Taiwan Winchester M70

[USMCSGT0331]

It's been an interesting week finding guns, but one of them has me baffled. I purchased a Winchester Model 70 that has provenance to the Taiwanese military and I'm wondering if it might have some US military history as well. The rifle is in the same serial number range as the 373 WWII USMC M70 rifles, it has some barrel markings and a plaque tacked onto the side of the stock. The plaque and barrel markings are in Chinese, so I got some help with translating them. The barrel says Taiwan Army and the plaque says the rifle was a gift from Taiwan in Minguo 46 (Gregorian 1957), but it doesn't say who it was gifted to.

How did an M70 in the USMC serial number range end up in Taiwan military in the 1950's? Maybe a relic from the Korean War? The USMC serial number range for these rifles is quite vast, it's roughly from 40,xxx to 51,xxx. Out of those ~11,000 numbers the Corps only ordered 373, so that leaves a ton of room for other orders. Maybe the Taiwanese government ordered some M70's during the Chinese Civil War?

Hopefully someone here might have some information on this rifle! I pretty much bought it for the receiver, I have some original USMC M70 sniper rifle takeoff parts and all I need is a suitable receiver in the correct serial number range. So, this rifle might get converted into a sniper rifle (I'll save all the sporter parts, I can always convert it back to original condition if need be). What do you guys think?

 

[Skunk]

It’s an interesting rifle the way it is. If you convert it to a USMC sniper, then it’s just a clone.

I’d probably leave it alone and try to find out more about it.

 

[M4guru]

Damn, that is super neat.

I'd check with https://pre64win.com/ and see if he knows anything. I'd also buy a donor from them for your clone, and not break that one apart. I have a feeling that's too unique to use for parts.

 

[USMCSGT0331]

I appreciate the advice! I'll research it some more, I'm in no rush to use it in a sniper clone build, so it's going to stay in original configuration for quite some time. I have 4 or 5 original USMC M70 sniper rifle parts kits, so I need to start looking for some suitable receivers.

I'll post this rifle over on the Winchester forum as well, maybe one of those guys might have some insight on this rifle's history. It's definitely a strange one and its history could be very interesting (if any info can even be found). I tried to get factory letters on my 2 USMC M70's from the Cody Museum, but they said that all the early M70 records were lost in a fire long ago, so unfortunately they won't have anything on this gun.

 

[pmclaine]

Curious.....did you feel like you needed to buy another one, half hour after you bought the first one?

Chinese always does that for me.

 

[sandwarrior]

I thought I missed this thread then I see I posted some likes on it, so I didn't miss it.

Anyhow, I would try to narrow down the date of manufacture as close as you can. Then put that up with what happened in China/Taiwan during that time. The Nationalists fought the Communists from 1947-1949. 1949 was when Chiang Kai Shek abdicated to Taiwan.

Depending on the model, it may have been intended as a guard rifle or even as a gift. Who knows. A lot going on at that time and not easy to determine it's use without some kind of provenance as to what it's use was to be.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

You can write the Marine Corps History Center in Quantico. They are highly-responsive and if there is a connection there, probably one of their researchers can ferret it out.

BTW, if it has a USMC history, consider a donation to the Museum of the Marine Corps. They give very good tax valuations and, well, some things are too cool to keep in a closet.

I donated a painting to them a few years ago. Was a blast seeing the museum and some of the back rooms...

Cheers,

Sirhr