Originally Posted by
renegadelizard
From Chuck Hawks
"The fastest form of bolt action rifle is the straight pull action. The Canadian Ross rifle of pre-WW I fame was the first of the breed with which I am familiar. Such rifles have never been popular because they usually sacrifice too many of the bolt action's virtues (camming action on extraction, controlled feed, simplicity of design) for a fairly minor increase in speed of operation. The straight pull bolt action is still slower than a lever, pump, or autoloading rifle."
the ross was acutaly a mannlicher/lee enfield hybrid. the ross is from 1887, the earlier mannlicher is from 1885 and the ever earlier schmidt-rubin k31 is from 1880. the straight pull is said to have a history even further past that.