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Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the
bolt The BOLT Browser was a web browser for mobile phones including feature phones and smartphones that can run Java ME applications. The BOLT Browser was offered free of charge to consumers and by license to mobile network operators and handset manuf ...
via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-action firearms use a rotating bolt design, where the handle must first be rotated upward to unlock the bolt from the receiver, then pulled back to open the breech and allowing any spent cartridge case to be extracted and ejected. This also cocks the
striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...
within the bolt (either on opening or closing of the bolt depending on the gun design) and engages it against the sear. When the bolt is returned to the forward position, a new cartridge (if available) is pushed out of the
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinat ...
and into the barrel chamber, and finally the breech is closed tight by rotating the handle down so the bolt head relocks on the receiver. Bolt-action firearms are generally repeating firearms, but some single-shot breechloaders also use bolt-action design as a breechblock mechanism. The majority of these firearms are
rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
s, but there are some bolt-action variants of
shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
s and
handgun A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ...
s as well. Examples of these date as far back as the early 19th century, notably in the Dreyse needle gun. From the late 19th century all the way through both World Wars, bolt-action rifles were the standard
infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and m ...
service weapons for most of the world's military forces. In modern military and law enforcement, bolt-action firearms have been mostly replaced by semi-automatic and selective-fire firearms, and have remained prevalent only as
sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment and optics for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses of the military sniper. The modern sniper rifle is a por ...
s due to the design's inherent potential for superior accuracy and precision, as well as ruggedness and reliability compared to autoloading designs.


