The Velocity Race Part Two

Consider this something of an epilogue to my History of Bolt Guns series.

The shooting sports is a place where one man can have a big influence.  In the post-World War II sporting rifle market, few people can claim to have had as big an influence as Roy Weatherby.  His iconic guns and cartridges weren’t to everyone’s tastes, but they made a big mark on the American sporting gun scene.

The Man

Born in Kansas in 1910, 1945 found the young Roy Weatherby in Huntingon Beach, California, fortunately before that state became a garbage- and feces-covered shithole.  He and his wife Camilla had a house there, and Roy had a business – a 25×70 foot closet that bore the name “Weatherby’s Sporting Goods.”

Weatherby was an incorrigible tinkerer.  It is not known if the late Charles Newton had any influence on the young Weatherby, but it would not be surprising if that was the case, because Weatherby’s first efforts were directed at the development of high-velocity centerfire rifle cartridges.  In 1945, the velocity race that Newton had started was about to shift into high gear; Roy Weatherby was positioned to take a commanding lead in that race.

The Plan

In 1945, many gun writers like Elmer Keith were proponents of large-bore rifles firing heavy bullets at moderate velocities.  The .30-06 was already something of a standard in the game fields of North America.  A few people used the .300H&H, a real powerhouse for the time, and the .35 Whelen, using the .30-06 case necked up to .35 caliber, was a popular wildcat.

Around 1945, Roy Weatherby’s tinkering produced his first proprietary cartridge, the .220 Weatherby Rocket.  This was something of an “improved” .220 Swift, based on that case but blown out some to increase powder capacity.  Until this point the .220 Swift had been the velocity champion in bolt-action (and indeed, any) rifles, firing a 40-grain .22 slug at over 4,000 fps.  The Weatherby round improved on this some, managing to drive a 50-grain slug at the speeds achieved in the Swift with a bullet 20% lighter; but the Rocket wasn’t to be the pattern Weatherby would follow.

The Cartridges

In that same year of 1945, Weatherby was looking to introduce his high-velocity ideas into the world of big game cartridges.  He hit upon the big belted .300 and .375 H&H cases as the idea starting point, as they had considerably greater powder capacity than the .30-06 family of cases.  To improve gas flow in the cartridge, he came up with a double-radius shoulder, something new that made forming the cases a little more complicated and therefore a little more expensive; but Weatherby rounds and rifles were never budget items.

In 1944 and 1945, Weatherby introduced three new cartridges:

The .257 Weatherby Magnum was based on the .375 H&H cartridge shortened to 2.5 inches, blown out with the double-radius shoulder and necked down.  This round, rumored to have been Roy Weatherby’s personal favorite, can launch a 115-grain bullet at 3,400 fps.  That, folks, is smoking, even by today’s standards.

The .270 Weatherby Magnum drove a 130-grain bullet at 3,300 fps, about 400 fps than the standard .270 Winchester load favored by Jack O’Connor.  This round was, again, based on the .375H&H case shortened and necked down.

The .300 Weatherby Magnum is the most popular of Weatherby’s proprietary cartridges.  The big .300, until recently the most powerful .30 caliber commercial rifle cartridge made, was based on a blown-out .300 H&H case and launched a 180-grain pill at over 3,200 fps.

Weatherby was looking for velocity, and his new cartridges gave shooters that, in spades.  In marketing his cartridges and later, his rifles, Weatherby maintained that high-velocity cartridges gave more killing power than lower-velocity rounds firing bigger, heavier slugs.  In this he ran afoul of some of the older-school gun scribes like Elmer Keith, but Weatherby stuck to his guns, and gradually his cartridges gained a following.  Quite a few notable people endorsed Weatherby’s rifles, John Wayne among them; the resulting publicity sold more rifles and funded development of more high-velocity rounds.

In 1947 Weatherby came out with two more cartridges, again based on the H&H case:

The 7mm Weatherby Magnum was next; the big 7mm on the same case as the .300 Weatherby launched a 140-grain 7mm slug at 3,200 fps and would heft even the big 175 grain A-Frame slugs at over 3,000.

