running the bolt

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taliv

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do you have a habit of running the bolt immediately after a shot? or do you wait?

why?


if you've taken formal training classes for bolt rifle shooting, what were you taught?
 
I've taken classes. After taking a shot, depending on the firearm I have, I run the bolt, pump the pump, run the lever action. Of course, I wait till the bullet has left the barrel before doing so. That way if a follow up shot is needed, I am good to go.
 
Benching at the range I never run the bolt after the shot and when I do it's slow and easy, assuming I loaded more than one round in the magazine. Hunting I run the bolt immediately fast and hard in case a follow up appears necessary for an ethical kill.

What's the purpose of the question though?
 
posts 2 and 3 are consistent with what i've seen at classes, but...

i'm wondering if it conflicts with seeing your own trace and impact (2nd shot isn't likely to be much better than the first if you don't correct)

and if you need to move or transition or something, that's normally done (in matches at least) bolt back, which means you'd eject a round for no good reason if you'd reflexively run the bolt
 
posts 2 and 3 are consistent with what i've seen at classes, but...

i'm wondering if it conflicts with seeing your own trace and impact (2nd shot isn't likely to be much better than the first if you don't correct)

and if you need to move or transition or something, that's normally done (in matches at least) bolt back, which means you'd eject a round for no good reason if you'd reflexively run the bolt
I would likely reflexively run the bolt and loose a round as you outlined for competitions. Having said that, I would rather have the reflexive habit than not.
 
There are only a few instances where I won't wait for feedback from the bullet before running the bolt. One instance is if I'm bracketing a target, meaning launching 2 or more rounds as fast as I can get them out at different aim points. Another instance is when shooting ELR, where trace is impossible to see, and I can run the bolt and be back on before the bullet gets there. This keeps my 2nd shot condition tight up against the condition when the first shot broke and I can correct and fire faster than if I had to cycle the bolt after the feedback.
 
that's a good point, orkan and kind of where i was going. vast majority of my shooting is in the 400-900 yard range, where you have a little less than a second between the bang and the impact. i can run the bolt in less than a second, and if i do so perfectly, i can catch dirt flying but not see my trace. i have very little experience past 1200y, but the math says you have a much better chance of doing that.


another factor is powder temperature. do you want your round sitting in a hot chamber if it might be 30 sec or 1 min before your next shot?
 
for hunting I always chamber another round immediately. At the bench it helps to cool the barrel to leave it open and take your time between shots.
 
At the range...no...I usually try to find the hole through the scope, and sometimes open the bolt and leave it open to let the barrel cool.

When hunting...it just depends on how the mood strikes me. When deer hunting...pretty much yes. When Varmint hunting...no, I try and look through the scope to see the results.
 
hoofan, so not a habit. not something you 'train', but something situationally dependent
 
In Benchrest I did not want running the bolt to interfere with the recoil path (Even though the bullet is probably gone), so I do not run it until recoil was over. This is slower, but for BR shooting this was how I did it, and how I do it playing at the range these days. In Benchrest sometimes you want to fire a group quickly when that perfect condition you have been waiting for shows up, and then it is a fine line between gun handling and speed. Speed doesn't help you if you yank/push a shot trying to be too fast. I have made more mistakes going too fast than going too slow, but you can't diddle around forever either.

I am quite new to shooting prone with a bipod, so maybe I'll feel differently one of these days, but for right now, I am in no hurry to run the bolt. Just shooting at 300 also.
 
I'm a hunter, and have needed fast repeat shots a few times. It is something I practice at the range and have had others time me just for reference but no formal training. Running the bolt is just habit. I've gotten off 3 shots with a Winchester 70 chambered in 308 in 1.8 seconds. Of course that was with no target, just throwing lead downrange to see how fast it could be done.

When I use a 9" paper plate as a target at 50 yards my times were around 3.5 seconds for 3 hits.

Interestngly I'm not significantly faster with a lever. Around 1.4 seconds with no target, and I'm slower when I have to actually hit something. The 30-30's stock design causes more muzzle rise and it takes longer to get back on target.

