BOLT ACTION
RIFLES
EXPANDED
4TH EDITION
By Frank de Haas and
Dr. Wayne van Zwoll
About Our Covers
SIGARMS Inc. was founded in 1985 in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, for the purpose of importing the SIG SAUER pistol line manufactured by J.P. Sauer & Sohn GimbH of Eckernfoerde, Germany. After moving to Herndon, Virginia, for several years, SIGARMS finally settled in Exeter, New Hampshire, and while continuing to import SIG SAUER handguns, began production of slides and the final assembly of the SIG line. The SIGARMS Academy opened its doors in its new facility in Epping, New Hampshire, in 1994 for law enforcement and military training. In 2000, the Academy began training civilian customers in personal self-defense and sport shooting. The late 1990s also signaled a growth in product lines for SIGARMS as the company expanded to include Sauer, Blaser, and Mauser rifles, as well as Hämmerli target guns, and a new line of shotguns built specifically for the American shooter by Italian craftsmen. Today, SIGARMS represents nine brands that cover the shooting and hunting sports as well as law enforcement, military, and personal self-defense needs.
Contact Info: SIGARMS Inc., 18 Industrial Drive, Exeter, NH 03833 Ph: (603) 772-2302 Fax: (603) 772-9082 www.sigarms.com
Brands: SIG SAUER (handguns), Sauer (rifles), Blaser (rifles), Mauser (rifles and pistols), Swiss Arms (P210 series, SG550 series of tactical rifles), Hämmerli (target pistols and rifles), Aurora (shotguns), SIGARMS Academy (armed professional and responsible citizen training) and Laksen (outdoor clothing)
Top Cover Gun: The latest addition to the Sauer family is the Sauer 202 Take Down. This exciting rifle quickly breaks down into three pieces without any tools. Currently available in several big-game calibers, the Sauer 202 Take Down will be sure to find its way into any traveling hunter’s gun cabinet.
Bottom Cover Gun: Unlike conventional bolt actions, the Blaser R93 action works by simply pulling the bolt to the rear and pushing it forward, with no lifting. Blaser R93 rifles were engineered to allow for barrel and caliber interchangeability. Over 30 calibers are available. Quick takedown and a replacement barrel and bolt head are all that’s needed to provide maximum versatility in the Blaser R93.
To learn more about SIGARMS and its Blaser and Sauer rifle lines.
© 2003 by Krause Publications
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ISBN: 0-87349-660-4
Library of Congress Number: 2003108013
Printed in the United States of America
eISBN: 978-1-44022-406-5
Edited by Joel Marvin
Designed by Brian Brogaard
About the Authors
Frank de Haas
1916-1994
Frank de Haas died December 19, 1994, just a few days after finishing the 3rd Edition of this book. That final illness was sudden, and he died where he was born, in Orange City, Iowa.
During his writing career, from 1943 through 1994, de Haas wrote nine books about guns and hundreds of articles in a wide range of publications. He wrote much of this immense output from a gunsmithing point of view.
De Haas never considered himself a professional gunsmith. For a time he took in work, his shop in a corner of a plumber’s shop, later in his basement at home. Whether for himself or not, with a Craftsman lathe and drill press, he remodeled, restocked, rechambered and rebarreled all kinds of guns.
For the last 30 years or so, de Haas gunsmithed for his readers, doing jobs he could write about. He was good enough to design single-shot rifle actions and did so, and some of those are shooting today. Indeed, he was called “Mr. Single Shot” in some circles for his abiding interest in that classic sort of American rifle.
Frank de Haas was a Life Member of the National Rifle Association, a lifelong church-goer and a family man.
Dr. Wayne van Zwoll
A full-time journalist for the outdoors press, Wayne van Zwoll lives in northern Washington State with his wife Alice. He has published more than a thousand articles for more than two dozen magazine titles, including Sports Afield, Outdoor Life and Field & Stream. He has explained the technical side of guns, ammunition and optics in four of his nine books: Modern Sporting Rifle Cartridges, The Hunter’s Guide to Ballistics, The Hunter’s Guide to Accurate Shooting and The Gun Digest Book of Sporting Optics. They complement his historical work, America’s Great Gunmakers, and four comprehensive treatises on big game hunting: Mastering Mule Deer, Elk Rifles, Cartridges and Hunting Tactics, and Elk and Elk Hunting. Having served for more than a decade as a technical editor for Rifle and Handloader, Wayne has become a staff writer for Rifle Shooter and Guns & Ammo. Once the editor of Kansas Wildlife, he’s been shooting editor for Bugle for 14 years and assembles the specifications section of Shooter's Bible. Wayne is also in charge of publications for the Mule Deer Foundation. Early in his career, an academic background in natural resource management led Wayne to work to work with the BLM, then Washington's Department of Game. He served as a contract photographer for the U.S. Forest Service, has guided hunters in Utah and Wyoming and joined the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation as one of its first field directors. Wayne has shot competitively since his days on the Michigan State University rifle team. He qualified for the final Olympic smallbore tryouts in 1972 and has since won two state prone titles. Volunteering as a hunter education instructor, he has taught in five states. For 12 years he’s conducted a shooting program for Safari Club International, and teaches marksmanship at his own High Country Adventures camp for women. He also presents seminars on shooting, optics and big game hunting at sports shows. In 1996 he was named Shooting Sports Writer of the Year by the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Wayne has taught English and Forestry classes at Utah State University, where he earned a doctorate studying the effects of post-war hunting motive on wildlife policy.
Editor’s