In that same year Weatherby broke into the heavy rifle market, blowing out the .375 H&H case with the double-radius shoulder and naming this the .375 Weatherby Magnum.  In this round Weatherby actually missed the mark a bit; while the new heavy round would loft a 270-grain projectile at 2,800 fps, pretty respectable for a rifle intended for African plains game, its performance wasn’t enough greater than the time-tested .375 H&H to gain a lot of traction.  The Weatherby did have the advantage of being able to fire .375 H&H rounds in the rifle, thus fire-forming the case to Weatherby’s specs for use thereafter, making it in essence a “.375H&H Improved,” but this wasn’t to prove popular; that may well have led Roy Weatherby to his next step.

In 1955 Weatherby scaled up, with two new cartridges based on a new, larger case of Weatherby’s design.  As the basis of his new rounds, Weatherby basically took the .416 Rigby case, added a belt, and introduced two versions:  The .378 Weatherby Magnum and the .460 Weatherby Magnum.  The latter round was, at the time of its introduction, the most powerful commercial rifle cartridge in production.  Now, at last, Weatherby caught the attention of the safari market.  Within a few years, the big .460 was as popular among African safari guides and professional hunters as the old reliable .458 Winchester.

One other well-known dangerous game cartridge resulted from this, but it wasn’t a Weatherby product; in 1976 Colonel Arthur Alphin necked up the .460 case to produce his .500 A-Square.

1963 Saw the introduction of the .340 Weatherby Magnum, introduced as a response to Winchester’s .338 Magnum.  This new round left the .338 Winchester Magnum in the dust, firing a 225-grain slug at over 3,000 fps.  With my own .338, I’ve never broken 2,800 with a bullet of that weight, and I’m not shy about pushing my loads up to the line.

In 1964, Weatherby introduced the only .22 caliber belted magnum at that time, the .224 Weatherby Magnum.  This foray into small bores finally displaced the .220 Swift as the velocity champion of the .22 calibers.  And finally, in 1968, Weatherby’s last magnum, the .240 Weatherby Magnum, set new speed records for commercial 6mm cartridges.

Still, cartridges are of little use without a rifle, and Weatherby’s rifles were as distinctive as his cartridges.

The Guns

To be honest, I was never a fan of Weatherby’s style in bolt rifles.  The appearance of his first rifles was very distinctive.  Weatherby used beautiful wood and fine, high-polished bluing, but the stocks feathered a high Monte Carlo and a big cheekpiece, contrasting rosewood fore-end and pistol grip caps with white spacers, and white spacers on the butt pad.  Many people liked them, based on how they sold, but even back in the Seventies when I was coming up, I always found them a little garish.

But you can’t argue with success.  Shiny Weatherby rifles may have been, and on the expensive side to boot, but the combination of solid bolt actions and powerful, high-velocity cartridges was a seller.

Weatherby’s first rifles, the so-called “Southgate” rifles after Roy’s big new store in Southgate, California, were built on FN ’98 Mauser actions.  Most of the Southgate rifles were built for Weatherby calibers, but old Roy would turn out a fine rifle in a standard caliber as a custom item if a customer asked for one.  In 1956, Weatherby contracted with Schultz & Larsen to build rifles for the big new .378 and .460 Magnums on their beefy Model 54 bolt action, but that situation only lasted a couple of years, as Roy Weatherby’s crowning achievement was in the works.

In 1958, Roy Weatherby’s ideal rifle finally took form with the introduction of the Mark V.  This was something unlike the Mauser 98 and Schultz & Larsen actions of previous Weatherby rifles; the Mark V had nine small locking lugs at the front of the big, hefty bolt.  When carefully fitted, as was generally the case with Weatherby rifles, this made for a very strong action.  The first Mark V actions were made by Pacific Founders, Inc and assembled at South Gate, but demand quickly outstripped Pacific’s capacity, so Weatherby moved production to Sauer, who was similarity unable to keep up, and then to Howa in Japan.

Mark V production muddled along unchanged from 1958 to 1963, the only notable difference being the relocation of the safety from the receiver to the bolt shroud when the manufacture moved from Pacific to Sauer.  But in 1964, Weatherby determined the need for a scaled down version to go with the new .224 Weatherby Magnum, and so the six-lug “Varmintmaster” was born.  The six-lug Varmintmaster was later offered in .22-250, the first production Weatherby in a non-Weatherby commercial caliber (the company would build a Mark V custom in almost any caliber) and later the full-size Mark V was offered in the immortal .30-06.