History

The first bolt-action rifle was produced in 1824 by Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse, following work on breechloading rifles that dated to the 18th century. Von Dreyse would perfect his ''Nadelgewehr'' (Needle Rifle) by 1836, and it was adopted by the Prussian Army in 1841. While it saw limited service in the German Revolutions of 1848, it was not fielded widely until the 1864 victory over Denmark. In 1850 a metallic centerfire bolt-action breechloader was patented by Béatus Beringer. In 1852 another metallic centerfire bolt-action breechloader was patented by Joseph Needham and improved upon in 1862 with another patent. Two different systems for primers –the mechanism to ignite a metallic cartridge's powder charge – were invented in the 1860s as well, the Berdan and the Boxer systems. The United States purchased 900 Greene rifles (an under hammer, percussion capped, single-shot bolt-action that used paper cartridges and an ogival bore rifling system) in 1857, which saw service at the Battle of Antietam in 1862, during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
; however, this weapon was ultimately considered too complicated for issue to soldiers and was supplanted by the Springfield Model 1861, a conventional muzzle loading rifle. During the American Civil War, the bolt-action
Palmer carbine The Palmer model 1865 carbine is a single-shot bolt-action rifle patented in 1863 by E. G. Lamson and Company of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. 1000 Palmer carbines were delivered to Union forces in the American Civil War one month after the war ...
was patented in 1863, and by 1865, 1000 were purchased for use as cavalry weapons. The French Army adopted its first bolt-action rifle, the Chassepot rifle, in 1866 and followed with the metallic cartridge bolt-action Gras rifle in 1874. European armies continued to develop bolt-action rifles through the latter half of the 19th century, first adopting tubular magazines as on the
Kropatschek A Kropatschek is any variant of a rifle designed by Alfred von Kropatschek. Kropatschek's rifles used a tubular magazine (constructed of nickel-plated steel) of his design, of the same type used in the Japanese Murata Type 22 and the German ...
rifle and the
Lebel rifle The Lebel Model 1886 rifle (French: ''Fusil Modèle 1886 dit "Fusil Lebel"'') also known as the ''"Fusil Mle 1886 M93"'', after a bolt modification was added in 1893, is an 8 mm bolt-action infantry rifle that entered service in the French Ar ...
. The first bolt-action repeating rifle was patented in Britain in 1855 by an unidentified inventor through the patent agent Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford using a gravity-operated tubular magazine in the stock. Another more well-known bolt-action repeating rifle was the Vetterli rifle of 1867 and the first bolt-action repeating rifle to use centerfire cartridges was the weapon designed by the Viennese gunsmith Ferdinand Fruwirth in 1871. Ultimately, the military turned to bolt-action rifles using a box magazine; the first of its kind was the
M1885 Remington–Lee The Remington–Lee is a bolt-action, box magazine repeating rifle designed principally by James Paris Lee. Description It first appeared in 1879, manufactured by the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company. Eventually Remington took over product ...
, but the first to be generally adopted was the British 1888
Lee–Metford The Lee–Metford rifle (a.k.a. ''Magazine Lee–Metford'', abbreviated ''MLM'') was a bolt-action British army service rifle, combining James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system and detachable magazine with an innovative seven groove rifled ba ...
.
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
marked the height of the bolt-action rifle's use, with all of the nations in that war fielding troops armed with various bolt-action designs. During the buildup prior to
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the military bolt-action rifle began to be superseded by semi-automatic rifles and later fully automatic rifles, though bolt-action rifles remained the primary weapon of most of the combatants for the duration of the war; and many American units, especially the USMC, used bolt-action M1903 Springfields until sufficient numbers of M1 Garands were made available. The bolt-action is still common today among
sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment and optics for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses of the military sniper. The modern sniper rifle is a por ...
s, as the design has the potential for superior accuracy, reliability, lesser weight, and the ability to control loading over the faster rate of fire that alternatives allow. There are, however, many semi-automatic sniper rifle designs, especially in the designated marksman role. Today, bolt-action rifles are chiefly used as hunting rifles. These rifles can be used to hunt anything from
vermin Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterpri ...
to deer and to large game, especially big game caught on a
safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...
, as they are adequate to deliver a single lethal shot from a safe distance.
Bolt-action shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub-proje ...
s are considered a rarity among modern firearms but were formerly a commonly used action for .410 entry-level shotguns, as well as for low-cost 12- gauge shotguns. The M26 Modular Accessory Shotgun System (MASS) is the most advanced and recent example of a bolt-action shotgun, albeit one designed to be attached to an M16 rifle or M4 carbine using an underbarrel mount (although with the standalone kit, the MASS can become a standalone weapon). Mossberg 12-gauge bolt-action shotguns were briefly popular in Australia after the 1997 changes to firearms laws, but the shotguns themselves were awkward to operate and had only a three-round magazine, thus offering no practical and real advantages over a conventional double-barrel shotgun. Some pistols use a bolt-action, although this is uncommon, and such examples are typically specialized target handguns.


Major bolt-action systems


Rotating bolt

Most of the bolt-action designs use a rotating bolt (or "turn pull") design, which involves the shooter doing an upward "rotating" movement of the handle to unlock the bolt from the breech and cock the firing pin, followed by a rearward "pull" to open the breech, extract the spent cartridge case, then reverse the whole process to chamber the next cartridge and relock the breech. There are four major turn bolt-action designs: the Remington M-700, possibly the single most numerous produced rifle in history which is now also used as basis for most custom competition rifle actions, along with the
Mauser Mauser, originally Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik ("Royal Württemberg Rifle Factory"), was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols has been produced since the 1870s for the German arme ...
system, the Lee–Enfield system, and the
Mosin–Nagant The Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, bolt-action, internal magazine–fed military rifle. Known officially as the 3-line rifle M1891 and informally in Russia and former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle ( ru , винтовка Мосина, ISO 9: ) ...
system. All four differ in the way the bolt fits into the receiver, how the bolt rotates as it is being operated, the number of locking lugs holding the bolt in place as the gun is fired, and whether the action is cocked on the opening of the bolt (as in both the Mauser system and the Mosin Nagant system) or the closing of the bolt (as in the Lee–Enfield system). The vast majority of modern bolt-action rifles were made for the commercial market post-war, numbering in the tens of millions by Remington in the unique, and most accurate Model 700, two of the others use the Mauser system, with other designs such as the Lee–Enfield system and the Mosin Nagant system, of only limited usage.


