A little weary about straight pulls

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cote_b

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Hi!

Ive recently becme interested in buying a K31, but I am a little concerned about the idea of a straight pull. Ive considered buying sporterd ross's in the past, but hesitated. I have fired nagants, enfields etc with rotating bolts with no problem.

My question is, with a vg-ex condition K31, would there be any chance of the bolt flying stright back due to an incomplete lock up? or would the locking lugs generally be fine on a very good condition k31? What is there preventing such an incident?


Kind of a stupid question, but just a little concerned.

Thanks
 
I feel the same way with regard to my M95M.

I played around with the bolt and performed some mock dry fires along with operating the action so I could get use to it as she is a different animal compared to my bolt actions. I have yet to actually fire her but the thing I found out is that you must make sure the bolt is pushed all the way forward and operated with a bit of force once you go to lock it down otherwise the bolt head might not rotate into the lug recesses all the way.

For your K31, the best thing to do is check to see if the bolt matches the receiver, check the locking lugs on the bolt for any cracks or damage, and make sure the bolt operates properly just like you would with a bolt action.
 
I have fired many rounds,some full power military ,but mostly light/medium cast loads with long M95 and I have no concerns whatsoever.

I'm not an engineer,but I think that both M95 and K31 are some of the best examples of Victorian era engineering,

even if one considers fact that straight bolt pull action proved to be a dead end in firearms design( as far as I know).
 
donor said:
I have fired many rounds,some full power military ,but mostly light/medium cast loads with long M95 and I have no concerns whatsoever.

I'm not an engineer,but I think that both M95 and K31 are some of the best examples of Victorian era engineering,

even if one considers fact that straight bolt pull action proved to be a dead end in firearms design( as far as I know).
Click to expand...

Honestly I wouldn't worry about it at all. As long as the rifle is all matching and the bolt has not been monkey'd with, it should be fine. I've shot both new factory ammo as well as surplus through my K31 and it has been fine. The only consideration that you need to make with it is to make sure that the bolt is in full battery when you close it. Dont baby it! Give it a push make sure its all the way in.

If you do that, you'll be fine. I highly recommend the K31. I love mine.
 
M-16s , AR-15s, Browning BARs and other are in fact recoil or gas-assisted straight pulls. Nobody has any qualms about firing them.
The various straight pulls, if in good condition, are as safe to shoot as any of these semi-autos.
I own several Rosses, M-95s and a K-31. Any of them is a joy to shoot. The K-31 is a beautifully machined rifle, as many swiss-engineered mechanisms.
PP.
 
I own and shoot K31's and rosses, they all tend to shoot better than regular bolt actions. I suspect that's because the quality required to make a good strait pull tends to rub off on other aspects of the design :p

As for your concerns - it's exactly the same as standard bolt actions - if the lugs are broken, it can hurt you. If the gun is in good condition, you're fine. Like any gun, don't push the action past its capacity and everything will be A-ok. There was even a k31 a while back that kaboomed due to case failure and blew the reciever ring apart, yet the bolt stayed right in place.
 
The straight pull rifles mentionned all have rotating bolt locking systems. The bolt is rotated to lock by a camming action in the bolt sleeve. Pushing the bolt sleeve foreward closes the bolt, and rotates it to lock. Firing the rifle has no effect on the bolt sleeve, it will not come back, unlocking the bolt until you pull it back.
 
Never handled a Swiss straight pull yet, ... but the Ross M10, if left purposefully out of battery by not pushing the bolt fully closed, will use the striker spring energy to cam the bolt closed. You can watch the bolthead rotate into battery (dryfire) on pulling the trigger.

Shooting mine is a hoot. Big fun and accurate. (thanks for the encouragement, Smellie)
 
There are as many different straight-pull actions as there are straight-pull rifles, or so it seems, but none of them are inherently unsafe.

The early Mannlichers (1885, '86, '88, '88-'90) all used a locking wedge under the bolt. When the bolt is thrust home to chamber the round, the locking-wedge drops and blocks the bolt in position. If you don't trust this one, better not play with a Browning machine-gun; they use the same type of action precisely.

