Weird 22lr action...is this a real thing or is something broken?

[soupah]

I was taking a look at an old Stevens "Buckhorn" bolt-action tube-fed 22lr rifle today, and it was looking like it was going to join my collection as the price was right...until I tried to work the action.

The bolt would not cock unless the safety was on...if you tried to cock it with the safety off, the bolt would not cock.

Can this be normal? Is it an extra safety step? Are some bolt-action rifles made like this where you would have to;
1. fire
2. put the safety on
3. cock the bolt (draw it rearward)
4. close the action
5. take the safety off
6....and then fire again...
7. and then do it all over again for each shot?

That can't be right- it's ridiculous...right?

 

[Odd Job]

I don't know if that is a legitimate action or not, but I can tell you I won't buy a rifle that works like that.

 

[CajunBass]

A lot of old 22's had an "automatic safety" but most of the ones I've ever seen were single shot, "boys" rifles. I'm far from an expert though.

 

[Deus Machina]

Can you try loading in a dummy round? Perhaps the mechanism needs something to 'catch' to make it cock, and the safety is doing that when it's empty.

Or perhaps it's an 'automatic safety' like CajunBass mentioned, but is missing the spring that makes it automatic.