Mauser

The Mauser bolt-action system is based on 19th-century Mauser bolt-action rifle designs and was finalized in the Gewehr 98 designed by
Paul Mauser Peter Paul von Mauser (born Peter Paul Mauser) (27 June 1838 – 29 May 1914) was a German weapon designer, manufacturer, industrialist and politician. Early life Mauser was born in Oberndorf am Neckar, in what was then the Kingdom of Württembe ...
. It is the most common bolt-action system in the world, being in use in nearly all modern hunting rifles and the majority of military bolt-action rifles until the middle of the 20th century. The Mauser system is stronger than that of the Lee–Enfield due to two locking lugs just behind the bolt head, which make it better able to handle higher-pressure cartridges (i.e. magnum cartridges). The
9.3×64mm Brenneke The 9.3×64mm Brenneke (designated as the 9,3 x 64 Brenneke by the C.I.P.) is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire rifle cartridge designed in 1927 by German gunmaker Wilhelm Brenneke. It is suitable for hunting medium to large game animals in Afr ...
and 8×68mm S magnum rifle cartridge "families" were designed for the Mauser M 98 bolt-action. A novel safety feature was the introduction of a third locking lug present at the rear of the bolt that normally did not lock the bolt, since it would introduce asymmetrical locking forces. The Mauser system features "cock on opening", meaning the upward rotation of the bolt when the rifle is opened cocks the action. A drawback of the Mauser M 98 system is that it cannot be cheaply mass-produced very easily. Many Mauser M 98-inspired derivatives feature technical alterations, such as omitting the third safety locking lug, to simplify production. The controlled-feed Mauser M 98 bolt-action system's simple, strong, safe, and well-thought-out design inspired other military and hunting/sporting rifle designs that became available during the 20th century, including the: * Gewehr 98/ Standardmodell/ Karabiner 98k * M24 series * vz. 24/ vz. 33 * Type 24 rifle * M1903 Springfield * Pattern 1914 Enfield * M1917 Enfield * Arisaka Type 38/ Type 99 * M48 Mauser *
Kb wz. 98a The Model 98a rifle (''Karabin wzór 98a'', abbreviated to ''Kb wz.98a'') was a Polish derivative of the German Gewehr 98 bolt-action rifle. History After gaining independence, the Polish Army was armed mainly with a mixture of Russian, Austri ...
/ Karabinek wz. 1929 * FR8 *modern hunting/sporting rifles like the CZ 550, Heym Express Magnum, Winchester Model 70 and the Mauser M 98 *modern sniper rifles like the Sako TRG, Accuracy International Arctic Warfare and GOL Sniper Magnum Versions of the Mauser action designed prior to the Gewehr 98's introduction, such as that of the Swedish Mauser rifles and carbines, lack the third locking lug and feature a "cock on closing" operation.


