In
firearms
A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions).
The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
terminology, an action is the functional mechanism of a breech-loading firearm that handles (loads, locks, fires, extracts and ejects) the
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
cartridge
Cartridge may refer to:
Objects
* Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition
* ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device
* Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators
Other uses
* Cartridge (surname), a ...
s, or the method by which that mechanism works. Actions are technically not present on
muzzleloaders, as all those are
single-shot
Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many ce ...
firearms with a closed off breech with the powder and projectile manually loaded from the
muzzle. Instead, the muzzleloader ignition mechanism is referred to as the ''lock'' (e.g.
matchlock
A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of rope that is touched to the gunpowder by a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. Before ...
,
flintlock
Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (firearm), ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism its ...
,
caplock
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...
).
Actions can be categorized in several ways, including
single action
A trigger is a mechanism that actuates the function of a ranged weapon such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow, or speargun. The word may also be used to describe a switch that initiates the operation of other non-shooting devices such as a trap ...
versus
double action
Double action (or double-action) refers to one of two systems in firearms where the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer.
*Double-action only (DAO) firearms trigger: The trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. There is no single-action f ...
,
break action
Break action is a type of firearm action in which the barrel or barrels are hinged much like a door and rotate perpendicularly to the bore axis to expose the breech and allow loading and unloading of cartridges. A separate operation may be requir ...
versus
bolt action
Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt 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 ...
, and others. The term action can also include short, long, and magnum if it is in reference to the length of the rifle's receiver and the length of the bolt. The short action rifle usually can accommodate a cartridge length of or smaller. The long action rifle can accommodate a cartridge of , and the magnum action rifle can accommodate cartridges of .
Single-shot actions
Single-shot actions operate only to ignite a
cartridge
Cartridge may refer to:
Objects
* Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition
* ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device
* Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators
Other uses
* Cartridge (surname), a ...
that is separately set up ("in battery") for firing, and are incapable of moving the cartridge by itself. As the name implies, all single-shot long and short arms (unless
multi-barreled) can only hold one round of
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
and need to be manually reloaded after every firing. Historically, these are the earliest cartridge firearm actions to be invented.
Breechblock
Dropping block
The dropping block are actions wherein the
breechblock lowers or "drops" into the
receiver to open the breech, usually actuated by an underlever. There are two principal types of dropping block: the tilting block and the falling block.
Tilting block
In a tilting block or pivoting block action, the breechblock is hinged on a pin mounted at the rear. When the lever is operated, the block tilts down and forward, exposing the chamber. The best-known pivoting block designs are the
Peabody, the Peabody–Martini, and Ballard actions.
The original Peabody rifles, manufactured by the
Providence Tool Company
The Rhode Island Tool Company is a historic industrial property at 146-148 West River Street in Providence, Rhode Island. It is a parcel located between West River Street and the channelized West River, on which stand two historic buildings. Th ...
, used a manually cocked side-hammer. Swiss gunsmith Friedrich Martini developed a pivoting block action by modifying the Peabody, that incorporated a hammerless striker which was cocked by the operating lever with the same single, efficient motion that also pivoted the block. The 1871
Martini–Henry which replaced the "trapdoor"
Snider–Enfield
The British .577 Snider–Enfield was a breech-loading rifle. The American Jacob Snider invented this firearm action, and the Snider–Enfield was one of the most widely used of the Snider varieties. The British Army adopted it in 1866 as a con ...
was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, and the Martini is also a popular action for civilian rifles.
Charles H. Ballard's self-cocking tilting-block action was produced by the
Marlin Firearms Company
Marlin Firearms Co. is an American manufacturer of semi-automatic, lever-action, and bolt-action rifles. In the past, the company, now based in Madison, North Carolina, and formerly based in North Haven, Connecticut, made shotguns, derringers, ...
from 1875, and earned a superlative reputation among long-range "Creedmoor" target shooters. Surviving Marlin Ballards are today highly prized by collectors, especially those mounted in the elaborate Swiss-style Schützen stocks of the day.
Falling block
A falling block action (also known as a sliding block action) is a single-shot firearm action in which a solid metal breechblock slides vertically in grooves cut into the breech of the firearm and actuated by a lever. Examples of firearms using the falling block action are the
Sharps rifle
Sharps rifles are a series of large-bore, single-shot, falling-block, breech-loading rifles, beginning with a design by Christian Sharps in 1848 and ceasing production in 1881. They were renowned for long-range accuracy. By 1874 the rifle wa ...
and
Ruger No. 1
The Ruger No. 1 is a single-shot rifle with a Farquharson-style hammerless falling-block action, introduced and manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co. since 1967. An underlever lowers the breechblock to allow ammunition loading and also cocks th ...
