The Winchester Model 70 Ultimate Shadow Hunter SS bolt action hunting rifle was first showcased last January in Las Vegas, at the 2015 edition of the SHOT Show, and is currently available for purchase on the U.S. market and in a handful of other Countries all throughout the world.
It represents the latest incarnation of the iconic Model 70 bolt action platform that has been around ever since 1936 and never lost its place in the hearts, minds and... gun cabinets of hunters and sport shooters worldwide despite the plethora of successful bolt action and autoloading alternatives launched by the Winchester Repeating Arms company itself ever since.
At first glance, the Model 70 Ultimate Shadow, with its flowing lines and integrated, rubberized, oval-dot gripping surfaces on the pistol grip and fore-end looks very different from other composite rifles. Winchester's new rifle sports a 55,8cm/22", 60,9cm/24" or 66cm/26" long free-float barrel, depending from the caliber; all barrels are cold-hammer forged in fully stainless steel, and matched to a likewise stainless steel solid Model 70-type action that's drilled and tapped to accept rail interfaces for optical or electro-optical sighting systems; no iron sights are provided with the Winchester Model 70 Ultimate Shadow Hunter SS rifle.
The Winchester Model 70 Ultimate Shadow Hunter SS bolt action rifle comes factory-issued with a fully synthetic, Mossy Oak Break-Up Country camouflage stock and overmolded rubber gripping surfaces on the pistol grip and handguard.
Another feature of the Model 70 Ultimate Shadow Hunter SS rifle is Winchester's own, three-lever M.O.A. Trigger, whose pull weight ranges between 3 and 5 pounds (1,36 to 2,26 kilograms) and is factory set at 3.¾ pounds, ensuring zero creep, overtravel and takeup; according to Winchester, this helps the Model 70 Ultimate Shadow Hunter SS deliver the extreme accuracy benchmark of 1" group at 100 yards (2,54cm groups at 91,44 metres).
The Winchester Model 70 Ultimate Shadow Hunter SS feeds through an integrated magazine whose capacity ranges between five shots for all available standard calibers (.243 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington, .308 Winchester, .270 Winchester and .30-06 Springfield) to three shots for either Magnum (.300 and .338 Winchester Magnum) or Short Magnum calibers (.300 Winchester Short Magnum, .270 Winchester Short Magnum, .325 Winchester Short Magnum), for a total of ten different chamberings available.
The manufacturer's suggested retail price ranges between $1,099.00 and $1,399.00 in the United States (that's approximately between €985.00 and €1,250.00 at current change), but street price can and will vary. International customers should contact their local Winchester representative for local availability and pricing.
