- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Issues related to gun maintenance is nothing new. The deplorable condition that some people keep their guns in mystifies me; in some cases they'd take better care of an axe. This is the devise they purchase for life saving, often the least expensive model on the rack, yet I've had guns brought to me that had to be disassembled before their actions could be freed up, due to the accumulation of dust and rust which turned to cement. If the gun doesn't cycle, it can't fulfill its role as a life saving device. This is a separate issue from the question of which rifle or shotgun action is the most suitable in terms of reliability, balance, and ergonomics.
Unlike some of the current crop of bolt action, the modern self-loading rifle can be disassembled and maintained without a toolbox, or worse, a machine shop. This is beneficial because ease of assembly/disassembly encourages good maintenance practices in the field. I'm not talking about removing copper fouling from the bore, rather just keeping the mating surfaces clean, free of dirt and debris, and lubricated as required. The harsher the environment, the more important maintenance becomes. Just because a gun will work when neglected doesn't mean it should have to, sooner or later the diminished tolerances will no longer allow cycling. Actions that have various components retained with tiny pins and springs are not conducive with maintenance in the field. The military has always insisted upon good maintenance procedures because they understand its importance to reliability, even when bolt actions where the arms of freedom. Most dangerous game bolt guns differ little from the old 98 and K98k Mausers, due to their reliability and ease of maintenance, but they are not the only solution.
In terms of reliability, a novice may find the auto-loader a better choice than a gun with a manual action. The term "short stroking" is not usually experienced by experts, but it is possible with any reciprocating manual action. When a shotgun is used in defensive shooting, the solid forearm of the auto-loader is more conducive to accurate shooting than the wobbly forearm on a pump gun, although with 3000-5000 repetitions "they" say we can learn to use almost anything. Guns which can be easily field stripped down to their major components, wiped clean then reassembled encourage maintenance. Maintained guns tend to be more reliable than non-maintained guns.
While dangerous game cartridges tend to have large rims, the bottle neck examples are not typically larger than the rim of the Russian 7.62x54R that was chambered in the both military and commercial auto-loading rifles. Therefore it cannot be said that modern auto-loaders are not suitable for out-sized cartridges. As a group, the auto-loader has suffered from poor triggers, but there have been notable exceptions, such as the Garand, and AR platform rifles. Therefore, a decent trigger in a modern auto-loading sporting rifle does not seem unobtainable. Modern auto-loading rifles as a group tend to be more ergonomic than their manual action counterparts. Beyond aiming, you need only be concerned with the safety, on or off, and pressing the trigger, continuity of fire is looked after for you. An open port bolt action has the advantage if you need top top off the magazine; you won't be able to add rounds to the modern auto-loader without removing the magazine, although this isn't an issue with the Garand, FN-49, or similar rifles.
