In the A-5′s long recoil action, the entire barrel moved back with the bolt, giving this gun a unique, shuffling kick. But it worked no matter what the weather. It was also a distinctive and, in its own way, handsome gun.
This is both the most popular .22 rimfire rifle in the world and, along with the AR-15, the most cobbled-on. A member of the class of 1964, the 10/22 began simply as a nicely designed semiauto rimfire with a magazine that actually fed and an attractive price.
The 700 began life in 1948 as the Model 721 when it became apparent to Remington that the era of cheap, skilled hand labor had come to an end, and gun companies that wanted to survive had better figure out a new way of doing things.
With graceful lines belying its exceptional strength, the Winchester Model 21 appeared in the midst of the Depression and survived to become an American classic. Joe DiMaggio shot a Model 21.
The mountain men who “turned left at the Rocky Mountains and headed toward the setting sun” found that the Kentucky rifles they had brought with them no longer fit the bill.
The animals were bigger; the shooting distances longer; travel was more by horseback than on foot; and the brass hardware that shone in the sun could cost you your life. Thus, the plains rifle, or, to cite its most famous maker, the Hawken, was born.