Was Charlie Askins Right?
Is The Bolt Gun Really Finished?
A feature of the GUNS Magazine website that I really appreciate is the archive of past issues. In the November 1956 issue, an article by Charles Askins argued that the bolt action was obsolete as a hunting rifle. The bolt action only began catching on with American hunters after WWI, and just a third of a century later, according to Askins, its day was done.
Charlie’s Challenge
I’ve read Askins’ articles for some 50 years, met him several times, always enjoyed his company and had him autograph several books. Especially in later years he seemed to make a career out of controversy, attacking old favorites such as revolvers or the .30-’06 cartridge. Such attacks were always good for inspiring reader response. Still, in this early article he makes some good points.
“There is an awful lot of talk in this country about the bolt action rifle, a gun that was invented by a German almost a hundred years ago and not materially improved for a half-century. A lot of hunters swear by the Mauser-type bolt action; a lot of others swear at it. I belong with the latter crowd.
“How can any shooting iron, if indeed any mechanism, be otherwise than badly antiquated when it has been kicking around for 58 years with scarcely any facelifting at all … bolt-operated rifles are about as novel as mukluks in White Horse.
“The action is too heavy, too bulky, too long and too broad. It is as ugly as a West Texas horned toad, and has about the equivalent number of warty-like projection, angles, corners and other blemishes.”
Askins listed several shortcomings of the bolt action. The typical hunter had no training in rapid bolt operation — he says for many shooters, the bolt action might as well be a single shot. With a low-mounted scope access to a top-loading magazine was restricted making it slow to recharge the magazine. And as a southpaw himself, Askins was critical of the lack of bolt actions designed for left-handers.
Remember at the time the bolt-action was by no means dominant. The two best known bolt actions were the Winchester 70 and the Remington 721/722. Savage and Winchester made low-priced bolt guns for moderately powerful cartridges such as .22 Hornet and .30-30 Win. Imports? Much of Europe was still rebuilding after WWII — and besides, no patriotic American wanted to be seen with a dang furrin’-made rifle. Don’t want to be taken for a Nazi or a Commie!
The Next Big Thing
So if the bolt-action was on its last legs, what would American shooters choose? “Olin Mathieson … spent eight full years designing and perfecting a new rifle. And do you suppose it was a new and completely modernized bolt action? You betcha it wasn’t! It was a lever action, the Model 88.… The 88 is sleek, streamlined, well balanced and light in weight. It will mount a scope as low as the iron sight. It loads with a detachable magazine that enters from the bottom … the Model 88 indicates the manner of thinking going on among the high brass.”
“Over in the Remington camp … was the announcement of a pump action rifle, the Model 760. This handsome, completely modernized trombone rifle utilizes a turning action to lock up and the lugs are located at the forward extremity of the breech bolt. A telescope can be mounted on top of the receiver as the weapon loads with a separate clip.”
“The latest is the Model 740 autoloading .30-’06. This gas-operated number locks up essentially like the pump gun, a rotary bolt with forward lugs … The new automatic is just a little more streamlined and smooth looking than the F-100 Super Sabre … the knobs, cut-offs, safeties, bridges, bolt handles, corners, edges and 90 degree surfaces of the bolt action are missing.”
“… the gun of tomorrow will not be the old Mauser-pattern firearm but rifles of infinitely better appearance and improved handling qualities. They are guns that safely handle our hottest loads, are faster firing, easier and more rapid to reload, and possess a degree of accuracy vastly superior to the skill of the average rifle shot.”
Bolt-action rifles and cartridge reloading went
together like duck and green peas.
No Crystal Ball
Askin’s predictions weren’t so far-fetched for the era. But circumstances change. A big change can be summed up with a name — Roy Weatherby. Weatherby worked tirelessly to promote the virtues of magnum cartridges. By the late 1950s his efforts began to pay off. His Weatherby magnums were catching on, enough to inspire competition; Winchester with the .264, .300, 338, .458 Magnums, and Remington with the wildly popular 7mm Rem. Mag. Magnum cartridges became mostly associated with bolt actions.
Benchrest shooting and varmint shooting were dominated by bolt actions. Stretching a point a bit, one could almost say the Remington 722 and the .222 Rem. cartridge founded both sports. Shooters found a rigid bolt-action receiver and improved triggers enhanced accuracy. Cartridge reloading was rapidly increasing in popularity; the powerful camming of bolt actions made both cartridge seating and case extraction easier. As nations began adopting autoloading service rifles, surplus military bolt actions were released for commercial sale, often at ridiculously low prices. Left-hand actions were introduced. And while the average shooter might be slow at operating a bolt action, he wasn’t very fast with a lever- or pump-action either.
As the saying goes, it’s tough making predictions, especially about the future.
