We Tested Six Hunting Rifles From 100 Years Ago

If you are like me, your interest in firearms includes a keen interest in their historical roles. I am fascinated by what life was like “back then,” and have long admired the craftsmanship of vintage firearms. Following the Great War, the 1920s became a period of unprecedented change in America. The year 1925 was when Winchester introduced the Model 54, the first successful commercial bolt-­action rifle. It wasn’t the first bolt-­action produced, but it was the first sporting rifle to achieve widespread acceptance. It was also the predecessor to the Winchester Model 70. Winchester also introduced the .270 Winchester cartridge in 1925, which became the standard-­bearer for a high-­performance hunting round.

Many components are taken for granted that were maturing 100 years ago. Smokeless powder was still in its infancy and high-­velocity cartridges were new. Lever-­action rifles dominated the market in the mid-­’20s, but they were being seriously challenged by bolt-­actions. Reloading was a novelty and optically sighted rifles were considered rare.

This article is a prelude to a series discussing six period rifles made a century ago by major commercial firearm manufacturers of the time. These rifles were tested with ammunition that was made to be as close as possible to the loads available in the 1920s and ’30s. In the final article, the results of the Guns & Ammo’s tests will be compared.

That Was Then …

In 1925, America was experiencing a boom in construction, economic development and transatlantic cultural exchange. The older generations were aghast at the popular “flapper” trend in young women’s clothing, which featured dresses cut just below the knee and tight-­fit blouses. The culture embraced makeup, smoking and drinking at speakeasies, rebelling at social constraints. Many suggested that those who wore flappers were nearly “naked.” The love affair with the automobile was well underway, and the aging Ford Model T was replaced by the Model A in 1928 — challenged by other brands. Firearms and ammunition were also subject to major changes and advancements, even in the wake of John Browning’s death in November 1926.

Smokeless Ammunition

Blackpowder ­fueled fixed ammunition since the early 1860s. Several generations of shooters grew up with the now-­familiar pistol and early rifle series of Winchester cartridges available in lever-­actions and single-­shots. Change began in the late 1880s when smokeless nitrocellulose-­based propellants were developed and viable. The .30-­30 Winchester was introduced in 1894 as the first commercial smokeless-­propellant ammunition, pushing a 165-­grain bullet to an unprecedented velocity of 1,900 feet per second (fps). That same year, the U.S. Army adopted the smokeless-powder-charged .30-­40 Krag (.30 Army) round. These two cartridges started a scramble by the industry to develop steels and actions that could harness the more powerful and higher-­pressure smokeless powders.

Lever-­action cartridges such as the .30-­30 Winchester, .35 Remington, .33 Winchester and similar rounds fed into Winchester’s Model 1886 and 1894 rifles had displaced the older blackpowder cartridges by the turn of the century. The 1895 Winchester introduced high-­performance smokeless cartridges by chambering the 7.62x54R, .30-­’06 Springfield and .405 Winchester in a commercial rifle — albeit a lever-­action. Just before and after World War I, improvements in smokeless propellants began the push for even higher performance, flat-­shooting cartridges to take advantage of new bolt-­action rifle designs.

The .30-­’06 evolved from the .30-­’03, introduced in 1903. The ’06 was a powerful cartridge for the time, and first offered in the Winchester 1895 lever-­action along with several other smokeless cartridges. In 1921, it was offered in the bolt-­action Remington Model 30. Some custom bolt-­action rifles chambering the .30-­’06 were built on imported commercial Mauser actions.

“Wildcatting,” i.e., the development of higher-­performance cartridges, began shortly after smokeless powder and jacketed bullets became publically available in the 1910s, championed by Charles Newton. Powders and jacketed bullets available at that point were limited compared to today. Introduced in 1915, the first commercial cartridge to achieve 3,000 fps was the .250-­3000 Savage with an 87-­grain bullet.

The .300 Savage was introduced in 1920 and based on the same case as the .250 Savage. It was a very compact round that nearly matched the .30-­’06 Springfield’s 150-­grain load. As mentioned, the .270 Winchester was introduced in 1925, loaded with a 130-­grain bullet at an advertised velocity of 3,160 fps. With the powder speeds available, I won’t conjecture at what the operating pressure of that round was. Current specs for a standard .270 Winchester 130-­grain load are 3,060 fps. The .270 Winchester cemented the fast, flat-­shooting hunting round in the American shooter’s mind. Professor Jack O‘Connor became the champion of this movement as a writer for “Outdoor Life” magazine, and later as the executive editor of “Petersen’s Hunting.”

The .30-­40 Krag became popular in the 1920s, but not due to its performance characteristics. Low-­cost rifles such as the Krag-­Jørgensen bolt action was prevalent on the surplus market as the U.S. Army sold its Krags at the conclusion of World War I.

Propellants & Reloading

In the mid-­’20s, reloading was a novelty. Few jacketed bullets were available, and there was a limited range of smokeless propellant speeds. Reloading tools were largely handheld plier-­like devices. Ideal offered a metallic reloading press and powder measures like we have today, while separate tools performed depriming and priming operations. A wide range of bullet molds were available for both plain-­base lead bullets and gas-­check lead bullets. Jacketed bullets were still largely the domain of the ammunition companies. Primers for reloading were also limited.