Some years later Weatherby would begin offering the Mark V in a variety of non-Weatherby calibers, but only in the six-lug versions.  This has added some collector’s value to the few nine-lug .30-06s out there.  If you have one, let me know; I’d happily give you a couple hundred bucks for it.

This new Weatherby had some significant things going for it.  The nine locking lugs were placed on a reduced bolt head, meaning there was no necessity for locking lug races in the action; this made the action very smooth in operation.  As the action was designed for high-pressure, high-velocity rounds, the bolt body had three holes to vent hot gases in the event of a case failure, and the oversize bolt shroud likewise shielded the shooter’s face from hot gas in such an event.  The later bolt-mounted safety was robust, locking the firing pin in place – although I maintain to this day that the only safety that one should rely on is the one between your ears.

The Mark V was a fine rifle if a bit showy, but it was also expensive.  So, in 1970, Weatherby made a deal with Howa to produce a rifle with the traditional Weatherby style using Howa’s Model 1500 action, chambered in standard, non-Weatherby calibers.  This became the Weatherby Vanguard, and with this rifle Weatherby took aim (hah) at the market held firmly by the Remington 700 and Winchester Model 70 rifles.

Weatherby didn’t neglect the rimfire market, either.  In 1964, Weatherby released the semi-auto Mark XXII, a slick, pretty rifle firing from a 10-round detachable magazine.  My oldest friend Dave had one for some time and enjoyed it, but it was an expensive proposition for killing squirrels, so he eventually traded it off; but I remember it as a real tack-driver.

Current Mark V barreled actions are built by ATEK of Brainerd, Minnesota, while the Vanguard continues to be manufactured by Howa in Japan.  The semi-auto Mk XXII, sadly, has gone out of production as of 1989, although currently Weatherby offers an Anschutz .22 bolt gun bearing the “Weatherby Mk XXII” label.

The Legacy

Roy Weatherby died in 1988 at age 77, having changed the American sporting rifle world forever.  Five years earlier he had passed leadership of Weatherby, Inc. to his son Ed Weatherby, who still runs the company today.  Last year the company announced it was finally leaving southern California for the more gun-friendly environs of Sheridan, Wyoming.  A portion of the Weatherby estate went to fund the Weatherby Foundation International, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the non-hunting public of the benefits of ethical, scientifically managed sport hunting.

Most of Weatherby’s current rifles – and shotguns – are a tad more subdued, most of the current production bearing synthetic stocks.  These have many advantages on a hunting rifle, and indeed my hunting rifles tend to wear synthetic stocks, but I’m still pleased that Weatherby does continue to offer the Mark V and the Howa-actioned Vanguard, as well as the Orion shotguns, with fine walnut furniture as well.  The same applies for Weatherby’s current scattergun offerings, which include the very fine Orion over/under and the 181, Element and SA-08 semi-autos.

And the Weatherby Magnum line of cartridges has been expanded by two, the 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum and the .30-378 Weatherby Magnum.

The pairing of a Weatherby rifle and an appropriate Weatherby cartridge will still serve as a fine rifle for the game fields anywhere on the planet.  John Browning or Sam Colt he wasn’t, but he broke some new ground in sporting rifles and founded a company that persists today.  That’s not a bad legacy; not bad at all.  And not too shabby for a guy who started building rifles in his garage.

Today in Bolt Guns

Let’s take a highly condensed look at the state of the bolt gun market as it stands today.

Remington

Winchester got first billing last time, so this time we’ll give it to Remington.

The Remington 700 is still going strong, offered in a variety of configurations from wood-stock sporters to full-up Tacticool.  The great old BDL is still for sale, along with the lower-priced, blind-magazine ADL.  And Remington is still offering the carriage trade, $2400 Model 700 200^th Anniversary Limited Edition Model 700, of which rifles only 2,016 have been made.  Remington even offers a muzzle-loader on the Model 700 action, in which the bolt opens to allow a 209 shotgun primer to be placed into the breech for ignition.

