If you prefer bolt action..Why?

Why do some prefer manual cars over automatic?

Why do some prefer manual cars over automatic?

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'Cause they're just better and more fun?

I'm not a hunter but I was under the impression that it is illegal to hunt certain animals with a semi auto. I could be wrong but I've only been wrong once before and that was only because I thought I was wrong but I wasn't.

I much prefer the bolt rifle as a match rifle. It takes me 20 minutes to clean up a M1a, but less than 10 to completely clean a bolt rifle. Just a couple of passes with the brush, a wipe down of the bolt face, an oily patch over everything, and I am done.

You also get much better accuracy for the same price with an off the shelf bolt rifle than a gas gun. Bolt gun triggers are usually better. Now if you Super Match your gas gun, for $$$, you can have one very accurate rifle with an excellent trigger. But it costs.

In most states it's legal, in fact i'll be taking my 20" AR-15 this year for deer in Alabama.

Bolts- Reliability, accuracy, and simplicity (in that order)

Bolt/Semi...

Gun Lover & Learner--I'm a bolt-rifle shooter, almost exclusively.

I like bolt guns in that they can be more accurate, can cost less for the same level of accuracy, and can weigh less. None of these are a given, but all of these factors bias my choices.

There are more different cartridges available in bolt guns. Bolt guns are easier to clean and have fewer moving parts to malfunction. The milsurps I like to tinker with are mostly bolt rifles.

Accurizing an AR is a more costly process than accurizing a bolt rifle.

And what ever happened to the concept of the single, well-aimed shot doing the job? At game, I almost never take your " 1 shot then 1 shot then 1 " and if I do I don't get annoyed--except with myself.

With most forms of target shooting, if you pull off multiple shots whamhwamwhamwham you will put up a score on the south side of lousy--a bolt rifle is no disadvantage, as every shot has to be aimed anyhow.

Some guys at my range seem to like just emptying a magazine as fast as possible, for which a semi-auto is great. I've never felt the urge to do this, even back when ammo was much cheaper.

Probably it's a matter of personal experience and preference more than anything--I imagine that current and recent military, returning to civilian life, will prefer an AR because that's what they trained on.

Well, anyhow, that's my take on bolt rifles vs. semi-autos. Hope it helps you in your wonderings.

I was under the impression that it is illegal to hunt certain animals with a semi auto.

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All game and huntable non-game species in Alabama may be hunted with auto-loading rifles,shotguns or handguns. I use a bolt action for 98% of my rifle shooting because that is my personal preference but I also enjoy auto-loaders.

I'm a target shooter and seldom in a hurry to fire the next shot.
I have one very accurate auto... but it throws my prepped brass on the ground.

Mauser surplus and mosin rifles are my picks. Takes less than 5 minutes to clean .

Auto-loaders are mean to my precious and painstakingly prepared brass.

To my knowledge the only state that prohibits semi autos for big game is Pennsylvania. Many states have a limit (usually 5 rounds) on mag capacity for autos. Others, including Georgia do not.

I like lever guns the best, and if I'm just out to have fun that is what I use. If I really get serious the bolt rifle is the only way to go.

Many people think of a bolt gun as a heavy long range rifle. They can be. But you can also set up a bolt rifle to be lighter than any action type except possibly a break action single shot.


You can get a dependable accurate bolt rifle for less money than any other action. Some single shots are cheaper, but not by much and as a rule the cheaper single shots are not in the same league quality wise.

If done right they are usually the most accurate action although some others can be pretty close.

They usually have the best triggers

They are the most dependable, trouble free action because of their simplicity.

I know there are exceptions to the rules and I'm sure someone will have a pump, lever, or semi that does some things better than some bolt rifles But when you look at the total package I just think they are the best all around choice.

it's not that I myself "prefer" bolts (like pretty much all flavors), but do appreciate any well made bolt action

some invented "devices" are just inherently better re; fitness-for-function than others.. it's just that simple

if/when wanting or needing to throw a whole bunch downrange real fast at something or at somebody-trying-to-hurt-you-real-bad, the bolt action is obviously not "best by design"

but a great many riflemen place a premium on accuracy,
(after all, why would we/they NOT ???)
as fitness for function goes, and inherent design advantages for achieving best accuracy, no other action type can compete, absent must-go-fast criteria

a bolt action is about as simple as it gets, KISS, and there are strong arguments in favor of that simplicity even vs. the various flavor of single shots

"one piece" receiver/chamber/barrel made fron one piece of good (old fashioned) steel
fewer parts moving when fired than anything but a single shot "other", and no hinges, no variable alignment issues, faster lock time than any external hammer, easier to get close tolerances on head spacing than most anything else
if put the same "effort" into making one well as something "other", fewer variables too get just right, dollar for dollar, hour for hour

any/every action type can be made super accurate with enough time, attention, and money...
but it's just easier & cheaper to do with a bolt gun
and if done "as well as it can be done, as well as anybody knows how to do", no matter how rightly praised other actions are, those other designs are just not as easy to manufacture to pert-near-perfect as a bolt action

strength ?
say whatever you will about action type X, Y, or Z
if looking for strength, nothing else offers the inherent design advantage of the bolt action, can do

50 BMG
Olympic match grade rimfire or BR50 competition
50 yard, 100 yard, 300 yard, 1000 yard, or a mile, any caliber you want at range for caliber
loud or quiet, light or heavy, muzzle flash or "no" flash
you can have it in bolt actions, and have same performance for fewer dollars, or better performance for same dollars

inherent KISS design advantage, simplicity, fitness for function

absent need-for-speed, what's not to love ??
wrong color ?
(you can get 'em in black, too, you know)

Doesn't 1 shot then 1 shot then 1 annoy you?