Lee–Enfield

The Lee–Enfield bolt-action system was introduced in 1889 with the
Lee–Metford The Lee–Metford rifle (a.k.a. ''Magazine Lee–Metford'', abbreviated ''MLM'') was a bolt-action British army service rifle, combining James Paris Lee's rear-locking bolt system and detachable magazine with an innovative seven groove rifled ba ...
and later Lee–Enfield rifles (the bolt system is named after the designer
James Paris Lee James Paris Lee (9 August 1831 – 24 February 1904) was a British Canadian and later American inventor and arms designer. He is best known for having invented the action and magazine that are used in the Lee–Metford and Lee–Enfield series of ...
and the barrel
rifling In firearms, rifling is machining helical grooves into the internal (bore) surface of a gun's barrel for the purpose of exerting torque and thus imparting a spin to a projectile around its longitudinal axis during shooting to stabilize the pro ...
after the
Royal Small Arms Factory The Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) was a UK government-owned rifle factory in Enfield (though some parts were in Waltham Abbey), adjoining the Lee Navigation in the Lea Valley. The factory produced British military rifles, muskets and swords f ...
at the London Borough of Enfield), and is a "cock on closing" action in which the forward thrust of the bolt cocks the action. This enables a shooter to keep eyes on sights and targets uninterrupted by cycling the bolt. The ability of the bolt between lugs and chamber to flex also keeps the shooter safer in case of catastrophic chamber overpressure. The disadvantage of the rearward-located bolt lugs is that a larger part of the receiver, between chamber and lugs, must be made stronger and heavier to resist stretching forces. Also, the bolt ahead of the lugs may flex on firing which, although a safety advantage, may eventually lead to increased head space. Repeated firing over time can lead to receiver "stretch" and excessive headspace, which if perceived as a problem can be remedied by changing the removable bolt head to a larger sized one (the Lee–Enfield bolt manufacture involved a mass production method where at final assembly the bolt body was fitted with one of three standard size bolt heads for correct
headspace Headspace may refer to: *Headspace (company), an online healthcare company specializing in meditation *Headspace (organisation), an Australian non-profit organization for youth mental health *Headspace or ullage, the unfilled space in a container ...
). In the years leading up to WWII, the Lee–Enfield bolt system was used in numerous commercial sporting and hunting rifles manufactured by such firms in the UK as BSA, LSA, and Parker–Hale, as well as by SAF Lithgow in Australia. Vast numbers of ex-military SMLE Mk III rifles were
sporterised Sporterising, sporterisation or sporterization is the practice of modifying military-type firearms either to make them suitable for civilian sporting use or to make them legal under the law. Modifying for sporting use Modifying for sporting use c ...
post WWII to create cheap, effective hunting rifles, and the Lee–Enfield bolt system is used in the M10 and No 4 Mk IV rifles manufactured by Australian International Arms. Rifle Factory Ishapore of India manufactures a hunting and sporting rifle chambered in .315 which also employs the Lee Enfield action. *Lee–Enfield (all marks and models) *
Ishapore 2A1 The Rifle 7.62mm 2A/2A1 (also known as the Ishapore 2A/2A1) is a 7.62×51mm NATO calibre bolt-action rifle adopted as a reserve arm by the Indian Armed Forces in 1963. The rifle is a variant of the Lee–Enfield rifle. The design of the rifle ...
*Various hunting/sporting rifles manufactured by BSA, LSA, SAF Lithgow, and Parker Hale *Australian International Arms M10 and No 4 Mk IV hunting/sporting rifles *Rifle Factory Ishapore's hunting Lee Enfield rifle in .315


Mosin–Nagant

The Mosin–Nagant action, created in 1891 and named after the designers
Sergei Mosin Sergei Ivanovich Mosin (russian: Серге́й Ива́нович Мо́син, April 2 or 14, 1849 - February 8, 1902) was a Russian Major General, engineer, and the main contributor to the design of the 3-line rifle, Model 1891 (Russian: "тр ...
and
Léon Nagant Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
, differs significantly from the Mauser and Lee–Enfield bolt-action designs. The Mosin–Nagant design has a separate bolthead that rotates with the bolt and the bearing lugs, in contrast to the Mauser system where the bolthead is a non-removable part of the bolt. The Mosin–Nagant is also unlike the Lee–Enfield system where the bolthead remains stationary and the bolt body itself rotates. The Mosin–Nagant bolt is a somewhat complicated affair, but is extremely rugged and durable; like the Mauser, it uses a "cock on open" system. Although this bolt system has been rarely used in commercial sporting rifles (the Vostok brand target rifles being the most recognized) and never outside of Russia, large numbers of military surplus Mosin–Nagant rifles have been
sporterized Sporterising, sporterisation or sporterization is the practice of modifying military-type firearms either to make them suitable for civilian sporting use or to make them legal under the law. Modifying for sporting use Modifying for sporting use c ...
for use as hunting rifles in the years since WWII.


