A work-related issue came up this morning that had me rummaging through my gun safes this afternoon to see which of my centerfire rifles have gas port safeties in the receiver. If they did have one, I checked to see where it's located relative to the bolt face. Interestingly enough, my AI AW that came in .308 Win doesn't have a gas port in the receiver whereas my AI AWMs in .300 Win Mag and .338 Lapua Mag do have a plugged gas ports. The AI AWMs share the same receiver so if it's needed for the .338 LM it might not be needed for the .300 Win Mag but not sure. None of my AR15s or AR308 have gas ports in the receiver but my Kimbers, Lee-Enfield No4 Mk2, Savage 16 and Remington 700 all do.
So is this a feature that has been added just because or is it an essential safety feature for some designs? Was the Mauser '98 the first receiver with a gas port safety? Do you know of other designs that don't have a gas port safety in the receiver, particularly bolt action rifles?
Thanks.
So is this a feature that has been added just because or is it an essential safety feature for some designs? Was the Mauser '98 the first receiver with a gas port safety? Do you know of other designs that don't have a gas port safety in the receiver, particularly bolt action rifles?
Thanks.