its the skill and experience of the hunter and his familiarity with his equipment of choice ,far more than the action type that maters,
between the end of the American civil war (1865) and the end of WWI (1918) the lever action , Henry, Winchester, marlin, were the predominant repeating action, hunting rifle type in AMERICA
only after WWI did the bolt action start to gain popularity, most people tended to use what they had and money was tight until about the end of WWII
,with roughly an 80 years of popularity , head start, the lever action gained a large following,
if you grew up in the 1940s-70s watching westerns people like john wayne did not use a bolt action.
most deer hunting in the eastern U.S. and some areas of the west are in forested or timber areas where shots over about 150 yards are not all that common,
many guys are more comfortable, carrying a carbine or rifle, having a faster second or rapidly accessible repeat fire capability.
If your hunting timber and potentially making shots on rapidly moving game having a fast second shot may prove helpful, but its that first shot that generally counts.
most guys can work a lever action , or pump action rifle a bit faster than a bolt action, thus it provides a bit more confidence,
I personally think its mostly physiological, for several reasons, first , the first shot is almost always the critical shot, and in 50 plus years of hunting ,
Ive rarely needed a fast or any second shot, second, anyone willing to practice with a quality bolt action will find its more than fast enough under real hunting conditions,
in fact Ive used a single shot browning 78 and ruger #1 and never had any issues reloading rapidly and getting ready too take potentially a second shot,
rifles like a browning BLR or remington 7600 do provide access to that rapid repeat shot capability and maintain reasonably consistent accuracy.
but as previously stated,its the skill and experience of the hunter and his familiarity with his equipment of choice ,far more than the action type that maters,
when hunting elk this type of timber, and shorter ranges is where I find most of the elk Ive seen and shot,
and my late hunting partner rarely shot deer or elk at over 120 yards,
thats because neither of us even saw elk past 75-120 yards
my long time hunting partner always used a 358 win BLR and had a very good record
I preferred a SAKO carbine in 375 H&H, it never had any issues dropping game that I remember,
but I'm just as happy using a BLR in 450 marlin on recent trips
and Id feel just as well equipped if I had a ruger #1 in a caliber like 375 H&H or 450 marlin or 35 whelen.
