One can buy a modern bolt-action rifle to handle ANY modern ammunition, from .22 long rifle up to .50 caliber machine gun rounds (Barrett).
no reason to, millions of bolt action rifles were sold without transfer papers
can the bold actions from the turn of the century do the same job?
Yes, they could. My Swedish Mauser was made in 1900 and I use it in competition out to 600 meters. I doubt that this shooter is using a 100 year old gun because most of the cartridges that shoot the recovered bullet have a much smaller head, meaning a smaller bolt face. The action length of the old rifles is also much longer than needed for most .224 bullet rounds. A exception would be the .22-250, which uses the standard Mauser case head of .473 inches. This is a very high speed round mainly used for hunting varmints as large as coyotes out to about 400 yds.
I just find it journalistically unfathomable that the media does not ask serious questions. What are they even teaching information / question gathering in journalism school?
I thought J-School today was all about feelings of self worth and getting along with folks who want more money for their programs.