The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Big Bores How Do You Grasp A Bolt Knob?Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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Not sure where to put this, but the topic has come up; On your 375, WITH a scope mounted normally, or other biggish bore (or really any bore) rifle, how do you grasp the bolt handle and manipulate the bolt? Everyone has their own method. This question is for everyone, but pertains mostly to a new Win Model 70. I just measured 4 of my 375s: the side of the knob is .450 from the bell. No way my thumb will fit in there, so it can't actually grasp the side of the knob. It has to be on the front or move out of the way. Here are some ideas: 1: Use your palm; the knob is not actually grasped. 2: Use thumb and first two fingers on the knob. 3: Use high rings so there is sufficient clearance for my fat thumb. 4: Grab the knob like on your Ferrari and slam it. Of course you can't have a scope. 5: Bolt actions are for the peasants; I wouldn't be caught dead with one. | ||
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FUNNY, but put me down for #1 ! Hip P.S. I don't have a Ferrari but I drove a Studebaker once !  | |||
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#2 The thumb and first two fingers basically make a ball joint Anyone who claims the 30-06 is ineffective has either not tried one, or is unwittingly commenting on their own marksmanship Phil Shoemaker Alaska Master guide FAA Master pilot NRA Benefactor www.grizzlyskinsofalaska.com | |||
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#1 for me. I do not "grab" bolt handles. | |||
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#1 primarily and sometimes #2 depending on the gun and its caliber.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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I do the same, but I think I have a guy who wants to do #3 with a low scope mounted. Hip; I though for sure you had a GTB in your garage. | |||
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Same as Atkinson, 1 and 2 depending on circumstances, rifle, and time available. Number 1 is generally faster for me. | |||
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If I hand a bolt gun handy. I would tell you. After 55 years of using one. I can't say I just grab it and work it. Never gave it much thought. | |||
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Haha Tom, I know what prompted this post. But it's a fair question. Thinking about it I actually do the same as the #1 and #2 guys here, or moreso #1 with palm and the two smallest fingers but believe that sufficient clearance ( whatever that needs to be ) makes a difference. Not that easy to explain but appreciate you trying to understand. On the other hand, I may just be insane Hunting.... it's not everything, it's the only thing. | |||
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I found a 700 308 that I grab with the thumb and for finger. | |||
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I was taught that the proper technique, when shooting for effect at game, is not to grab the bolt handle at all, but instead to rack it up, back, forward and down with the palm of the hand. I have always done it that way. Except with my Blaser straight pull bolts. With them, I use my thumb, forefinger and middle finger. This method with the Blaser is faster than greased lightning - nearly, but not quite, as fast as a semi-auto. Mike Wilderness is my cathedral, and hunting is my prayer. | |||
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I have an article written by Finn Aagard explaining how and why he uses #1. Hip P.S. my little brother had a Henry J! | |||
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Cool. The correct way is to operate the bolt however you have trained yourself to be most efficient with. If you are not trained and practiced, you should not be out hunting. Unfortunately I see far too much of this at the range and in the field. Most guys get mad at me for saying this; I can do whatever I want is the attitude. Untrained people. | |||
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1 Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Thumb and index finger for me too. Thumb straight, knob in between distal knuckle of curled finger and bottom of thumb. Like a ball joint. | |||
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Same here. | |||
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1 | |||
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Tom. You forgot about us backward left eye dominant shooters that learned how to shoot a right handed bolt action when we were young. # 2 style, but lay the rifle on its left side as the bolt is operated, then tip the rifle back up to position for the cheek/eye for the scope or sights to line up. Normally I use a pump or single shot so do not have to do that, but have taken lots of game over the years with a bolt gun J Wisner | |||
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I was once in Tanzania with Pierre von Tonder and we wer3e charged by a wounded Buff. He racked off two shots so fast that it almost sounded like one. He was left-handed using a RH Model 70. He'd been using RH rifles all his life. | |||
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If one is taking the rifle off the ones shoulder you are doing it wrong. | |||
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Sezz the expert! Jim Kobe 10841 Oxborough Ave So Bloomington MN 55437 952.884.6031 Professional member American Custom Gunmakers Guild | |||
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Yes I did not consider a Lefty shooting a right handed rifle. You guys are on your own to figure that out. Or do as JW said; use something else. | |||
