean. Now most of you know them as the trendy deck shoe and preppy clothing store, but the flagship store in Freeport has a decent gun department. Long guns only, rifles and shotguns. While perusing the racks I noticed a nicely finished rifle standing there with a black forend tip...thats what caught my eye. It turned out to be a 1978 vintage model 70 XTR('78 was the first year those features were added to the M70) in .270 caliber. It was in absolutely amazing condition with only one minor blemish to the almost jets black metal finish and nearly perfect stock finish with no major issues. After a bit of yankee trading I bought it. Once home the bore scopes as nearly perfect with just a hint of frosting just ahead of the chamber at the 6 o'clock. I have pretty much de coppered it with wipe out. The original winchester in house rear sight and front hood are present. My guess is that there was no scope on it...the plug screws are in the action, but no way to really tell. All in all it is the typical smooth as silk bolt movement and feeding(tried it with dummy rounds) and an excellent no creep trigger breaking at between 4 and 5 lbs. I just can't get over the quality of these rifles and how downright cheap they are. Am I the only one that appreciates how Winchester salvaged the model 70 from the early 70s onward after their disastrous switchover in 1963/64?
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