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Nope. I use mine for deer hunting.
If you're that worried about needing a follow up shot, you need to spend more time at the range. As a general rule, if you don't get him with the first shot, you may as well wave at him. Also, if you can't hit a deer standing still, how will you hit him running, which he surely will be after the first shot. The idea of getting a quick second shot in has caused a lot of game to be missed or worse, wounded.
I prefer bolt actions or single shots to autos. They're more rugged and reliable. They'll take a beating and keep right on trucking. Some autos are finicky. I know there are some that are reliable, but as a general rule, bolts are much more consistent.

When I was a kid I never took to bolt action rifles.

Now I love them. Simpler in many ways.
As a handloader my brass is right where I left it.

If seeing "Cool Hand Luke" doesn't make you appreciate the bolt gun maybe they are just not your thing. "That's some good shootin boss"

My first rifle of "my very own" was a Marlin bolt-action .22. I did well with it. Next was a Remington 550 semi-auto. I did well with it, also.

Then came my first centerfire, a 1917 Enfield '06. O Happy Day!

I've messed with just about every sort of rifle known to mankind, but I'm mostly a hunter.

99% of the time, it's been "One shot was plenty good enough." For all practical purposes over some forty years of active hunting, I might as well have been using a single-shot. But, having all that extra ammo on board is sorta comforting.

I have mixed feelings on this. I generally prefer semi auto's. That being said. I think in general bolt actions seem to be much more accurate and I like accuracy. For deer hunting I prefer the semi auto's where 2 or 3 moa is good enough. For target shooting I think a bolt action is a much better choice.

In shot guns or anything else I like semi auto's for everything.

I'm not convinced bolt actions are inherently more accurate. It seems more like a self fulfilling prophecy... People want a bolt action because its more accurate... its more accurate because the market demands an accurate bolt action and the company makes what the market demands.


Another part is the psychology of it. It forces me to slow down and control my breath and time my shots. Its too easy with an autoloader to miss, then immediately follow up shot as the arm and finger grow impatient.

This forcing me to slow down appeals to my tight wad side. Slower shots mean less money burned at the range.

For my part, I like bolt actions because:

1) I can load them to a higher velocity without blowing the action to pieces.

2) By and large, bolt actions tend to be more accurate and more reliable.

3) It's what I learned to hunt with (bolt or single shot).

Geno

bolt actions are very strong, you can use hotter cartridges that other actions. They provide the best accuracy, and you don't waste ammo like people with semi auto rifles

bolt actions are more accurate. This is because there isn't any gas blowing back a piston or directly blowing back a bolt. Therefore yes "jerk" from the shot. And I'm not sure about this, but I believe there is more pressure behind the bullet because none of the gas is being used to blow back the bolt. Therefore, more gas and pressure stays behind the bullet.

Couple more advantages: no slinging brass (can eject the round slowly), fire heavy rounds that would be impracticle in a semi, "society friendly", easy to clean, and so on.

I still prefer a semi for every day use, but I'd love to have a good bolt gun eventually. After I get an XCR or LWRC

I enjoy operating my rifles. I like the machinery.
For some people "operating" simply means pulling the trigger. That's weird. What's the rush to burn up all that ammo?

Unless I'm going into battle, which isn't my line of work, I prefer a fixed-breech gun.
One HUGE advantage to me is that once I shoot a round I know the gun is inert until I do something. I like that.

The Standard vs. Automatic Transmission analogy is a good one.
In a standard, when you touch no pedals, the car does not move. Sationary is its preferred state.
In an automatic, as soon as you release the brake it begins driving without you. I HATE that. Serious design flaw in my book - a 4000lb machine that drives on its own.
*shudder*

-Daizee

My favorite gun is a semi. It is a Garand. It is the most fun to shoot, and it is not the most accurate arm I own.

That said, it is easier to make a stiffer action when all manipulation of the action is being done by hand. You can apply more camming force on the bolt using that little lever than you can get rotating the whole bolt by inertia. Tolerances don't have to be as tight on a bolt except for when the bolt is closed, which is in that last 1/4 turn of the bolt. Bolts ARE more reliable. They don't have to worry about failure to feed (I have never even heard of one that didn't feed every time, but I'm sure they are out there). If there is an issue feeding, you can always single shot it. The design of a bolt eliminates short stroking and stovepipes completely. With a controlled feed round, there is no chance of it not ejecting either. (I have only had 1 of the many bolt actions I have ever handled have a failure to extract/eject... it was an anshhutz and it was cheap ammo). As to not having as much gas pressure behind a semi because of the gas port... that is a non issue because of how far down the tube the port is (at the very end.. probably a few fps difference if any).

Bolt guns: accurate, solid, easy to clean, simple, reliable, lightweight

Semiautos: rapid-fire, hokey, dirty, complex, dubious, heavy

I hunt with bolties. I play with semiautos. I reload for my bolties.

I like my bolts over my semis when I am punching paper because I do not like to pick up brass. Same reason I shoot revolvers over autos.