That wouldn't surprise me too much. Bolt actions were becoming more popular and Newtons best is certainly a very nice rifle by any standard.Take down,drilled for scope blocks,light weight, they had a lot going for them.Probably would not have taken too much to "queer" it for Mr. Newton when he did not have much money to work with.I wonder what happened to his gun collection, I believe there was a picture of Mr. Newton standing by a rather large gun cabinet printed somewhere a long time ago.John Amber, I believe , had some Newton memorabilia in his vast collection.