School me on bolt actions - the how, which, and why

[the naked prophet]

I understand the concept behind the semiautomatic designs, how they work, the weak points, and relative advantages/disadvantages of the major operating systems.

However, I've never really gotten that familiar with bolt actions. I've owned a few, both centerfire and rimfire, but I don't know the relative advantages/disadvantages of them.

I've owned an M44 Mosin, Schmidt-Rubin 1889-11, Enfield something, Savage 111 .30-06, and now a Remington 710.

As I understand it, the striker is cocked at some point by the user-controlled motion of the bolt. Either upon unlocking, opening, closing, or locking. The bolt pushes the cartridge into the chamber, then the user pushes the bolt handle down which turns the bolt and puts the locking lugs into their recesses to securely lock the bolt into the reciever/barrel. The trigger drops the striker and fires the gun, and then the bolt handle is pushed up which again turns the bolt and moves the locking lugs out of their recesses, and the bolt can be opened.

I've heard lots of talk about things like controlled-round feed, mauser style extractors, different locking lug styles, etc.

I am interested mostly in centerfire rifles, both sporting and milsurp. Not so much in the super-accurate benchrest rifles, but I can personally shoot less than an inch at 100 yards if the gun is capable of it - just most applications won't require that.

So here's my questions:

What are the various feed systems, and what do terms like "controlled round feed" mean? What are the advantages/disadvantages of the various systems?

What are some extractor styles? I've never disassembled the bolt on any of the rifles I've owned. What are the advantages/disadvantages of the various extractors, etc?

What are the different locking arrangements, and their advantages/disadvantages? Which rifles use which locking style?

And the cocking method - which is generally considered the easiest to use, which is most robust, and generally what are the advantages/disadvantages for each method?

Is there something else I should know about?

Also, there seems to be much disdain for the Remington 710. Why is that? It's the most accurate gun I've owned so far (.243 - I've measured several 5-shot groups under 1 inch at 100 yards... actually, once I got it sighted in, I haven't measured a group with Winchester 100 grain Super-X that was more than 1.10 inch center-to-center). Is it a durability problem? Looks?

Sorry for asking such a huge and open-ended question, but I'm sure some of you will enjoy putting this together as well as others may enjoy learning from it.

 

[cracked butt]

What are the various feed systems, and what do terms like "controlled round feed" mean? What are the advantages/disadvantages of the various systems?

A CRF rifle uses a claw (notably mauser 93,94,95,96,98, 1903 Springfield, Winchester Mod 70 designs) which grasps the rim of the cartridge as the rim slides under the claw as it pushed forward out of the magazine. The mausers are 'true' CRF design while the springfield and Winchester (which are very similar to eachother) are a 'pushfeed CRF' design as the extractor can ride over the case rim if a cartridge is not fe fromt he magazine. A mauser CRF rifle requires feeding from the magazine.

Pushfeeds simply push the round from the magazine and the extractor locks over the rim after chambering (most typical pushfeed is the Rem 700 and 'post-64' win 70).

One advantage of CRF rifles is that they are less likely to jam due to partially loading a round and then trying to load another round from the magazine. The downside is that unless the geometry of the magazine, feed rails, and feed ramp are nearly perfect, the rifle will jam up very tight and will be difficult to clear.

What are some extractor styles? I've never disassembled the bolt on any of the rifles I've owned. What are the advantages/disadvantages of the various extractors, etc?

The most obvious is the mauser claw- its a very large claw that does not rotate with the bolt. Enfields, scmidt rubins, and mosin nagants use a hook type extractor, remington 700s use a ring in the boltface that grabs the case rim.

The mauser claw is the simplest and strongest by far, another advantage is that mauser style rifles usually have a fixed boltstop/ejector instead fo spring loaded plunger ejector.

Also, there seems to be much disdain for the Remington 710. Why is that?

Every REM 710 that I've seen has been a accurate rifle. On the otehr hand its a throw-away rifle. While any Savage, springfield, enfield, mauser, winchester etc action can be rebuilt/customized/rebarreled, the 710 is what it is when you buy it and nothing much can be done to it if it wears out. Its earned the moniker of 'the bic lighter of the rifle world'
The 710 is an innovative design, but radical changes to bolt action rifles aren't very well received by most gun buyers.

 

[USSR]

The mausers are 'true' CRF design while the springfield and Winchester (which are very similar to eachother) are a 'pushfeed CRF' design as the extractor can ride over the case rim if a cartridge is not fe fromt he magazine. A mauser CRF rifle requires feeding from the magazine.

The Springfield and Winchester M70 (pre-64 and Classic model) are NOT a "pushfeed CRF" design. The front of the claw extractor must be beveled to enable them to single feed without feeding from the magazine, which is no different than a Mauser.

Don

 

[cracked butt]

Its not only a bevel on the claw, but a change in the fulcrum point on the extractor that allows them to 'push-feed' single rounds.

 

[Fumbler]

Don't forget the Sako/Tikka style extractors.
They're basically a small spring loaded lever that snaps over the rim. They can be made to push feed as well without having the possibility of breaking if it has to snap over the rim.

These are both from Sako 75s. The left is push feed, the right is controlled round feed.

Rem 700 bolt with Sako extractor modification:

 

[unlearned69]

Another nice advantage of the controlled feed action is this: When you are emptying a blind magazine you can simply work the bolt of a Mauser-type action forward and backward without locking the bolt down. Simple thing, but it saves some effort, and I think it's the coolest.

 

[RevolverMan567]

why sako extractor?

all of the date I read in researching rifles showed that the 700 internal extractor was the strongest design in a pull test, 800Lbs+ winchester was second at 455. what add a sako extractor to the 700. Seems like a downgrade. not intending to start a fight, just wondering.

 

[Fumbler]

Who knows.
If a Rem extractor works fine then why change it?
I just know that some people like them.

I have a Tikka T3 and I can say it's much easier to clean the bolt face under extractor. I've seen some Rem extractors fail due to the owners' poor cleaning habits...but that's a bad excuse to swap in a Sako extractor.

BTW, I never said it was an "upgrade."