Straight-pull actions- why not?

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The reason makers don't offer a straight pull action is simple: The public will not buy them. Gun buyers are steeped in tradition, not engineering, and could care less about the improvements made over the last 100 years in rifles.

Ask a bolt gun buyer if they would consider an AR in the same caliber, you get bruquesly dismissed. What where you thinking?

And yet, the Stoner bolt design would be great for a straight pull. Add a side charger handle to the bolt, like the ASA design, remove the gas, chop the bolt carrier to expose the firing pin, use a trigger group with hammer, 3-5 round mag well in the stock, voila, straight pull action that rotates the case and draws it from the chamber easily. You even get the light weight of the barrel extension design, and can use an extruded bolt guide "upper" receiver to help attach the stock. With classic styling, some people would be hard pressed to see much difference.

Given some finesse, reversible ambidextrous action with right or left eject should be easy. With a bit of spring power, retract the bolt full to the rear and let go. It chambers without the additional push forward. Very fast.

A prototype could be homemade from existing parts in a very few days. How YOU react to the concept is exactly why it doesn't sell. Most would see it as a AR upper smashed down onto a stock and dismiss it, that gun is already out there. What it would look like if each part was purpose built to the design is what it can be.

You don't have to turn the bolt, try to sell one that doesn't.
 
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Pumps are great, but try working a pump while laying prone, which is where Soldiers spend much of their time in combat.

I'm a big fan of the K31 style straight pull, and it's no more complex in my view than the rotating/locking semi-auto bolt.
 
Pumps are great, but try working a pump while laying prone, which is where Soldiers spend much of their time in combat.

I'm a big fan of the K31 style straight pull, and it's no more complex in my view than the rotating/locking semi-auto bolt.
Myth!

Firing a pump action prone is easier to do than with any other manually operated action. When prone you cycle the slide lifting the muzzle and your body slightly, gravity then forces everything back down where it was before and closing the action in the process. Your hands never change position in relation to the stock.

I should know I fired a 7615 one year in our local CMP matches, and did well I might add.


A k31 is just like an autoloader except if lacks the speed of fire and the powerful gas system of one helping you with chambering and extraction. In other words all the disadvantages of an automatic with none of the advantages.
 
If im not mistaken, Ruger sells the Mini 14 in england with the gas system sealed so that it functions as a straight pull bolt action
Correct, at least they used to:
http://www.deactivated-guns.co.uk/l...ger-mini-14-straight-pull-rifle/prod_176.html


...the Stoner bolt design would be great for a straight pull. Add a side charger handle to the bolt, like the ASA design, remove the gas,...
Great idea, already been done:
http://www.riflesintheuk.com/ar15.htm
 
A k31 is just like an autoloader except if lacks the speed of fire and the powerful gas system of one helping you with chambering and extraction. In other words all the disadvantages of an automatic with none of the advantages.

Agreed. Straight pull actions offer most of the complexity of a autoloader w/o the benefits of a autoloading rifle.

As far as shooting pump guns prone: I've done it and it sucks. I'd rather run a bolt gun from prone if I had to go manual action and I would really rather have a autoloader to handle all that for me.

Here is a video form our rifle shoot on Saturday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HOCQH9rPfs

The last stage (last in the video) had us shooting from prone and roll-over prone. Autoloaders are very nice when it comes to unusual shooting positions.

BSW
 
The guy running the AK that had the stoppage is the same guy that put the video together. That AK usually works 100% so I'm not sure what happened there. The HK-93 that folded the brass in half also had its only stoppage on that same stage.

Rollover prone is very useful in certain situations but you have to practice it, like anything else shooting related.

BSW
 
Straight pulls cost more to build, the machine work needs to be precise and well done. Also the ammunition needs to be of high quality since they don't have the extraction power a bolt does. If you look at GP11 the overall cartridge length and round diameter are just about the same from round to round, they held them to target round specs. Much harder to do, and requiring a good industrial base. A country like Russia in 1940 did not have the manufacturing base to make a straight pull and issue it on mass.

On the plus side with GP11 and if you know how to use a K31 they can put lead down range faster than just about any bolt gun, save for the SMLE.


The Swiss used them for almost 100 years with great results. I love the straight pull Swiss rifles, I'll put my 1911 or K31 up against any modern $1k bolt rifle at the range.
 
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