The primary suppliers of smokeless propellant in the U.S. during the 1920s were Hercules Powder Company and Du Pont Improved Military Rifle (IMR) Powder. Hercules was the more dominant supplier of pistol and shotgun powders, while IMR had the larger share of the rifle market. Since 2003, IMR is owned by Hodgdon Powder Company.

Table 1 shows the rifle speeds of propellant that were available in the mid-­1920s. It’s interesting to note that IMR 4064 was the slowest rifle propellant available. IMR 1147 — which became IMR 4320 — was new in 1925 and likely developed for the .270 Winchester. Ball powders did not exist yet. Ball powders were developed in the mid-­1930s to repurpose surplus World War I propellant; They weren’t offered to the public until 1960. Reloading finally became popular after World War II with the availability of good jacketed bullets from Hornady and Speer.

Sighting Systems

The predominant sights in 1925 were buckhorn barrel-­mounted sights. Tang peep sights offered by Lyman and Marbles were also popular, and receiver-­mounted peep sights enjoyed a following. Optical sights in 1925 were not unheard of, but they were rare. In the early 1900s, Stevens offered a line of scopes, and in 1909 Winchester introduced its line of B-­series scopes. Both designs were later sold to Lyman. In the 1920s, J. W. Fecker began offering scopes and employed John Unertl. The highest-­quality scopes offered by a U.S. manufacturer were made by Noske, while Zeiss scopes were also imported.

For the most part, these early scopes were a fixed low power, fragile, unreliable and expensive. It wasn’t until Weaver introduced its 330 scope in 1930 that scopes for the masses became readily accessible. In 1925, a Zeiss or Noske riflescope could cost two to three weeks’ worth of the average American’s wage!

Roaring Firearms

In 1925, small arms design and performance transformed. Lever-­action rifles were still the most popular afield, but the proliferation of stronger and more accurate bolt-­action rifles eroded its dominance. Bolt-­action rifles weren’t new. The Mauser brothers released its first bolt-­action military rifle in 1871, which was perfected in the Model 1898. By the mid-­1890s, most countries had adopted some type of bolt-­action rifle for its military. In contrast, the U.S. sportsman preferred the lever-­action until the 1920s.

Savage was the first to embrace the bolt-­action trend with its Model 1920, produced from 1920 to 1928. It was a wonderful, small and light rifle with an action sized specifically for the .250 and .300 Savage cartridges. With a 22-­inch barrel in .250 Savage, the rifle weighed just 5 pounds, 14 ounces. It was never very popular, though. Only 12,000 Model 1920s were produced. It was too far ahead of its time.

Remington followed with the Model 30 bolt action in 1921. It was nothing more than a refined Model 1917 Enfield of World War I fame. It wasn’t especially popular, either. About 27,000 rifles were sold during its 19-­year run.

It wasn’t until Winchester introduced the Model 54 bolt-­action in 1925 that a bolt-­action rifle gained serious attention, and it’s no coincidence that the .270 Winchester cartridge was also introduced with the Model 54. Based on the Mauser design, the Model 54 was the first successful commercial bolt-­action rifle. The Model 54 led directly to the Model 70 we’re all familiar with, which was introduced in 1936. During its 11-­year production run, more than 50,000 Model 54 rifles were produced.

Several other types of firearms were popular during the Roaring Twenties. It might come as a surprise to some, but semiautomatic magazine-­fed rifles were available and popular long before bolt-­actions! Remington came out with its John Browning-­designed Model 8 semiautomatic in 1906. It featured Remington’s line of cartridges meant to compete with Winchester’s 1894 chamberings. The .25, .30 and .32 Remington were rimless versions of the .25-­35, .30-­30 and .32 Winchester. Of note, the .35 Remington was also introduced in the Model 8, and it stood the test of time. An interesting piece of history is that the Model 8, chambered in .35 Remington, was used by Texas Ranger Frank Hamer during the takedown of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow on May 23, 1934.

Winchester had two semiautomatic rifles available during this time. The Model 1907 was chambered in .351 Winchester Self-­Loading (WSL), and the Model 1910 chambered the powerful .401 WSL cartridge. The Model 8 and Model 1907 were very popular among law enforcement and prison institutions of the era.

Another firearm of note was the Remington Model 14 and 14½ pump-­action rifles. Introduced in 1913, they were meant to compete against the Winchester Model 1892 and 1894. The Model 14 chambered the Remington line of rifle cartridges, while the Model 14½ chambered the .38-­40 and .44-­40 Winchester pistol cartridges. The Model 14 was followed by the virtually identical Model 141 in 1935. Approximately 200,000 Remington pump-­action rifles were made between 1913 and 1951.

G&A’s Test Guns

Six period rifles were obtained to evaluate the performance and handling hunters could have expected 100 years ago. Ammunition was handloaded to approximate bullet types and performance specifications known of that time period. Table 2 includes a summary of the rifles that were sourced, including when they were produced and the chambering.

Space is limited for an evaluation of this type, and we could not reasonably test every rifle available in 1925. These are a representive sampling of manufacturers, action types, and cartridges for deer hunting. Of note, I chose an 1893 Marlin in .30-­30 instead of a Winchester 1894. So much has been written about the 1894 that I’m not sure much new information could be added, so I felt it would be interesting to consider a direct competitor of Winchester’s 94. 

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