Although Winchester had offered a “sight-delete” option in their catalog going back as early as the war years, it was Gopher Shooter’s Supply in Faribault Minnesota which capitalized on the trend toward scoped hunting rifles in the mid 1950s and offered them as a direct catalog item. Gopher Shooter’s Supply ordered these sightless rifles in volume and offered them directly to the public, creating a small population of rifles colloquially known as “gopher specials”. It is impossible to know if any given sightless rifle was special ordered that way from Winchester by the end user, or if it was one of the rifles sold through Gopher Shooter’s Supply. In reality, it likely doesn’t matter. They all have become known as “gopher specials” and are all equally sought after. This 1960 gopher special in .270 Win came out of a collection in central California and sold to its new home before ever hitting the website- pre64win