.
Rolling block
In a rolling block action the breechblock takes the form of a part-cylinder, with a pivot pin through its axis. The operator rotates or "rolls" the block to open and close the breech; it is a simple, rugged and reliable design. Rolling blocks are most often associated with firearms made by
Remington
Remington may refer to:
Organizations
* Remington Arms, American firearms manufacturer
* Remington Rand, American computer manufacturer
* Remington Products, American manufacturer of shavers and haircare products
* Remington College, American c ...
in the later 19th century; in the Remington action the hammer serves to lock the breech closed at the moment of firing, and the block in turn prevents the hammer from falling with the breech open.
Hinged block
The hinged block used in the earliest metallic-cartridge breechloaders designed for general military issue began as conversions of muzzle-loading
rifle-musket
A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels replaced with rifled barrels ...
s. The upper rear portion of the barrel was filed or milled away and replaced by a hinged breechblock which opened upward to permit loading. An internal angled firing pin allowed the re-use of the rifle's existing side-hammer. The Allin action made by Springfield Arsenal in the US hinged forward; the
Snider–Enfield
The British .577 Snider–Enfield was a breech-loading rifle. The American Jacob Snider invented this firearm action, and the Snider–Enfield was one of the most widely used of the Snider varieties. The British Army adopted it in 1866 as a con ...
used by the British opened to the side. Whereas the British quickly replaced the Snider with a dropping-block
Peabody-style Martini action, the US Army felt the trapdoor action to be adequate and followed its muzzleloader conversions with the new-production
Springfield Model 1873, which was the principal longarm used as a weapon in the
Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
and was still in service with some units in the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (clock ...
.
Break-action
A break action is a type of firearm where the barrel(s) are hinged and can be "broken open" to expose the breech. Multi-barrel break action firearms are usually subdivided into over-and-under or side-by-side configurations for two barrel configurations or "
combination gun" when mixed rifle and shotgun barrels are used.
Bolt action
Although bolt-action guns are usually associated with fixed or detachable box magazines, in fact the first general-issue military breechloader was a single-shot bolt action: the paper-cartridge
Prussian needle gun
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
of 1841. France countered in 1866 with its superior
Chassepot rifle
The Chassepot (pronounced ''SHAS-poh''), officially known as ''Fusil modèle 1866'', was a bolt-action military breechloading rifle. It is famous for having been the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. It replace ...
, also a paper-cartridge bolt action. The first metallic-cartridge bolt actions in general military service were the
Berdan Type II introduced by Russia in 1870, the
Mauser Model 1871
The Mauser Model 1871 adopted as the ''Gewehr'' 71 or ''Infanterie-Gewehr'' 71, or "Infantry Rifle 71" ("I.G.Mod.71" was stamped on the rifles themselves) was the first rifle model in a distinguished line designed and manufactured by Paul Mauser ...
, and a modified Chassepot, the
Gras rifle
The Fusil Modèle 1874 or Gras was the French Army's primary service rifle from 1874 to 1886. Designed by Colonel Basile Gras, the Gras was a metallic cartridge adaptation of the single-shot, breech-loading, black powder Chassepot rifle. It was ...
of 1874; all these were single-shots.
Today most top-level smallbore match rifles are single-shot bolt actions.
Single-shot bolt actions in .22 caliber were also widely manufactured as inexpensive "boys' guns" in the earlier 20th century; and there have been a few single-shot bolt-action shotguns, usually in .410 bore.
Eccentric screw action
The eccentric screw action first seen on the
M1867 Werndl–Holub and later on the
Magnum Research
Magnum Research Inc. (MRI) was an American privately held corporation based in Fridley, Minnesota which manufactured and distributed firearms. The majority owners, Jim Skildum (President and CEO) and John Risdall (Chairman, COO), had been with ...
Lone Eagle pistol, the breech closure is a rotating drum with the same axis, but offset from the bore. When locked, a firing pin aligns with the primer and the breech is otherwise solid. When rotated open, a slot in the drum is exposed for extraction and feeding of a new round. Though first used on the Werndl-Holub, this action is commonly known as a cannon breech due to its association with the French 75mm Model of 1897 cannon. The French M1897 was, itself, based on William Hubbell's .
Other actions
*The
Ferguson rifle
The Ferguson rifle was one of the first breech-loading rifles to be put into service by the British military. It fired a standard British carbine ball of .615" calibre and was used by the British Army in the American Revolutionary War at the Battle ...
: British Major Patrick Ferguson designed his rifle, considered to be the first military
breechloader, in the 1770s. A plug-shaped breechblock was screw-threaded so that rotating the handle underneath would lower and raise it for loading with ball and loose powder; the flintlock action still required conventional priming.
*The
Hall rifle: First U.S. cavalry breechloader, originally made in flint but later made-in and converted-to percussion in 1830s–1840s. The breech section tilts up to accept a paper cartridge. Excellent machine-made construction, but still tended to leak gas at the breech.
*The
Kammerlader
The ''Kammerlader'', or "chamber loader", was the first Norwegian breech-loading rifle, and among the first breech loaders adopted for use by an armed force anywhere in the world. A single-shot black-powder rifle, the ''kammerlader'' was operate ...
: A crank-operated Norwegian firearm produced around the time of the Prussian Needle-gun. Originally used a paper cartridge. Later many were converted to rimfire; this was the first Norwegian breechloader.
*The
Tarpley carbine {{infobox weapon
, name = Tarpley Carbine
, image = Tarpley breech-loading carbine.jpg
, image_size = 300
, caption = Tarpley carbine displayed at the National Museum of American History
, origin ...
: This is categorized into falling block action, but the breech block is hinged, unlike the others.
*The
Morse Carbine: This mostly brass action is somewhat like the
Hall rifle, except it was designed to take a special centerfire cartridge. Very few of these were actually made; all were constructed in the late 1850s.
*The
Joslyn rifle
The term Joslyn Rifle refers to a series of rifles produced in the mid-19th century. The term is often used to refer specifically to the Joslyn Model 1861/1862, which was the first mass-produced breech-loading rifle produced at the Springfield Ar ...
:
*
Rising Breech Carbine The rising breech carbine was a Confederate weapon produced and used 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 foug ...
:
Repeating actions
Repeating actions are characterized by
reciprocating/
rotating
Rotation, or spin, is the circular movement of an object around a '' central axis''. A two-dimensional rotating object has only one possible central axis and can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. A three-dimensional ...
components that can move
cartridge
Cartridge may refer to:
Objects
* Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition
* ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device
* Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators
Other uses
* Cartridge (surname), a ...
s in and out of battery from an
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
-holding device (
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 combinatio ...
,
cylinder
A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base.
A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...
or
belt
Belt may refer to:
Apparel
* Belt (clothing), a leather or fabric band worn around the waist
* Championship belt, a type of trophy used primarily in combat sports
* Colored belts, such as a black belt or red belt, worn by martial arts practit ...
), which allows the gun to hold multiple rounds and shoot repeatedly before needing a manual ammunition reload.
Manual operation
Revolver
![M&Prevolver](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/M%26Prevolver.jpg)
A revolver is a multi-
chamber
Chamber or the chamber may refer to:
In government and organizations
* Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests
*Legislative chamber, in politics
* Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...
(but single-
barrel
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, ...
led) firearm that houses cartridges in a rotary
cylinder
A cylinder (from ) has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base.
A cylinder may also be defined as an infin ...
which
index
Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index''
* The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...
es each round into alignment with the
bore (with the help of a forcing cone) prior to each shot. Revolvers are most often
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; however, examples of
revolving 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 wit ...
s, shotguns and cannons have been made. The cylinder is most often rotated via
linkage
Linkage may refer to:
* ''Linkage'' (album), by J-pop singer Mami Kawada, released in 2010
*Linkage (graph theory), the maximum min-degree of any of its subgraphs
*Linkage (horse), an American Thoroughbred racehorse
* Linkage (hierarchical cluster ...
to a manually manipulated external
hammer, although some revolvers are "double-action" and can use the manual pull of the
trigger
Trigger may refer to:
Notable animals and people
;Mononym
* Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers
;Nickname
* Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist
* "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster
;Surname
* Bru ...
to drive both the cylinder rotation and hammer cocking.
Bolt action
![Open bolt action](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Open_bolt_action.jpg)
In bolt-action firearms, the opening and closing of the breech is operated by direct manual manipulation of the
bolt via a protruding
bolt handle. Most bolt-actions utilize a rotating bolt ("turn-pull") design, where the bolt handle must be rotated upwards for unlocking before the bolt can be pulled back to opening the breech and eject any spent cartridge, and must be rotated back down for locking after the bolt closes the breech. The three predominant rotating bolt-action systems are the
Mauser,
Lee–Enfield
The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's st ...
and
Mosin–Nagant systems, with the Mauser system emerging as the modern mainstream.
There are also straight-pull bolt-action systems that uses complex bolt head designs to facilitate locking instead of needing to rotate the bolt handle every time.
Straight-pull action
![M1895 US Navy Straight Pull Rifle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/M1895_US_Navy_Straight_Pull_Rifle.jpg)
In the Mauser-style
turn-bolt action, the
bolt handle must be rotated upward, pull rearward, pushed forward, and finally rotated back downward into lock. In a straight-pull action, the bolt can be cycled without rotating, hence reducing the required range of motion by the shooter from four movements to two, with the goal of increasing the
rate of fire. The
Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to:
People
* Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan
* Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning
* Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland
Places
* RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...
and
Schmidt–Rubin
The Schmidt–Rubin rifles were a series of Swiss Army service rifles in use between 1889 and 1958. They are distinguished by the straight-pull bolt action invented by Rudolf Schmidt and use Eduard Rubin's 7.5×55mm Schmidt–Rubin rifle cartrid ...
rifles load via
stripper clips, albeit of an unusual
paperboard
Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 Inch#equivalences, points) than paper and has certain ...
and steel design in the Schmidt–Rubin rifle, while the Mannlicher uses
en-bloc clip
A clip is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit for insertion into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm. This speeds up the process by loading the firearm with several rounds at once, rather than one at a ...
s. The Schmidt–Rubin series, which culminated in the
K31
The Karabiner Modell 1931 (K. 31/Kar. 31/Mq. 31) is a magazine-fed, straight-pull bolt-action rifle. It was the standard issue rifle of the Swiss armed forces from 1933 until 1958 though examples remained in service into the 1970s. It has a 6-ro ...
, are also known for being among the most accurate military
service rifle
A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is typically a versatile and rugged battle rifle, assault rifle, or carbine suitable for use in nearly all environments. Mos ...
s ever made. Yet another variant of the straight-pull bolt action, of which the
M1895 Lee Navy
The M1895 Lee Navy was a straight-pull, cam-action magazine rifle adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1895 as a first-line infantry rifle.Walter, John, ''The Rifle Story: An Illustrated History from 1776 to the Presen ...
is an example, is a camming action in which pulling the bolt handle causes the bolt to rock, freeing a stud from the receiver and unlocking the bolt.
In 1993 the German
Blaser company introduced the
Blaser R93
The Blaser R93 is a straight-pull action precision rifle offered in a multitude of calibers and barrel lengths manufactured by the German firearms manufacturer Blaser. Designed by Blasers' designer Mr. Meinhard Zeh in 1993, it had a number ...
, 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 as one of the three most popular straight pull rifles together with
Merkel Helix and
Browning Maral. Some other notable modern straight pull rifles are made by
Chapuis,
Heym Heym is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Georg Heym (1887–1912), German author
* Stefan Heym (1913–2001), German author
See also
* Heym (gun manufacturer)
* Chayyim, the basis for this name
* Haim (disambiguation)
* Hei ...
,
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 Rößler is a surname and may refer to:
* Hole Rößler (born 1949), German modern pentathlete
* Matthias Rößler (born 1955), German politician (CDU)
* Robert Rößler (1838–1883), German poet
* Rößler firearms, an Austrian firearms manufa ...
, Strasser, and Steel Action.
In the sport of
biathlon
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not tim ...
, 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 on the
Biathlon World Cup
The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 Biathlon World Cup, 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 Biathlon World Cup, 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons ...
. 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
J. G. Anschütz GmbH & Co. KG is a sporting firearms manufacturer based in Ulm, Germany, that makes rimfire and centerfire rifles as well as air rifles and air pistols for target and competition shooting, as well as hunting. Anschütz rifl ...
; the action is specifically the straight-pull
ball bearing
A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races.
The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...
-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.
Pump-action
![Winchester 1897](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Winchester_1897.jpg)
In pump action or slide action firearms, a sliding grip at the fore-end beneath the barrel is manually operated by the user to eject and chamber a new round. Pump actions are predominantly found in
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. An example of firearms using the pump action are the
Remington 870
The Remington Model 870 is a pump-action shotgun manufactured by Remington Arms Company, LLC. It is widely used by the public for shooting sports, hunting and self-defense, as well as by law enforcement and military organizations worldwide.
De ...
and
Winchester Model 1897
The Winchester Model 1897, also known as the Model 97, M97, or Trench Gun, is a pump-action shotgun with an external hammer and tube magazine manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The Model 1897 was an evolution of the Winchest ...
.
Lever-action
The lever-action firearms use a
linked lever to eject and chamber cartridges. An example of firearms using lever action are the
Winchester Repeating Rifle
Winchester rifle is a comprehensive term describing a series of lever action repeating rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Developed from the 1860 Henry rifle, Winchester rifles were among the earliest repeaters. The M ...
, the
Henry rifle and the
Marlin Model 1894
The Marlin Model 1894 is a lever-action repeating rifle introduced in 1894 by the Marlin Firearms Company of North Haven, Connecticut. At its introduction the rifle came with a 24-inch barrel and was chambered for a variety of rounds such as .25 ...
.
Bolt release
The bolt release or lever release action is a hybrid repeating action that uses the physical manipulation of a bolt release lever/button to complete the cartridge chambering process. However, unlike the lever action (which demands the shooter's hand to actually provide the force needed for cycling the action), bolt release firearms eject the used cartridge automatically without involving the lever, usually via
blowback or
gas operation
Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent ...
, and often uses a spring-assisted mechanism to chamber the next round. However, after moving rearwards the
bolt is stopped by a bolt catch and will not move back into battery position and chamber the new round, until the user manually disengage the catch by depressing a release lever/button. Due to the fact that the action cannot complete its loading cycle without manual input from the user, it is technically a manually operated action rather than a self-loading one.
Whilst the basic principle can be traced back to other self-ejecting rifles, such as the single-shot
Harrington & Richardson
H&R 1871, LLC, or more commonly known as Harrington & Richardson, is an American brand of firearms and a subsidiary of JJE Capital Holdings. H&R ceased production February 27, 2015.
History
The original H&R firm was in business for over a cent ...
Model 755 rifle, this action has since been popularized in the United Kingdom by Southern Gun Company, who manufacture with "Manually Actuated Release System" (MARS) action rifles/
pistol-caliber carbine
A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges.
The smaller size and lighter ...
s in
.223
The .223 Remington (designated as the 223 Remington by the SAAMI and 223 Rem by the CIP) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command ...
,
.308
The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...
,
9mm and
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...
calibers, as the interrupted mechanism complies with
The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 which bans possession of self-loading
centrefire
Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center
A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...
rifles. The French company
Verney-Carron
Verney-Carron S.A. is a French firearm manufacturing company based in Saint-Etienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The company makes a wide range of hunting shotguns and rifles. In 2004, Verney-Carron purchased the traditional artisan gun making compa ...
makes and exports the ''Speedline'' hunting rifle and the ''Véloce'' shotgun, which has caused some
moral concern in the
mainstream media
In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
in Australia due to lobbying by the
Greens and anti-gun groups such as
Gun Control Australia
Gun Control Australia (GCA) is an Australian incorporated gun control, anti-gun association that advocates for tighter gun laws in Australia, gun laws. Itwebsiteis run by volunteer lawyers, public health academics and social media social justice ...
, with
David Shoebridge
David Martin Shoebridge (born 17 September 1971) is an Australian politician and former barrister. He is a member of the Australian Greens and was elected to the Senate as the party's lead candidate in New South Wales at the 2022 federal elec ...
quoting the term "semi-semi-automatic". Similarly,
Savage Arms
Savage Arms is an American gunmaker based in Westfield, Massachusetts, with operations in Canada. Savage makes a variety of rimfire and centerfire rifles, as well as Stevens single-shot rifles and shotguns. The company is best known for the ...
has introduced the A17R and A22R rimfire rifles (both modified from its new A-series rifles, with a bolt release lever in front of the
trigger guard
A trigger guard is a protective loop surrounding the trigger of a firearm designed to prevent unwanted contact with the trigger, which may cause an accidental discharge. Other devices that use a trigger-like actuator mechanism, such as inhalers, c ...
), aiming at the Australian market, but law enforcement agencies such as the
Northern Territory Police
The Northern Territory Police Force is the police body that has legal jurisdiction over the Northern Territory of Australia. This police service has 1,537 police members (as at 31 July 2019) made up of 79 senior sergeants, 228 sergeants, 839 con ...
has attempted to unilaterally defining these rifles as "linear repeating firearms with assisted ejection" and reclassify them as
semi-automatic, and hence prohibited without at least a Category C license, which is off-limit to most urban and rural residents who do not own farms. In 2020,
CZ also introduced CZ 515, a bolt-release modified version of the CZ 512, to the Australian market via its importer
Winchester Australia. The Turkish manufacturer Pardus Arms also produces the
12 gauge-caliber BRS17 shotgun, which uses a bolt release button on the back of the
receiver to chamber rounds before firing.
Other actions
*
Rotary cannon
A rotary cannon, rotary autocannon, rotary gun or Gatling cannon, is any large- caliber multiple-barreled automatic firearm that uses a Gatling-type rotating barrel assembly to deliver a sustained saturational direct fire at much greater ...
:
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon.
The Gatling gun's operation centered on a cyc ...
,
M134 Minigun
The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric ...
*
Chain gun
A chain gun is a type of autocannon or machine gun that uses an external source of power to cycle the weapon's action, rather than diverting excess energy from the cartridges' propellant as in a typical automatic firearm, and does so via a cont ...
:
Hughes Chain Gun,
Guycot Chain Rifle,
Treeby chain gun
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six rou ...
*
Kalthoff repeater
The Kalthoff repeater was a type of repeating firearm that was designed by members of the Kalthoff family around 1630, and became the first repeating firearm to be brought into military service. At least nineteen gunsmiths are known to have mad ...
*
Cookson repeater
The Cookson flintlock rifle, a lever-action breech-loading repeater, also known as the Cookson gun, is one of many similar designs to make an appearance on the world stage beginning in the 17th century. The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has ...
*
Belton flintlock
The Belton flintlock was a repeating flintlock design using superposed loads, conceived by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, resident Joseph Belton some time prior to 1777. The musket design was offered by Belton to the newly formed Continental Cong ...
*
The Jennings Magazine Rifle
*
Meigs Sliding Guard Action Repeater
*
Roper repeater
*
The Orvill Robinson Model 2 rifle: Orvill Robinson, a New York-based firearms designer, developed two rifles. His first, patented in 1870 and commonly referred to by collectors as the "Model 1" though it has no official designation, was a precursor to straight-pull bolt actions like the Mannlicher M1886. The second rifle designed by Robinson, patented in 1872, was very different, employing a double hinged action that folded upward from the receiver to remove the spent casing and back down and forward to chamber a new round. Though hammer-fired, it is recognizable as a manually actuated ancestor of the toggle action found in firearms such as the Luger Parabellum 1908 pistol or Pedersen Rifle.
*
Krag-Petersson Rifle Though frequently classified as only single-shot firearms, one tilting block rifle usually falls under the category of repeating firearms. The user, upon ejecting a round from the chamber, would load a round from the underbarrel magazine onto the loading surface of the tilting block, then raise it to the mouth of the chamber where the user could then easily push it forward into the chamber. Though this would not meet most standards of "repeating" for most modern users, the classification has been in use historically.
*Remington-Rider Magazine Pistol has a manually-actuated rolling block action to pull a cartridge from a tubular magazine set below the barrel and simultaneously cock the firearm. The block was rolled back into battery, loading the cartridge into the chamber, by spring pressure while the hammer remained in the cocked position.
Autoloading operation
Blowback operation
![FAMAS Bolt-gr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/FAMAS_Bolt-gr.PNG)
The blowback operation is a system in which
semi-automatic and
fully automatic firearms operate through the energy created by combustion in the chamber and bore acting directly on the bolt face through the cartridge. In blowback operation the bolt is not locked to the chamber, relying only on spring pressure and inertia from the weight of the bolt to keep the action from opening too quickly. Blowback operation is used for low-powered cartridges due to the weight of the bolt required.
Delayed blowback actions use some mechanism to slow down rearward travel of the bolt, allowing this action to handle more powerful ammunition and/or reduced weight of the bolt.
=Examples of blowback operation
=
*Simple blowback:
Halcón M-1943,
Uzi submachine gun
The Uzi (; he, עוזי, Ūzi; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of th ...
, Varan PMX-80
*Lever-delayed blowback:
FAMAS
The FAMAS (''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', "Assault Rifle from the Saint-Étienne Weapon Factory") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978, a year after the Austrian Ste ...
,
Sterling 7.62,
AA-52
The ''AA-52'' (full designation in French: ''Arme Automatique Transformable Modèle 1952'', "Transformable automatic weapon model 1952") is one of the first French-produced guns of the post–World War II era. It was manufactured by the French g ...
, 2B-A-40,
TKB-517
The TKB-517 (russian: ТКБ-517) is an assault rifle designed by German Aleksandrovich Korobov. This rifle was externally similar to the AK-47, but based on the lever-delayed blowback mechanism invented by John Pedersen and refined by Pál Ki ...
*Roller-delayed blowback:
SIG 510
The Sturmgewehr 57 is a selective fire battle rifle designed by Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (now SAN Swiss Arms) of Switzerland. It uses a roller-delayed blowback system similar to the H&K G3 and CETME rifles.
The AM 55 entered serv ...
,
HK MP5
The Heckler & Koch MP5 (german: Maschinenpistole 5) is a 9x19mm Parabellum submachine gun, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. There are over 100 variants and clones of the MP5 ...
,
HK P9,
HK G3
The Heckler & Koch G3 (''Gewehr'' 3) is a 7.62×51mm NATO, select-fire battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency ...
*Gas-delayed blowback:
Volkssturmgewehr 1-5
The Volkssturmgewehr ("People's Storm - Rifle") is the name of several rifle designs developed by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. They share the common characteristic of being greatly simplified as an attempt to cope with sev ...
,
HK P7
The Heckler & Koch P7 is a German 9×19mm semi-automatic pistol designed by Helmut Weldle and produced from 1979 to 2008 by Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K). It was revealed to the public for the first time in 1976 as the PSP (''Polizei-Selbstlade-Pi ...
,
Steyr GB
The Steyr GB is a double-action 9×19mm Parabellum caliber, large-framed semi-automatic pistol employing a gas-delayed blowback action. As such the GB abbreviation stand for ''Gasbremse'' (gas brake). It was designed in 1968, intended as a replac ...
*Toggle-delayed blowback:
Schwarzlose MG M.07/12,
Luger rifle
The Pistole Parabellum—or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just Luger or Luger P08 is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1898 ...
and
Pedersen rifle
The Pedersen Rifle, officially known in final form as the T1E3 rifle, was a United States semi-automatic rifle designed by John Pedersen (arms designer), John Pedersen that was made in small numbers for testing by the United States Army during the ...
*Blish Lock: early
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun, invented by United Stat ...
s
*Hesitation locked:
Remington Model 51
The Remington Model 51 is a small pocket pistol designed by John Pedersen and manufactured by Remington Arms in the early 20th century for the American civilian market. Remington manufactured approximately 65,000 Model 51 pistols in .32 ACP and ...
and
R51 pistols
*Chamber-ring delayed blowback:
Seecamp
L. W. Seecamp Co. was an American manufacturer of pocket pistols located in Milford, Connecticut from 1981 to 2014. In 2014, the company announced that Whalley Precision would take over production of the pistols.
History
L. W. Seecamp Co. was ...
pistol
Blow-forward operation
The blow-forward operation uses a fixed breech and moving barrel that is forced forward relative to the breech by the friction of the projectile against the bore as well as the breech recoiling away from the barrel. The barrel is spring loaded and returns automatically to chamber a fresh round from the magazine. Examples of this action are the
Steyr Mannlicher M1894
The Mannlicher M1894 was an early blow-forward semi-automatic pistol.
General features
The earliest Ferdinand Mannlicher pistol, manufactured by Fabrique D'Armes de Neuhausen, Switzerland, was designed to be self-loading and to use a special ...
,
Hino Komuro M1908 Pistol
Hino may refer to:
Places Estonia
* Hino, Põlva County
* Hino, Võru County
** Lake Hino
Japan
* Hino, Shiga
* Hino, Tokyo
* Hino, Tottori
** Hino District, Tottori
** Hino River
Transportation
* Hino Motors, a Japanese truck manufacturer own ...
and the
Schwarzlose Model 1908
The Schwarzlose Model 1908 was a semi-automatic pistol, designed by Andreas Schwarzlose, released in 1908 in the German Empire
The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an ...
.
Recoil operation
The recoil operation is a type of
locked-breech
Locked breech is the design of a breech-reloading firearm's action. This is important in understanding how a self-reloading firearm works. In the simplest terms, the locked breech is one way to slow down the opening of the breech of a self-reloadi ...
action used in semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms. It also uses energy from the combustion in the chamber acting directly on the bolt through the cartridge head, but in this case the firearm has a reciprocating barrel and breech assembly, combined with a bolt that locks to the breech. The breech remains locked as the bolt and barrel travel rearward together for some distance, allowing pressure in the chamber to drop to a safe level before the breech is opened.
=Examples of recoil operation
=
*Short-recoil:
Colt M1911
The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for th ...
,
MAB PA-15
The MAB PA-15 (''Pistolet Automatique 15'', also known as the ''P-15'' or ''P.15 Standard'') was a French semi-automatic pistol, designed by the Manufacture d'armes de Bayonne. The model number, 15, refers to the magazine capacity. The PA-15 was ...
,
Browning Hi-Power,
HK USP
The USP (''Universelle Selbstladepistole'' or "universal self-loading pistol") is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Germany by Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) as a replacement for the P7 series of handguns.
History
Design work on a new family of ...
,
Glock
Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was th ...
,
Mamba Pistol
The Mamba is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Rhodesia and later produced in South Africa, intended for military and police duty. Named for the mamba, venomous snake indigenous to southern Africa, the Mamba was the first semi-automatic pistol t ...
