Last year I acquired an old Winchester M70. Just a plain jane .30-06 built in 1951. When I got it, it was set up with the old Weaver Pivot Mount and a Weaver KV 2.75-5 scope. I swapped out the scope with a Leupold 3-9 and made a sling for it and cleaned it up a bit and that was that. Loaded some 180 grain Hornady Spire Points and zeroed it, and did my annual qualification with it on the old Norwegian Reinsdyrprøve like we do every year with every rifle we hunt with and then held it in reserve for a back up.

Well, this year, at least for a time, the backup became the primary. As it turned out, my SAKO AV 6.5x55 slipped from the tow rope on one of my tree stands and snapped the stock in two. So the old Winchester was brought into service.

And serve it did. A cow elk got in its way and the old gun put meat in the freezer yet again before I could get the SAKO back up and running.

Here it is...