The later Mannlichers (1890 Carbine, 1892 Swiss, 1895 Austro-Hungarian-Bulgarian and their descendants) all used a rotating bolt-head just as friend VVIKING describes above. Ross borrowed this and modded it into the safest firearm EVER constructed. They actually unwrapped a BARREL from a Ross in testing with rounds developing well upwards of 125,000 psi (the round in this particular test was rated at 150kpsi) and the actions HELD. The Mannlicher and the Ross BOTH will close their own actions slowly should you pull the trigger with the thing out of battery.

The LEE straight-pull actually cams the entire BOLT BODY downward into the trough-shaped receiver of the rifle..... and the striker can't go forward unlss it is seated properly.

The Schmitt (as in the OP's Schmitt-Rubin) uses a massive locking-sleeve to keep things from coming apart. As with the Mannlichers and Rosses, pulling the trigger with the bolt unlocked simply allows the rifle to close its own action slowly.

I have owned and shot various straight-pulls now for almost 50 years. I still have all my fingers, both thumbs AND my right-side cheekbone. Properly assembled, I'm not afraid of any of them.

Notice that I said "properly assembled". Humans can screw up anything if they try hard enough; that was the biggest point against the Ross as issued originally.

Learn how the thing works, feed it ammo that is crafted to safe pressure levels and you should be ready to go. If you take it apart, put it together RIGHT. If you don't know what the RIGHT way is, head on over to milsurps.com, take out a membership and download a MANUAL for your rifle. They have manuals there for things you haven't even heard of yet..... and they are all free!

Hope this helps.

Enjoy!
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Thanks for your advice guys! I figured this was the case. They wouldnt be so popular and used in different millitaries if thier actions werent proven to be strong. I am still very interested in getting a k31 so its good to know that I wont lose an eye ( or my life) by firing it.
 
You should have seen me when I fired my buddy's Ross m10 for the first time, I was so afraid the bolt would come back in my face but she held up quite well and was really neat to have the chance to fire that one.
 
Good confidence-builder is just to take the first round from the hip;that will PROVE to you that she's gonna hold together.

Might cost a round, but the payoff is in morale..... and you can't buy that at the store.

As you, I have heard ALL the tales of woe, 99% of which are just that: tales. If it costs me a single round from the hip to remind myself that the actual RISK is teeny-tiny, it's a round well-invested. That out of the way, I can buckle down and HIT something, the subconscious WORRY banished to the trash-heap where it belongs. Try it.

Enjoy!
 
Straight Pull rifles

I would have no qualms about firing a Swiss K31 if it was in good condition.

The 1910 or M-10 Ross Military Mark III got a bad reputation because the bolt could be assembled wrongly. There are several threads on how to assemble the bolt correctly.

Buy the K31, and shoot it. You will love them.
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donor said:
I have fired many rounds,some full power military ,but mostly light/medium cast loads with long M95 and I have no concerns whatsoever.

I'm not an engineer,but I think that both M95 and K31 are some of the best examples of Victorian era engineering,

even if one considers fact that straight bolt pull action proved to be a dead end in firearms design( as far as I know).
Click to expand...

Not yet.
htt p://www.heymusa.com/heym_bolt_action_sr30.htm

htt p://www.blaser-usa.com/R-93-Bolt-action-Rifles.96.0.html?&L=0%2F%255

htt p://www.blaser-usa.com/R-93-Video.940.0.html?&L=0%2F%255

htt p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pC5bPrl0wxw

htt p://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2010/03/19/merkel-rx-helix-worlds-fastest-bolt-action/

Pricey yes, dead end... no.

Think of them as manually operated semi-autos. :)
That will give the registry bureaucrats some nightmares, I hope.
 
Nabs said:
You should have seen me when I fired my buddy's Ross m10 for the first time, I was so afraid the bolt would come back in my face but she held up quite well and was really neat to have the chance to fire that one.
Click to expand...

Manage to get a friend to shoot one of my K31s. He loved it, fell in love, Etc......
Months later got him to try out a M10 Ross.
He nearly s**t his pants after 40 odd rounds when I told him it was Ross, he actually turn pale. He thought he was shooting the K31 again.

After he settled down and realized his head and the Ross bolt did not occupy the same space/time continuum, he fired the remaining 20 rounds with a smile.

He has a K31 now.
 
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