Other designs

Both the U.S. Army's M24 Sniper Weapon System and
U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through comb ...
' M40
sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment and optics for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses of the military sniper. The modern sniper rifle is a por ...
s are built from the Remington Model 700 rifle, in different degrees of modification, the main difference being the custom fitted heavy contour barrel and action length. The M24 utilizes the Long action and the M40 employs the short action bolt-face. The reason for this is that the M24 was originally intended to chamber the longer
.300 Winchester Magnum The .300 Winchester Magnum (also known as .300 Win Mag or .300 WM) (7.62×67mmB, 7.62x66BR) is a belted, bottlenecked magnum rifle cartridge that was introduced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963. The .300 Winchester Magnum is a m ...
round. The M40, however, was not intended to be chambered in the more powerful .300 Winchester Magnum round, yet the Marine Corps' intention was to migrate to the .300 Winchester Magnum cartridge. The Marine Corps' delay has led to a change in migratory direction, the current goal is for the M40 to become a rifle chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum. The United States Army's Joint Munitions and Lethality Contracting Center has awarded Remington a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) Indefinite Delivery/ Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract (W15QKN-10-R-0403) for the upgrade of up to 3,600 M24 Sniper Weapon Systems (SWS) currently fielded to the Army pending type classification as the “M24E1”. The major configuration change for this system is the caliber conversion from 7.62mm NATO (.308 Winchester) to .300 Winchester Magnum to provide soldiers with additional precision engagement capability and range. The contract is for a five-year period and has a guaranteed minimum value of $192K with a potential value of up to $28.2 million. This award follows a full and open competitive evaluation lasting nine months, which began with the release of the Army's Request for Proposal (RFP) on January 13, 2010. The program will be executed under the authority of Project Manager Soldier Weapons, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, and managed by its subordinate unit, Product Manager Individual Weapons. In 2009 the U.S. Army has changed the weapon name from M24E1 to the XM2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle. The Vetterli rifle was the first bolt-action repeating rifle introduced by an army. It was used by the
Swiss army The Swiss Armed Forces (german: Schweizer Armee, french: Armée suisse, it, Esercito svizzero, rm, Armada svizra; ) operates on land and in the air, serving as the primary armed forces of Switzerland. Under the country's militia system, re ...
from 1869 to circa 1890. Modified Vetterlis were also used by the Italian Army. Another notable design is the Norwegian Krag–Jørgensen, which was used by Norway, Denmark, and briefly the United States. It is unusual among bolt-action rifles in that is loaded through a gate on the right side of the receiver, and thus can be reloaded without opening the bolt. The Norwegian and Danish versions of the Krag have two locking lugs, while the American version has only one. In all versions, the bolt handle itself serves as an emergency locking lug. The Krag's major disadvantage compared to other bolt-action designs is that it is usually loaded by hand, one round at a time, although a box-like device was made that could drop five rounds into the magazine, all at once via a stripper or en bloc clip. This made it slower to reload than other designs which used stripper or en bloc clips. Another historically important bolt-action system was the Gras system, used on the French Mle 1874 Gras rifle, Mle 1886
Lebel rifle The Lebel Model 1886 rifle (French: ''Fusil Modèle 1886 dit "Fusil Lebel"'') also known as the ''"Fusil Mle 1886 M93"'', after a bolt modification was added in 1893, is an 8 mm bolt-action infantry rifle that entered service in the French Ar ...
(which was the first to introduce ammunition loaded with nitrocellulose-based smokeless powder), and the Berthier series of rifles.


