What do you call it?

[zephyr89]

what do you call the part of the bolt in a semi automatic rifle that is hit by the piston, cycling the bolt?

 

[Driftertank]

What type of semiautomatic? SKS? Garand action? Be more specific. Different guns have different parts named differently.

 

[zephyr89]

ok, lets go with an AK, or SKS action.

 

[Driftertank]

On the SKS, the gas piston impacts the Bolt Carrier through and intermediate rod.
The Bolt Carrier also has the cocking lever on it.

IIRC, on the AK, the gas piston assembles into the bolt carrier.

It's a common misconception that the SKS and AK use the same action type. The SKS is a short-stroke tilt-bolt action, and the SK is a long-stroke rotating-bolt action.

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

In an AK, there is no part of the bolt "hit" by the oprod, because it's all one long unit.

But in an SKS, you would just call it the "top front" of the "Bolt Carrier", I suppose. In other short stroke actions, I'd guess it'd probably be the same, though perhaps on some rifles, there is a name for the front portion of the bolt carrier which is hit; I'm not sure.

Hope that helped some.


[And small point of clarification - I think you know this, but it's not really hit *by* the piston - it's hit by the op-rod which is attached to the piston.]