Winchester M70 FWT ?

[ARHinAK]

Does anyone know when Winchester pretty much quit putting iron sights on their featherweight rifles?
I’ve scrolled through some of the popular gun selling sites and it seems that pre 64s had factory sights, after that, not so much. If anyone knows for sure I’d appreciate it.

 

[BillyJack1975]

It must have been 20 years or better. I’ve had my featherweight for nearly 20 years and it had a naked barrel. I bought a set of Winchester factory express sight for it and had a competent gunsmith install em. About the only way you’ll get one, is having them installed by a smith, or buying a vintage pre 64 featherweight.

 

[C.W. Richter]

NECG in NH can install them for you (as I had them install same on an M70 in 416 w/ a Q/D scope release). One of my fondest shooting memories was a super-nice neighbor "Big John" driving by an old family farm (in his Dad's Bright Lime Ford F100 pickup)...I was sitting at our rifle range (c. late '70s or early 80s?) dialing in some handloads for woodchucks and John stops, grinning ear-to-ear (just sits in the truck) and he hands me a Win M70 Featherweight in .270 (and says "Sight this in for Me!") So I did, and I didn't want to hand it back! (No iron sights; He had installed a Weaver 3-9x40.) It WAS a shooter! After some time elapsed after he passed, I inquired with other fam as to the whereabouts of that gun (as I WANTED it! They laughed and said he sold it long ago to pay his bar/eating tab!) *Also...every longer range rig I ever got that had iron sights had them promptly removed. So, I still have all the iron sights for every rifle I've taken them off of. I don't have any M70 sights, but there are some old-timers (and gunsmiths) out there that definitely do (if you want it to look all original Win.) Numrich used to sell NOS parts like that as well. GL

 

[5shot]

Midwest industries has all the parts, including rear bases specifically for the FWT

 

[Had213]

Spot on pre 64 Winchester Model 70 Featherweights 1952–1963 almost always came with factory iron sights typically a Marble's 69 or Lyman 16B folding rear dovetailed directly to the barrel no boss and a bead front on a ramp. It was standard for the lightweight contour, and catalogs owner photos confirm it.
Post 64 1964 onward, Winchester shifted hard to scoped rifles iron sights became rare or special order only. The redesign lighter stock, push feed action prioritized scope use, so most Featherweights when reintroduced in the '80s as XTR shipped without factory irons drilled tapped only, no sights. By the late '60s and into modern runs, open sights were basically phased out unless custom requested.
Your observation matches what collectors see pre64s sights standard, post 64s scopes dominant, irons uncommon. If you're hunting a pre 64 with original sights, they're still out there but command premiums. Seen any specific year or caliber you're eyeing?

 

[ARHinAK]

Thanks for all the replies, and it seems we’re all on the same track.
I should have explained that I’m not looking to have iron sights but rather that I’m having a conversation with an after market stock maker. Stock makers often still have too much drop at the comb and heal and I find it annoying.

 

[Legion]

By the time the post-64 redesign fully settled in around 1968-1972, iron sights on Featherweights had become the exception, not the rule. Winchester figured most hunters were scoping them anyway, so why spend the money on sights and the labor to install them?