Not trying to start a pissing match over this, but the post '64 model 70's were somewhat of a disaster for Winchester. They were trying to cut costs and manufacture a cheaper action to compete with the Rem 700, and by pretty much all accounts, they lost that battle. True enough that Win improved and went back to the older CRF mauser style (though not completely) in the early '90s. But, as I've heard the title used, the "rifleman's rifle" refers specifically to the pre '64's and that classic nostalgic style bringing back the flavors of better times and quality firearms. Not a big deal either way. Just always heard that that title came from the gun rag voting for gun of the year at some point prior to '64. However, the post '64 falling out of favor pretty well lead to the rise of the rem 700 which then got the military contracts and has never looked back.
I am definitely a fan of the model 70's with CRF, so please don't take this as me bashing that action, but there is a reason why so few custom rifles are made from the post '64's.
I've actually started a poll on another (more specifically gun related) forum that I'm on to see if others agree with the way I've understood it, or not. If anyone wants to know, I'll happily post a link to that thread here so ya'll can see for yourselves. I'm curious, as this is the first time I've heard that title used to cover ALL model 70's. Then again, I've been wrong twice this year already. Of course, one of those times, I thought I was wrong, but it turned out I was mistaken.:cheers: