Most semi auto rifles are in essence straight pulls, with the pull supplied by the gas bleed. Disconnect the gas, and voila! In some countries where semi autos are prohibited, the same gun w/o gas tube or piston is OK.
You may want to look at the history of the 6 mm M1895 Lee Navy. There was a spot of bother (reliability issues) in Cuba when they went head-to-head against M1898 Mausers. That probably soured the US Military on them (Note the success of the 1903 Springfield) and the concept dropped from the sight of shooters in the US.
Perhaps the most notable thing about the rifle (other than the straight pull) is that the 6 mm Lee Navy is the parent cartridge of the 220 Swift.
The Blasers are very nice rifles. But pricey.
Seems like the common man does not have much trouble coming up with a $40,000 pickup truck. Or even a $20,000 Toyota. A Blaser can cost quite a bit less than that. It all comes down to priorities.
The 6mm Lee was way ahead of its time. With a 70 grain bullet is was around the same ballistics as the 5.56x45. The metallurgy at the time wasn't conducive to barrel longevity
Bannermans used to convert them to 257 Roberts which was much cheaper and easier to find than 6mm Lee.
View attachment 808459
Seems like the common man does not have much trouble coming up with a $40,000 pickup truck. Or even a $20,000 Toyota. A Blaser can cost quite a bit less than that. It all comes down to priorities.
I could see spending 5-10k on a spiffy straight pull rifle if I had it.
True, but the motion is linear more or less, and the Blaser is arguably the most popular and well known modern straight pull rifle. I’d say it has to fit into that categoryI would opine that the Blaser and the Mauser 1996 might fall into the same category as the Lee Navy in that the action isn't 100% linear. (The bolt handle pivots to unlock the action....)
I just looked at a couple of Blazer R8 videos, and that action is a very clever design.
Been some reports of Blaser's gimmick action not holding.
You got anything on that?
The only straight-pull bolt action I ever had was a Steyr-Mannlicher M1895. This soured me on straight-pulls permanently.
Can't speak for Alexander a but the action requires significant force to operate and most of these rifles were shortened into carbines. In addition these were also converted to a more powerful round, the 8x56r, during the 1930s and recoil is brutal. Trigger pull is pretty bad too.Why?
Regards,
Josh
Been some reports of Blaser's gimmick action not holding.
You got anything on that?
Once you get a few barrels the overall cost isn’t as horrendously high compared to buying several complete high end rifles.