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A little off topic but I like to watch hunting shows and CD's during the winter about African Hunts. It is amazing that most of these Hot Shot hunters have to be told to reload no matter what the game. The ratio is like 9 out of 10. Hip | |||
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Of course Harry Selby was lefty but shot a RH rifle. Brian Herne did as well. A strangely large number of PHs are left handed… | |||
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Hip; back to my comments on untrained hunters. I saw them at the range at least once a year (not for the past two years) for their pre hunt practice; first and only time they shoot their big bore rifles. Many are clearly afraid of them. Hit a paper plate at 25 yards most of the time and call it good. And guess what, they bring back trophies. I guess the PHs test them and get them close. And the PHs use open sighted rifles for the most part, and they train with them. They have to be good. Dead clients don't pay. | |||
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So is famous Alaskan guide Joe Want Anyone who claims the 30-06 is ineffective has either not tried one, or is unwittingly commenting on their own marksmanship Phil Shoemaker Alaska Master guide FAA Master pilot NRA Benefactor www.grizzlyskinsofalaska.com | |||
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A few more: Glen Cottar Owen McCallum Terry Mathews Natasha Illum-Berg Ivan Carter I know there are more… | |||
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#2 It doesn't seem like I've had to do much back-up shooting for quite a few years now,, for yardwork the Big Horn Armory is pretty impressive. I tend to use more than enough gun | |||
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Taking the rifle off the shoulder adds unnecessary motion. That means adding time slowing the whole process down. Well Jim to you remove the rifle from your shoulder when cycling the bolt. | |||
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Hipshoot is correct. I once had PH yell at me to reload after my first shot even though I was using a double rifle. I think it has become an engrained habit of PHs to say reload after the first shot due to most hunters just staring in awe aft the first shot (A bad benchrest habit vs. actually practicing hunting positions.) With respect to working a bolt, as a big bore target shooter I used technique 1. As a hunter I found technique could be problematical when shooting off hand with rifle remaining on your shoulder as the rifle could move causing loss of proper palm contact, the arm angle could cause the fingers to hit the scope, you hit yourself in the face with your thumb. or (As on European rifles such as the Heym Martini Express) the bolt handle comes down VERY close to the stock so the bolt handle is difficult to pick up and put down with the palm. As I no longer shoot competitive big bore, so I have switched to technique 2 to avoid the potential issues listed above. As a side note, the British could lay down withering fire with their SMLEs buy using method 2 for the bolt and using a finger to fire the rifle without grasping the stock. | |||
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I guess option 6. The goal is keeping my eyeball - crosshair alignment as undisturbed as I can. To that end, if the bolt on my 9.3 and .375 aren't slicker than snot to operate then the rifle is off to the gunsmith for correction. After bang! I bring the side of my trigger finger up sharply, opening the bolt, then rotate the wrist so the side of the trigger finger brings the bolt back. Then the thumb and web between thumb and finger drives the bolt forward and down. So, sorta, kinda #1 in that I don't actually grasp the bolt. | |||
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Number Two, except that I normally use only the index finger and thumb, which brings up a pet peeve of mine: knurled bolt handle knobs, which play hell with my index finger. I won't have one on any of my bolt rifles. My technique was honed by decades of competitive shooting. I am generally ready to fire a second shot by the time I have recovered from the recoil of the first one. | |||
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me too! | |||
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I forgot another option; one that the British used during WW1: the thumb and forefinger never leave the bolt handle, and the trigger is pulled with the middle finger. I have done it with Enfields; you can fire as fast as an automatic. Almost. Of course in hunting we aren't laying down a base of fire. | |||
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Had to check: Lift and close with palm, but open with hooked pinky. Get Close and Wack'em Hard | |||
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No. 1 As usual just my $.02 Paul K | |||
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Could not tell you! I don't think about it. It just happens! I am getting slack! Shooting pigs from a tower at night, they are either dead right there or run at the shot. Saving the brass is more important than a second shot! | |||
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That reminds me of one video---a guy (can't call him a hunter) had just shot a Cape buffalo and as the buffalo is running away he turns toward the camera and looks down to find his brass!    Hip | |||
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#1 | |||
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Opening with pinky is one I have not heard of or seen before. | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Big Bores How Do You Grasp A Bolt Knob?
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