Remington also offers the light and handy little Model 7, a short-action, light-barreled carbine in several varieties with wood, laminate and synthetic stocks.  I considered one of these rifles for Mrs. Animal and handled several although I didn’t take the chance to shoot one.  It’s a neat little rifle and would be great for close-quarters work, as they handle quickly and point very naturally.

The Model 783 is something new.  This rifle started out life as the Marlin X-7 rifle and was absorbed into Big Green when Remington acquired the old lever gun manufacturer.  The 783 and continues that weapon’s floating bolt head, detachable box magazine and small ejection port, which makes for a very strong receiver.  The 783 more or less fills the role once held by the old Model 788.

Winchester

This great old company now offers two bolt rifles.  The first is of course the Rifleman’s Rifle, the Model 70, now only offered with the blade ejector and controlled-feed claw extractor.  An improved trigger was recently added.  You can get this fine old rifle in Super Grade with a French walnut, American black walnut, or fine blonde maple stocks.  Stainless versions are offered, with wood or synthetic stocks.

If you’re on a budget Winchester has the XPR, a push-feed, synthetic-stocked, no frills hunting rifle.  The XPR, like the Remington 783, departs from the traditional Model 70 with its 3-lug bolt, detachable magazine and slide safety.

One thing I find interesting about Winchester is that they have eschewed the Tacticool craze in their bolt guns.  While Remington offers several Tacticool varieties of the Model 700, Winchester’s rifles are sporting rifles, pure and simple.  Mind you I’m not saying that’s good or bad, but it’s interesting, speaks somewhat to the new Winchester’s marketing strategy, and honestly, makes me like that company just a little bit more.

It’s probably a bit odd that I don’t have a Model 70 in the rack.  If I could find a Safari-grade, pre-64 rifle in .375 H&H, I might just be tempted to buy it – if I could get it for a price that wouldn’t put me in Mrs. Animal’s sights.

There are, of course, lots of other bolt guns on the market.

The Other Guys

It should come as a surprise to no one that I’m a fan of Browning products.  While the modern-day Browning and the modern-day Winchester share their corporate owners, their bolt gun offerings are quite different.

The Browning A-bolt has been discontinued, but the general pattern of the action lives on in the AB3 and, to some extent, the X-bolt, both of which shares the earlier rifle’s three locking lugs and 60-degree bolt throw.  Both rifles feature detachable magazines, but while the AB3 uses the traditional style box magazine, the X-bolt uses a new design, a rotary magazine roughly like that of the Savage 99.

While both rifles have good reputations, I haven’t fired or handled either, so can’t offer any personal recommendation.  Ruger bolt guns, on the other hand, I am more familiar with, and I have to say my experiences have been positive.

Of all the American manufacturers, Ruger probably has the largest lineup of bolt guns.  Ruger’s supply covers a very wide range, so I’ll mention a couple I find particularly interesting.

The latest version of the basic Model 77 platform is the Hawkeye Standard Rifle.  Like the original M77, it uses an updated, modernized version of the 98 Mauser action, but unlike the original M77 it uses a Winchester-style three position four-and-aft safety.  It comes in a good variety of calibers and finishes.  Ruger sells cheaper rifles on the same basic action, but the American has a cleaner finish and is available with some good wood furniture.

An interesting variant on the M77 is the Gunsite Scout, made to the concept first floated by the late Colonel Jeff Cooper.  This bolt gun has an 18” barrel, muzzle brake, a Picatinny rail allowing for an intermediate eye relief scope, a ten round detachable magazine and either a laminated wood or synthetic stock.  Unlike the late Colonel Cooper, I see little application for this rifle in a modern military, but it is even so a short, handy rifle; five round mags are available to meet most state’s hunting rifle restrictions.  The Scout was first put out in .308 Winchester and .243 Winchester but is available now in the thumping .450 Bushmaster, which would make an interesting brush gun.  If they only made it in .358 Winchester, I would probably own one by now.

Both rifles, along with most of Ruger’s stable, are available in left-handed versions for you southpaws.

Mossberg may be better known for their shotguns, but after some experimentation that old family-owned company offers a couple of good bolt guns.  The Mossberg Patriot is a standard push-feed bolt gun offered in traditional wood furniture as well as synthetics.  The bolt body is cut with spiral flutes for some reason; the Patriot also has a good, clean externally adjustable trigger unique to Mossberg.  Also available is the MVP, which mates the Patriot action to a synthetic stock and detachable, AR-pattern magazines.  If you live in a jurisdiction that is hostile to AR-pattern rifles, you can at least get a bolt gun to use your stockpile of AR magazines.