Straight pull

Straight-pull bolt-actions differ from conventional turn-pull bolt-action mechanisms in that the bolt can be cycled back and forward without rotating the handle and thus only a linear motion is required, as opposed to a traditional bolt-action, where the user has to axially rotate the bolt in addition to the linear motions to perform chambering and primary extraction. The bolt locking of a straight pull action is achieved differently without needing manual inputs, therefore the entire operating cycle needs the shooter to perform only two movements (pull back and push forward) instead of four (rotate up, pull back, push forward, and rotate down), greatly increasing the gun's
rate of fire Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In m ...
. In 1993 the German
Blaser Blaser Jagdwaffen GmbH (pronounced: Blah-zer) is a German firearms manufacturer of high-end shotguns and rifles both for the hunting and tactical market. It was founded in 1957 by Horst Blaser, developing the drilling Blaser Diplomat. In Sep ...
company introduced the Blaser R93, a new straight pull action where locking is achieved by a series of concentric "claws" that protrude/retract from the bolthead, a design that is referred to as ''Radialbundverschluss'' ("radial connection"). As of 2017 the Rifle Shooter magazine listed its successor
Blaser R8 The Blaser R8 is a German straight-pull rifle known for its radially locking bolt system, modularity and its barrel mounted scope mount manufactured by Blaser. The rifle also features a manual cocking system and a direct trigger. In 2015 there ...
as one of the three most popular straight pull rifles together with
Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
Helix and Browning Maral. Some other notable modern straight pull rifles are made by Beretta, C.G. Haenel,
Chapuis Chapuis is a French-language surname of the Arpitan region of eastern France and Francophone Switzerland with various spellings, and may refer to: * Bernard Chapuis (born 1945), French writer * Charles Bertin Gaston Chapuis de Tourville (1740–1 ...
, Heym,
Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...
, Rößler, Savage Arms,Brand new 2021: Savage Impulse, the new straight-pull rifle from the USA
/ref> Strasser, and Steel Action. Most straight bolt rifles have a firing mechanism without a
hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...
, but there are some hammer-fired models, such as the Merkel Helix. Firearms using a hammer usually have a comparably longer lock time than hammerless mechanisms. In the sport of biathlon, because shooting speed is an important performance factor and semi-automatic guns are illegal for race use, straight pull actions are quite common and are used almost exclusively in the Biathlon World Cup. The first company to make the straight pull action for
.22 caliber .22 caliber, or 5.6 mm caliber, refers to a common firearms bore diameter of 0.22 inch (5.6 mm). Cartridges in this caliber include the very widely used .22 Long Rifle and .223 Remington / 5.56×45mm NATO. .22 inch is also a popular ...
was J. G. Anschütz; the action is specifically the straight pull ball bearing lock action, which features spring-loaded ball bearings on the side of the bolt which lock into a groove inside the bolt's housing. With the new design came a new dry fire method; instead of the bolt being turned up slightly, the action is locked back to catch the firing pin.


Operating the bolt

Typically, the bolt consists of a tube of metal inside of which the firing mechanism is housed, and which has at the front or rear of the tube several metal knobs, or "lugs", which serve to lock the bolt in place. The operation can be done via a rotating bolt, a lever, cam action, a locking piece, or a number of systems. Straight pull designs have seen a great deal of use, though manual turn bolt designs are what is most commonly thought of in reference to a bolt-action design due to the type ubiquity. As a result, the bolt-action term is often reserved for more modern types of rotating bolt designs when talking about a specific weapon's type of action. However, both straight pull and rotating bolt rifles are types of bolt-action rifles. Lever-action and pump-action weapons must still operate the bolt, but they are usually grouped separately from bolt-actions that are operated by a handle directly attached to a rotating bolt. Early bolt-action designs, such as the Dreyse needle gun and the Mauser Model 1871, locked by dropping the bolt handle or bolt guide rib into a notch in the receiver, this method is still used in .22 rimfire rifles. The most common locking method is a rotating bolt with two lugs on the bolt head, which was used by the Lebel Model 1886 rifle, Model 1888 Commission Rifle, Mauser M 98,
Mosin–Nagant The Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, bolt-action, internal magazine–fed military rifle. Known officially as the 3-line rifle M1891 and informally in Russia and former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle ( ru , винтовка Мосина, ISO 9: ) ...
and most bolt-action rifles. The Lee–Enfield has a lug and guide rib, which lock on the rear end of the bolt into the receiver.