Pumps and semi's were much faster, under 1 second for unaimed shots and 2-3 seconds for 3 hits at 50 yards.
 
I run the bolt when hunting and after a couple of "should be dead but wasn't" tracking jobs if possible I let em have it again if the animal even attempts to regain its feet.

On the range shooting for groups obviously not. Smallbore or cmp matches yes.




posted via that mobile app with the sig lines everyone complains about
 
another factor is powder temperature. do you want your round sitting in a hot chamber if it might be 30 sec or 1 min before your next shot?
This is one of the many reasons why I don't run powder that is temp sensitive. Hodgdon's extruded powders such as retumbo, and varget is what I spend most of my time with, and they don't rear their heads when I get a 40 degree temp swing the way other powders such as Reloader do.
 
do you have a habit of running the bolt immediately after a shot?

In most of my shooting the bolt automaticly runs itself. OH, you are talking about bolt action rifles (LOL), in those I benchrest shoot, I open the bolt after I see the hit and leave the bolt open to cool the chamber and barrel.

Jim
 
I rack the bolt fast enough that friends in the wood thought I was firing a semi auto on one deer. And that day I was using a Finnish M27.


if you've taken formal training classes for bolt rifle shooting

My formal training consists of watching the CBS World news, sit on floor, rack bolt hundreds of times while keeping the post on the news reader.

Practice enough bolt manipulation and you won’t have to think about it. It just happens.
 
I shot highpower for years with a bolt rifle. I always opened the bolt immediately, and in that arena, would cycle the action for the next shot in rapid fire, or strip the next 5 rounds, whichever was appropriate.

In slow fire, cartridges are single loaded. Thus after firing, I would drop a cartridge on the follower, and close the bolt, open it again and leave the cartridge partially chambered for the next shot, but not in the chamber where it could get really hot and affect velocity.

I don't know that there is any right way.
 
Bolt action

It depends on what I am doing...if I am making a "precision" shot with a bolt gun ( with optics), I will wait until I have verified my round's impact.....particularly at long ranges.....especially with the bigger rounds that I work with like the 300 Win, 300 RUM, 338 Lapua or 50 BMG......if it is a iron sight bolt gun, I will be operating at much closer ranges and working on different "solutions" that would involve rifles.....so I will run the bolt as part of my firing sequence....I was also trained to keep my head down on the stock and not "turkey peep" up over the rifle like I see a lot of folks do while cycling the bolt....keeping your head down, and maintaining your sight acquisition goes a long way for that aimed/accurate, follow up shot.
I saw some chaps demonstrating "old school" rapid fire with 03's,Enfields and Mausers once during an "old days" rifle match and they were quite impressive with the volume of aimed/accurate fire that they put down range with real rifle caliber rounds.
 
Depends. When I am shooting groups on paper for testing a load I run the bolt slow and smooth, especially if I am using sandbags or other supports for groups. If I am shooting freehand for hunting or time, I will run the bolt faster.
 
i can move my bolt reasonably fast for accurate fire. i was 7 for 7 on an 8" mover at 300 yards in under 22 seconds, and 7 for 7 on the 500 yard mover in the same time limit at K&M team match in january, but ambushing a mover takes a little extra time. if it was still i'm sure i could do it in half the time.

stubbi, yeah i sort of learned that "always cycle the bolt immediately" habit at thunder ranch over a decade ago, and then had to unlearn it for highpower slow fire cause i'd anticipate the target coming up and close the bolt, and then get really slow pit service and wind up not shooting for a while and the round cooking in the chamber would get in my head and i'd throw the shot.
 
Learned to use a bolt gun with a .22 lr over 50 years ago. Always was taught to chamber another round, just in case the first one didn't put the animal down. Worked with a .22, and has worked with everything else since.

Truthfully, I didn't know there were folks that didn't, alas, maybe it's something the younger kids were taught.
 
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