,
M2 Browning machine gun,
MG42
The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enterin ...
,
Vz 52 pistol,
M82
*Long-recoil:
Browning Auto 5,
Femaru STOP Pistol,
Mars Automatic Pistol
The Mars Automatic Pistol, also sometimes known as the Webley-Mars, was a semi-automatic pistol developed in 1900 by the Englishman Hugh Gabbet-Fairfax and distributed by the Mars Automatic Pistol Syndicate Ltd. of Birmingham. It was manufact ...
,
Chauchat
The Chauchat ("show-sha", ) was the standard light machine gun or "machine rifle" of the French Army during World War I (1914–18). Its official designation was "Fusil Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG" ("Machine Rifle Model 1915 CSRG"). Beginning i ...
*Inertia:
Sjögren Inertial, certain
Benelli shotguns
Gas operation
The gas operation is a system of operation mechanism used to provide energy to semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is tapped through a hole in the barrel and diverted to operate the action. There are three basic types: long stroke gas piston (where the gas piston goes the same distance as the operating stroke of the action parts, and is often attached to the action parts), short stroke gas piston (where the gas piston travels a shorter distance than the operating stroke of the action parts), and direct impingement (AKA "direct gas", "gas impingement", where there is no piston, and the gas acts directly on the action parts). A fourth type, now considered obsolete and ineffective, are those systems based on the Bang rifle that utilize a muzzle cap to capture gas after the bullet has left the barrel. While this system is successful in boosting the operating power of recoil operated guns, it is insufficient and too susceptible to fouling for use as the primary operating system.
=Examples of gas operation
=
*Short-stroke gas piston:
FN FAL,
SAR-87
The Sterling SAR-87 is a military assault rifle of the late 20th century. The Sterling Assault Rifle (SAR), which included elements from Sterling's earlier Light Automatic Rifle (LAR) design, was jointly engineered by Sterling Armaments Company ...
,
HK G36
The Heckler & Koch G36 (Gewehr 36) is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle designed in the early 1990s by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch as a replacement for the heavier 7.62×51mm G3 battle rifle. It was accepted into service with the ''Bu ...
*Long-stroke gas piston:
M1 Garand
The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S Army during World War ...
,
AK-47
The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas operated, gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian s ...
,
FN FNC
The FNC (french: Fabrique Nationale Carabine) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed by the Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal and introduced in the late 1970s.
Development
The FNC was developed between 1975–1977 for NATO standardiza ...
*
Direct impingement
Direct impingement is a type of gas operation for a firearm that directs gas from a fired cartridge indirectly (through the barrel, through a gas block, and then through a gas tube) into the bolt carrier or slide assembly to cycle the action. F ...
:
MAS 49
The MAS-49 is a French semi-automatic rifle that replaced various bolt-action rifles as the French service rifle that was produced from 1949. It was designed and manufactured by the government-owned MAS arms factory.Huon, Jean; ''Proud Promise— ...
,
M16,
AG-42
*
Gas trap
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or co ...
:
Gewehr 41
The Gewehr 41 (German for: rifle 41), commonly known as the G41(W) or G41(M), denoting the manufacturer (Walther or Mauser), are two distinct and different battle rifles manufactured and used by Nazi Germany during World War II. They were large ...
,
Bang M1922 rifle
The Model 1922 Bang rifle is a US semi-automatic rifle designed by the Danish arms designer Søren Hansen Bang. It was a modification of the earlier Models of 1909 and Model 1911 Bang rifles, both chambered in the .30-06 Springfield round.
Overv ...
See also
*
Locked-breech
Locked breech is the design of a breech-reloading firearm's action. This is important in understanding how a self-reloading firearm works. In the simplest terms, the locked breech is one way to slow down the opening of the breech of a self-reloadi ...
*
Lock (firearm)
The lock of a firearm is the mechanism used to initiate firing. It is a historical term, in that it generally refers to such mechanisms used in muzzle-loading and early breech-loading firearms. Side-lock refers to the type of construction, in wh ...
**
Matchlock
A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of rope that is touched to the gunpowder by a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. Before ...
**
Wheellock
A wheellock, wheel-lock or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is ...
**
Flintlock
Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (firearm), ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism its ...
**
Caplock
The percussion cap or percussion primer, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. This crucial invention gave rise ...
*
Trigger
Trigger may refer to:
Notable animals and people
;Mononym
* Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers
;Nickname
* Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist
* "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster
;Surname
* Bru ...
References
External links
*
How Does It Work: Toggle ActionsForgotten Weapons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firearm Action
Firearm terminology