Hunting rifles
- Thread starter Spartan377
- Start date
Yes a bolt action is generally useful and dependable, but is nearly useless when driving deer at my camp for example, where the bush is thick and the shooting opportunities come fast and furious! In this case a lever, pump or semi is the rifle of choice. Myself I am fond of the BLR! So type of action is really dictated by your terrain! A bolt can often be a good choice, but definately not the only option.
Please read the bolded sections, watch the first two minutes of this youtube video, and re-read the bolded sections:
[youtube]byChkCfZqbE[/youtube]
11 seconds - 7 shots - 6 hogs
Practice cycling that bolt!!!!
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
What's your level of shooting experience?
Do you intend to handload?
What game do you anticipate hunting, in what type of country?
When you think hunting rifle, what comes to mind?
What is your budget?
This information would help make any advice we might give somewhat more useful.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
When used properly, a bolt gun gives up little in terms of speed to any other action. It is incumbent upon the hunter to become competent with the firearm he chooses. The key is that the hunter reacquires his target quickly for a follow-up shot, and has his rifle reloaded by the time he does so. This has much more to do with the fit the rifle has to the shooter and to his technique than it does to his choice of action. The nice thing about a bolt gun is that you don't have to wait for the gas to cycle the action.
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In most Ontario hunt camps, you will seldom see a bolt action on the rack, unless its a new guy. We must be doing it wrong, I will spread the word!
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Consider the following video, I was shooting my .375 Ultra with 270 gr Hornadys ahead of 100 grs of H-4831 IIRC. With a rifle chambered for a standard .30/06 class cartridge, I could work the bolt a hair quicker as there is less recoil. But tracking the target is the limiting factor with respect to how fast you can make a follow-up shot, not the action of the rifle. The striker landed on an empty chamber as the pail got to me; this rifle ran better loaded with 4 rather than 5.
