Well, Mr.Hathcock was a hell of a shot, and the Remington Model 700 is an excellent rifle, but it's not a variant of the Model 70 Winchester. No more so than them both being bolt actions anyway.

When you start talking Model 70s you are talking my game brother. They are my first love even before knives. The original Model 70s have a 3-position safety and are what is referred to as "controlled round feed". They have a claw extractor that controls the round from the time it picks it up to the time it is ejected. That is why almost ALL dangerous game rifles you will ever see are built on Model 70 actions or other controlled round feed actions and not push feed actions like the Rem 700.

Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Rem 700, and some folks(especially benchrest shooters) will tell you that the Rem 700 will make for a more accurate rifle for a few reasons that I won't get into here unless asked about. That is not really tru though. As you noted Mr. Hathcock did pretty well with his Model 70.

To make things even more confusing, not all Model 70s are "CRF". There were many years that Winchester made the Model 70 as a push feed action. They lost a lot of customers so they reintroduced the "CRF" Model 70 calling it a Model 70 Classic. If you buy a Winchester (which I always recommend <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />) you want to find either a Pre 64' Model 70, a Super Grade, or a Model 70 Classic. If you ever operate a "CRF" Model 70 you will never want anything else. They are smooth as silk and they function very well when dirty too.

Once more I want to make it clear that the Rem 700 is an excellent action as well.