How a Bolt-Action Rifle's Bolt Works, From Lugs to Ejectors

Gun Digest's Richard A. Mann takes the bolt apart piece by piece, arguing that many shooters know surprisingly little about the part that matters most on a bolt-action rifle.

Snapshot

Mann walks through the parts of a bolt that change how a rifle runs: how many locking lugs it has and how far it must turn, where the safety sits, whether it grips the case rim as a round feeds, and how it throws out the empty case. His practical advice is to cycle the bolt firmly through its full stroke without forcing it.

Key points

• Size varies: Mann notes the Franchi Momentum bolt in .308 Winchester tops 0.80 inch in diameter, while a Wilson Combat NULA bolt in the same caliber measures 0.58 inch.
• Lugs and rotation: Two opposed lugs need 90 degrees of rotation and three lugs need 60, while the Q Fix uses five lugs and just 45 degrees of bolt throw.
• Safeties: Most bolt-mounted safeties follow a three-position Mauser layout. Weatherby's Mark V instead has a two-position safety on the bolt that locks it.
• Feeding: Controlled round feed actions grip the case rim with a Mauser-style extractor, while push feed actions snap the extractor over the rim as the bolt closes.
• Ejection: A fixed ejector throws the case only as hard as the shooter pulls the bolt back. A spring-loaded plunger, as on the Remington 700, does not rely on that force.

Quick take

Mann's central point is that the way you work the bolt largely decides how reliable the rifle is. He advises cycling it firmly through its full stroke, but warns that excessive force can let a hand slip or even break a bolt stop, something he says he has done on Bergara and Weatherby rifles.

Read the full story at Gun Digest.