Smoothness of action...Does it really do anything ?

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horshur

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I am sitting at home recovering from a broken leg. Been amusing myself reading threads and posts.. I thought this might be a good topic of discussion .
Butter smooth precise hunting rifles are a liability in many real world hunting conditions in my opinion.
 
Nothing wrong with butter smooth, breaks like glass trigger. *BUT* the trigger pull weight can be made too light for a *hunting rifle*. Not the same thing.
 
StoneHorse said:
Nothing wrong with butter smooth, breaks like glass trigger. *BUT* the trigger pull weight can be made too light for a *hunting rifle*. Not the same thing.
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He is talking about the working of the action, not the trigger.

I am a Ruger fan... Bill Ruger was a believer in "some play" in the actions of bolt rifles... in field conditions, this means less likelyhood of an action seizing in cold weather due to the stiffening of lubricants or frost binding... and in dusty/dirty environments there is less chance of binding caused by debris... all I know is, no Ruger M77 has ever let me down in the woods for the past 40 years.

Having said that.. a tight action that is properly cleaned and lubricated sure feels good cycling at the shoulder in the shop or at the range... in the field... I will stick with my M77's.
 
horshur said:
I am sitting at home recovering from a broken leg. Been amusing myself reading threads and posts.. I thought this might be a good topic of discussion .
Butter smooth precise hunting rifles are a liability in many real world hunting conditions in my opinion.[/QUOTE]


How so, may I ask............I have a working tolerance of rifle action smoothness from fairly rough to butter smooth. Too rough inhibits good feeding and I won't tolerate that, but beyond that different actions have different feels.
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I prefer a nice smooth action for hunting and general shooting. Smooth is fast and allows me to stay on target if I need another shot or there's more than one target. A smooth action has no bearing on how safe a gun is. A rough action may cause a shooter to inadvertently point the muzzle somewhere it doesn't belong.
Smoother actions provide better feeding. Better feeding means less likely to jam
 
If a "smooth" action vs say a Ruger M77 are both cycled with authority in field conditions will the person handling said arms even be able to tell the difference?

Fuzzy
 
If the bolt is too sloppy it can bind, same if it's too tight. If it's roughly machined it can bind as well. There is a happy medium for this, and most manufacturers seem to have the tolerances figured out.
I don't mind a bit of slop if it feeds smoothly. My personal favorite is a smooth well fit worn in '98 action that feeds as smooth as a push feed.
 
I get weak in my knees when I cycle a smooth, resistance free and noise free bolt action :)

I have had Bolt Actions that were so sloppy you had to make sure you lined up the bolt before it would pick up a round and bring it to the chamber...
 
I love the old Remington 700's and their smooth actions. They could be cycled with authority very quickly and I think that is worth something in many a hunting situation. Their accuracy is/was legendary as well. I have never seen one bind or freeze up either - not that they don't ever do that as every gun is prone to a problem of some kind in adverse conditions, but that is more up to the person maintaining the firearm properly for the conditions.
 
horshur said:
Butter smooth precise hunting rifles are a liability in many real world hunting conditions in my opinion.
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What situation do you envisage a smooth operating bolt being a handicap?

I'm a fan of Mauser actions and CRF in general, and I polish the raceways of the action until the bolt is a smooth as I can get it. Bolt throw is effortless even from the shoulder, and I would bet that I could keep a pretty close race with a lever action user.

I've sold guns that I couldn't get to cycle smoothly enough for my tastes.
 
Well.... I will put myself in the doesn't matter camp I guess..... I used to be a big Rem 700 fan and will admit that some of the older 700's were smoother than my Rugers..... by then I bought an SPS and it cycled like a rusty gate latch..... then I bought a CDL and it was gritty and the first time I fired it the offend tip flew off...... then came the recalls.....

My Rugers don't have that tight fitting bolt, but they still have smooth mating surfaces, so there is no gritty feeling and they cycle flawlessly every time.....

I see the word "tolerances" thrown around a lot...... I don't think many people understand the principle or meaning of "tight tolerances"
 
sherlockbonez said:
I find the mkii in blue much smoother than some of the newer stainless hawkeye.
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I agree...... but have never seen a stainless hard to break in......

Every stainless I own has shown a huge marked improvement after just one shot...... I can't explain it, and won't make an a$$ of myself tryout my to do so...... but I own 3 ruger m77 stainless rifles and it was the case for all of them.......

I will also add that my latest m77 is a 35 Whelen Hawkeye..... it has the matte coating and is not blued.... and it is similar to the stainless in regards to cycling....... and I expect the same results after usage.....
 
I like a smoother action, there was a thread on it here a while back. I got to do some range shooting in Europe in summer that involved a giant movie screen about 40 yards away. We got to shoot at wild boar, moose & bear running across the screen etc.

We used a sako finnlight, tikka t3 battue, Blaser R8, & husqvarna CRF rifle (1600). The husky was in 8x57 & the rest were in 308. When we were doing shoots that required the fastest follow up shots the CRF rifle couldn't keep up. Everything else there wasn't much difference.

Holy #### that Blaser R8 was something else though. I'm gonna have to get me one.
 
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