I first shot an A-Bolt the year they were first introduced, which I believe was 1985 or '86. It was so accuate and lightweight that I bought it for my wife, who wanted a for-sure elk rifle rather than the .257 Roberts she'd been using.
It shot almost everything well, and Eileen really liked the detachable magazine inside the floorplate. Due to some arthritis, she'd always had a hard time loading a conventional bolt rifle in the typical cold weather of a Montana November. With the A-Bolt she could load a magazine in the warmth of home, then put in the rifle when it was time to go hunting, even in the dark. She hunted with it for several years, never having a malfunction, and at one point shot 10 big game animals in a row with one shot each, including pronghorn, whitetails, mule deer, elk and moose.
Since then I've shot several A-Bolts and a couple of X-Bolts. All were very accurate and worked fine. They might not be quite as rugged as a 98 Mauser, but....
