IN ABOUT 1935 A MIGRATION TO BOLT- action rifles and “rimless” cartridges occurred, and although Winchester had a rifle for that (its newly introduced Model 70), the company wasn’t ready to let go of its lever-action legacy.
For around 60 years, America’s favorite repeating rifles were all lever guns. And while the doughboys who had returned from the Great War had a new understanding of rifle and cartridge performance, lever-action rifles were still second to none in popularity.
But the writing was on the wall, especially in terms of cartridge performance. Lever-action rounds, such as the .30-30, .32 Special, .33 WCF, .38-55, and .45-70, were all quite good inside 150 yards—or even 200 yards—but past that, they just couldn’t compare. A bolt action in .30-06 or a European round like…