And then we have Savage.  Their entry into riflery may have been the Model 99 lever gun, but we have already discussed their 110 bolt gun.  Savage these days seems to be in competition with Ruger for the biggest variety of bolt guns for sale; they still offer the 110 in a great variety of finishes and calibers but also the Axis bolt gun and the Savage 11 hunting and 12 target rifles.  Like the original 110, Savage offerings tend to be robust, reliable and affordable.  Better, their more recent offerings are more attractive than the original, clunky 110, but only the 11 and 111 Hunter rifles feature wood stocks.

I’ve only scratched the surface of standard domestic bolt gun offerings, but I wanted to take a little space to describe some upscale offerings as well.

The Semi-Customs

Up in Kalispell, Montana, there is a company making high-end bolt guns based on what is essentially a 98 Mauser action with a Winchester 70-style fore and aft safety.  Their basic model, the American Standard Rifle, starts at about $1,500; the price of the fancier models rises rapidly from there.  I’ve toyed with the idea of buying their American Legends Rifle in my favored .338 Win Mag, and in so doing gain a rifle that for all intents and purposes is a brand-new pre-64 Model 70 Winchester.  But given our pending move north to the Great Land, I may instead look at The Alaskan, a stainless steel and synthetic rifle made for wet, cold climates.  One of these in .375 H&H would be good medicine for big bears and moose.

A step up the price and fanciness ladder will get you another Montana production from the Cooper Firearms company.  Their Model 21 (.17 Fireball through .300 Blackout) and Model 22 (.22BR through .35 Whelen, including belted magnums) Classic rifles carry a ½ MOA accuracy guarantee, AA Claro walnut stocks, hand-cut checkering and a detachable box magazine for quick reloads.

Kimber is a company known for some fancy 1911 clones, but they also produce some high-end bolt guns.  The Kimber bolt action, like the Montana, is a well-made clone of the pre-64 Model 70.  Kimber offers their Traditional and Dangerous Game versions with fine walnut furniture, along with the likes of the Hunter and Mountain series with synthetic stocks.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the world, more great bolt guns are being cranked out.

Around the World

Advertising themselves as Das Original, Mauser is still in the bolt gun game, producing their Mauser 12 bolt gun.  It’s interesting that this latest Mauser lacks the classic big claw extractor of the classic Model 98, but the M12 is gathering a good reputation as a solid, smooth reliable rifle, especially in those European nations where the peasantry is still allowed to own firearms.

Best of all, though, is the fact that Mauser still – still, after almost 120 years – offers a Model 98 sporting rifle.

The new Model 98 presents that classic action in both standard and magnum versions, featuring a fully milled action, a cold hammer-forged barrel, plasma nitride finish on the steel parts, a three-position safety and a gorgeous European walnut stock.  The Magnum version features a beefy square-bridge, double cross-bolted action and one of the highest capacities in a dangerous-game bolt gun; six shots in the .375 H&H, five in the .416 and .450 Rigby calibers.  And if you really want to drop some bucks into a beauty, Mauser offers the 98 Standard Diplomat with Grade 7 walnut furniture, guaranteed to cause excess salivation in anyone who loves fine guns.

Mind you these rifles start at the $7-8,000 range, so much as I’d love to own one, it’s probably not in the cards any time soon.

Mauser isn’t the only German manufactory to produce bolt guns I can’t afford.  Blaser produces their pricey R8 and R93 bolt guns, which couldn’t be more different than the great old Mauser.  The Blaser is a straight-pull bolt gun, very fast in operation, and with one big advantage:  The action has no ejection port, instead opening the top of the action when the bolt is withdrawn.  This is a neat feature in a hunting rifle, as when the action is in battery it is sealed up, with no way for moisture or dirt to get in and gum things up.  The Blaser action is also shorter than traditional bolt guns, allowing for a shorter overall length with a standard barrel.  Combine that with a smooth, simple trigger and coil spring throughout, and you’ve got an innovative, well-made sporting rifle.

