Remington's 721-722 series, announced in 1948, differed in two important ways from the Model 70. First, receivers came from tube stock, with a separate recoil lug between barrel shoulder and receiver ring. Such an arrangement was much cheaper in manufacture than the machining of a 71⁄2-pound slab of chrome-moly.

The other chief difference was in the bolt face, which featured a half-moon extractor clip in the rim encircling the recessed bolt face. There was no ejector slot; the plunger-style ejector operated through a hole in the bolt face. A recessed face did not allow for controlled-round feed because the cartridge had to be chambered before the extractor could engage.

During the early 1940s, Roy Weatherby had no rifles in which to chamber his magnum cartridges. In 1948, he began using commercial Mausers, which had become available from FN a year earlier. Strongly resembling military 1898 actions, these rifles had a low-swing checkered bolt handle, an easy-release floorplate and a single-stage trigger. The left-hand receiver slot was eliminated.

Other manufacturers began using the FN, as did many shooters building custom rifles. Browning employed it in its fine High Power series. It appeared in Herter rifles, also under the banners of Sako, Parker Hale, Colt, Marlin, H&R and High Standard. Refined, the FN became the Mark X.

The Mauser 98 quickly became the world's predominant military arm, and countries raced to catch up. The U.S. answered with the Springfield 03, shown here.

During the mid-1950s Roy Weatherby and Fred Jennie developed the Mark V to accommodate the .378 and .460 Weatherby Magnums. The Mark V had a recessed face with a small extractor fastened to the side of the bolt head.

The round receiver wore an integral recoil lug. Roy used three sets of triple locking lugs in an interrupted-thread design, reducing bolt lift to 54 degrees. The "push feed" Mark V is essentially the same rifle now that it was in 1958.

That year Savage also introduced its Model 110, which featured a round receiver, a detachable bolt head and a barrel nut to secure the recoil lug and speed headspacing.

Little of substance has appeared from makers of bolt-action rifles during the last 50 years. To paint with a broad brush, you can clump the myriad new rifles into two groups: those with predominantly Mauser features and those with face-mounted extractors and trigger-mounted safeties.

By 1965, major American manufacturers had abandoned Mauser extractors and controlled-round feed. Plunger-style ejectors replaced mechanical kickers. In 1968 Bill Ruger announced his Model 77 with an aggressive claw. But those first M77 extractors were made to hop the rim of a chambered round, not suck it from the magazine.

The Ruger 77 Mark II, circa 1992, had controlled-round feed. It joined a new Winchester Model 70 from the New Haven custom shop. This 70, while retaining some post-64 features, wore a Mauser claw that worked like the original but was beveled to jump the rim of a chambered cartridge. In 1990 Winchester put this action into production, cataloging the rifles as Super Grades.