Bolt knob

The bolt knob is the part of the bolt handle that the user grips when loading and reloading the firearm and thereby acts as a cocking handle. On many older firearms, the bolt knob is welded to the bolt handle, and as such becoming an integral part of the bolt handle itself. On many newer firearms, the bolt knob is instead threaded onto the handle, allowing the user to change the original bolt knob for an aftermarket one, either for aesthetical reasons, achieving better grip or similar. The type of threads used vary between firearms. European firearms often use either M6 1 or M8 1.25 threads, for example M6 is used on the
SIG Sauer 200 STR The SIG Sauer 200 STR (Scandinavian Target Rifle), also known as the SIG Sauer 200 STR Match, is a bolt-action rifle mostly used as a target/competition rifle for national competitions by Norwegian, Swedish and Danish sport shooters. It is a va ...
, Blaser R93,
Blaser R8 The Blaser R8 is a German straight-pull rifle known for its radially locking bolt system, modularity and its barrel mounted scope mount manufactured by Blaser. The rifle also features a manual cocking system and a direct trigger. In 2015 there ...
, CZ 457 and Bergara rifles, while M8 is used on the Sako TRG and SIG Sauer 404. Many American firearms instead use 1/4" 28 TPI (6.35 0.907 mm) or 5/16" 24 TPI (7.9375 1.058 mm) threads. Some other thread types are also used, for example, No. 10 32 TPI (4.826 0.794 mm) as used by Mausingfield. There also exists aftermarket slip-on bolt handle covers which are mounted without having to remove the existing bolt handle. These are often made of either rubber or plastic.


Reloading

Most bolt-action firearms are fed by an internal
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinat ...
loaded by hand, by en bloc, or
stripper clip A stripper clip (also known as a charger or charger clip, especially in British and in Commonwealth military vocabulary) is a speedloader that holds several cartridges (usually between 5 and 10) together in a single unit for easier and faster lo ...
s, though a number of designs have had a detachable magazine or independent magazine, or even no magazine at all, thus requiring that each round be independently loaded. Generally, the magazine capacity is limited to between two and ten rounds, as it can permit the magazine to be flush with the bottom of the rifle, reduce the weight, or prevent mud and dirt from entering. A number of bolt-actions have a tube magazine, such as along the length of the barrel. In weapons other than large rifles, such as
pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...
s and
cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder duri ...
s, there were some manually operated breech-loading weapons. However, the Dreyse Needle fire rifle was the first
breech loader A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally breech ...
to use a rotating bolt design. Johann Nicholas von Dreyse's rifle of 1838 was accepted into service by Prussia in 1841, which was in turn developed into the Prussian Model in 1849. The design was a single shot breech-loader and had the now familiar arm sticking out from the side of the bolt, to turn and open the chamber. The entire reloading sequence was a more complex procedure than later designs, however, as the firing pin had to be independently primed and activated, and the lever was used only to move the bolt.


See also

* Antique guns * British military rifles * Service rifle


Other firearm actions

* Break action * Falling block action * Lever action *
Pump action Pump action or slide action is a repeating firearm action that is operated manually by moving a sliding handguard on the gun's forestock. When shooting, the sliding forend is pulled rearward to eject any expended cartridge and typically to coc ...
* Rolling block * Rotating bolt * Semi automatic rifle * Automatic rifle ** Blowback operated ** Recoil operated ** Gas operated


References


Further reading

*


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolt Action Firearm actions *