Still, tradition has a place in the gun world, and across the Channel, the Brits are big on tradition.  Rigby offers three classes of bolt guns, all on 98 Mauser actions:  The Highland Stalker, The Big Game, and The London Best.  Were I suddenly discovered to be a long-lost heir of John Rockefeller – unlikely, as the Animal family tree is already pretty well documented, and not a billionaire in the bunch – I would be interested in The London Best, hand-fitted from end to end, with Grade 7 Turkish walnut and London Best oil finish, hand-blued and hand-fitted.  Given that one of these costs as much as a good-sized house, I suspect I will have to keep wishing.

Holland & Holland is still in the game as well.  H&H today still offers the what they call “The Bolt Action Magazine Rifle” (those Brits just aren’t big on euphemistic names) in standard and magnum versions.  Like the Rigby, Holland & Holland rifles are based on Model 98 actions; like the Rigby, they are hand-built and hand-fitted, with high-grade walnut stocks; like the Rigby, I can’t afford one, and neither can you, so we’re going to have to settle for looking longingly at the pictures.

European companies seem to be determined to produce expensive bolt guns, but in Japan, a company called Howa is aiming at the middle-class trade.  Howa has a history in martial arms, having produced Arisaka rifles during World War II and copies of the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine after the war for the Japanese Self Defense Forces.  Nowadays they produce the M1500 bolt gun; Howa bolt guns have been imported into the U.S. as the Smith & Wesson 1500 and now under Howa’s own name.  Mrs. Animal once owned a Howa 1500 rifle in .270 Winchester; it was a decent, solid push-feed bolt gun, nothing fancy but certainly reliable and reasonably accurate, regularly turning in 1.5 MOA groups.

Again, I’ve barely scratched the surface of the non-U.S. bolt gun market.  Doing the topic justice would make a fair-sized book.  But we’re not done yet; the modern Tacticool craze hasn’t left the bolt gun market behind.

The Tacticool Stuff

I commented earlier that Winchester seems to have eschewed the hardcore Tacticool market, and that I like that about them – I do.  But other American gun companies have shown no such restraint.

The Remington 700 is available with what that company calls a “Tactical Chassis,” with an adjustable, telescoping stock, a Picatinny rail running from the dear of the action to the front of the fore-end, a pistol grip and a muzzle brake.

Mossberg offers the MVP, which we discussed previously, in a Tacticool version with (again) an adjustable stock, a Picatinny rail atop the action and, like the sporter version, the ability to use AR-style magazines, something unique among bolt guns.

Ruger has their Precision Rifle series, in standard and magnum calibers.  This piece, as the other Tacticool offerings, offers an adjustable stock, an abundance of Picatinny railage, and a muzzle brake; but the Precision has the look of a dedicated sniper piece.  Personally, I’ll stick with my M77 Mk IIT for long-range riflery, but given Ruger’s reputation, I don’t doubt this piece would likewise get the job done at extended distances.

Savage offers tactical versions of their 110 bolt gun, most notably the 110 Tactical with their AccuFit stock and AccuFit adjustable trigger, a barrel threaded for suppressors and a 10-round detachable magazine.

There are, of course, many more.

It’s been a while since the bolt gun market was given a book-length treatment.  It certainly merits one; were my personal bandwidth a little less crowded, I might consider taking the project one.  Meanwhile, I hope I have at least given you a good thumbnail sketch here.

And Then This Happened

Another series draws to a close.

I’ve noted previously the omission of Roy Weatherby from this series.  People either seem to love Weatherby’s work or hate it, and while I admire his marketing acumen and his innovation with the old Mark V action and his stable of high-velocity, proprietary cartridges, I didn’t care for the flashiness of the first couple of generations of Weatherby rifles.  I also don’t care for the direction the company has gone now that old Roy is gone.  But that’s a story for another day.

So, what’s next?  Honestly, I don’t have another six-part history in me for a few weeks, at least.  But I have the Weatherby piece and at least one more Profile in Toxic Masculinity in the works, as well as a couple more (hopefully) amusing tales of my mis-spent youth in northeast Iowa.  So, stay tuned!  I find I really enjoy bringing all you folks this stuff and will try to keep up the pace to the extent my meat-space workload and my aging and partially fossilized brain allows.