Continuing to analyze the development of Turkish bolt action rifles market, in this article we will take a look at features of the Turqua rifle made by Ata Arms. This is the third article dedicated to the development of bolt-action rifles in Turkey. You can read the previous two by clicking here and here.

The Ata Arms Turqua rifle is chambered in .308 Winchester and features a free floated button rifled barrel with a 1:11″ twist rate and an 11-degree muzzle crown. The rifle has a three-lug monolithic bolt resulting in a 60-degree bolt throw, three position safety selector lever, and a cocked firing pin indicator. The manufacturer guarantees 1 MOA accuracy.

These Ata Arms rifles are fed from detachable double-stack box magazines of five round capacity. The receiver of Turqua rifle has a top Picatinny rail, integral recoil lug and gas escape holes drilled in the front receiver ring. The two-stage triggers can be adjusted within the trigger pull weight range of 1.7 to 3.5 lbs. The barrel length of these rifles is 24″ and the overall weigh is 8 lbs.

The Turqua rifle comes with a walnut stock which has three options: the profile shown in the images of this article, one with an adjustable cheek rest and the third option comes with a Monte Carlo comb. Probably one of the most unusual design features is the odd-looking shape of the forearm. It is unclear why they designed it so. It is less likely that there is a mechanism inside the forearm. Maybe it is more comfortable to hold but that “belly” makes the rifle aesthetically “different” from most of other existing bolt action rifles.

Apparently, at Eurostatory 2018, the company has introduced a version of this rifle in a tactical chassis. The rifle is called ASR308. Presumably, it shares the same action with the hunting rifle. Here are some images from the social media pages of Ata Arms.

By looking at the overall design of the latest Turkish bolt action rifles we can make at least a couple of conclusions. First, the Turkish designers have started to seriously explore this market after quite successfully getting their niche in the shotgun market worldwide. Second, I think we can tell that the bolt-action design has still a long way to go in Turkey. The reason I think so is the existence of several imperfections in the overall appearance of all the Turkish rifles that we discussed lately. I am talking about weird looking design elements such as the boxy stock shape near the rear receiver tang of the Istanbul Silah Monza rifle, the “belly” of the Ata Arms Turqua rifle and the collapsible wire stock of the Huglu OVIS Tactical Black rifle. The time will tell whether these solutions will become the signature of the Turkish bolt guns or will disappear over the time. We’ll keep watching and reporting about the developments in the Turkish bolt action rifles market.

Images from www.ataarms.com