Which action handles venting gas from a ruptured case or blown primer the best? And why? I'm intrested only in bolt actions. Mainly actions from Remington, Winchester, Sako, Weatherby, Kimber and Browning. Thanks.

military mauser 98

Mauser 98

Forgive me for saying the word, but SAVAGE.

According to three separate reviews in gun magazines recently, the Savage 110 series of bolt-actions has the best gas venting and protection system.

The Mauser 98 is not the sturdiest (a Carcano has been proven to hold tight when a M 98 action has long decomposed itself into pieces), but indeed the safest in terms of handling gas escape, providing for various mechanical and materials failures etc.

C.

Jack Belk recently reviewed the Montana Rifleman receiver, you may want to search and read it.

I agree with everyone's answer. Read a lot of good things about the Mauser and Montana actions and is one reason I started thinking about this question. But I am looking more in the direction of a factory gun and not a custom. Not that I don't want a custom but finances dictate otherwise. I already have a savage and love it. But I want something different this time. Thanks for the quick replies.

The Montana is a model 70 variant, and as I understand it, the model 70 blows gas backwards between the receiver and the bolt body, and the gas ends up in the shooter's face.

The model 98 has a bolt shroud that acts as a shield and forces the gas to go down into the magazine box and to exit through the thumb cut on the left side of the receiver.

But I will defer to the experts for greater detail.

Not one of your choices, but I think the strongest is the Japanese Ariska. I wouldn't be afraid of any of the ones you mentioned because I load to normal pressures. However, accidents do happen and they are almost impossible to totally prevent.

Yeah, the Arisaka is the STRONGEST!! But I am not sure whether it handles gas as well as a Mauser. It does seem to have a prety big bolt shroud, though, which is also the safety knob.

Weatherby.

I fired a load of Varget in a 378 which one of the members did Quickload at 100,000 psi. I did not notice a thing until I went to open the bolt. That load appeared to set back the action about .001" or so. That is based on chamber previous fired cases that had not been resized.

I have also seen a big over load in a 270 Wby with 150 grain bullets. Again, the shooter did not know until he went to open the bolt.

Mike

I agree the Ariska is about as strong as they come and it's a Mauser design.

500 grains - the Monatana action incorporates the bolt shroud design of the 98 and other gas protection features to make it probably the safest action.

RUGER 77--Picture shows case head from a
150K to 200K overload.Had to remove barrel and
case with lathe and reamer.Bolt was jammed by
swaged case head...Notice dimple of brass
that went into ejector hole.Primer was gone, and
gases recocked firing pin.Gases went out bottom
bleed holes in bolt.Case DID NOT blow out through the corners.Had action checked and we put on new barrel, and fired another 900 rounds in testing
our wildcat 458 HE...Ed.

Hey Hubel---

I think I'd back off a couple grains on THAT one!!

That's the kind of grunt-inducing overloads that make you thankful for good steel and a better design.

Bill Ruger copied the M-98 type venting action instead of the gas seal type of some other push-feeds.

JBelk-- I showed that case base to Bill Jr
at Atlanta SHOT Show in 99, and thanked him and Dad for building a strong rifle.That overload was
a 3350 accidental projectile.In load testing I
used an 18 in rod to drop down barrel if case was sticking, so as not to tear rims in getting cases loose.Got interrupted after a shot and went back
with a 350 gr bullet,125 gr powder, loaded and she
reared up, 30 lb tripod and all.Then saw rod sticking through backstop.Weighed another rod like
that one, and it was 3000 grains.Chrono read 1500
fps, for about 15000 ft lbs.When I loaded it must have set tight to bullet so as to leave at the same time as opposed to an obstruction.The Bell
brass I built cases from had a .240 thick base.
which kept corners from blowing out.Other brands
with thin bases, I wouldn't use, might have come apart.Ed.

When it comes to handling an overload and escaping gas, I would have to vote for the Savage 110 from what I have seen. Regards, Bill.

This is very interesting!

On another board, I've heard that the Remington M700 was the top performer in this catagory.

In fact the Mauser was frowned upon. Perhaps it was the pre-64 M70 the author was talking about.

In any case, what's the thought here, concerning the gas handling characteristics of the M700?

How does the M70 'Classic' perform, compared to the older M70's?

Thanks

The gas that vents down from a '98 Mauser can bounce off the shooting bench, come back up, and make a breath of stinky air in a guy's face. [ask me how I know]

Gentlemen

I'm not sure any action is "complety safe". If thing go really wrong you can be either lucky or not so lucky.

I have never been in the situation and hope I never will be. I have seen different types of actions blowed up or shoot in to pieces including all mentioned here. Make sure you know what you are doing at the reloading bench

/ JOHAN

I don't think the issue should be which action is the strongest. They will all take more abuse and pressure than were intended. As much pressure as modern actions can take, they can all be overburdened through accident or insanity. The real issue is which action will protect you better when something does go bad. The only personal disaster I've experienced was a bolt face that broke. Jack Belk commented at the time, that it could have been caused by improper heat treatment of the bolt, which was not all that uncommon on the 1945 Mexican Mauser 98's. Their record, I hear, is somewhat spotty. All I can tell you is that I'm glad it was a Mauser design.

The gas venting system on a Mauser is second to none. The venting gas blew the magazine floorplate off and emptied the magazine with enough force that the only cartridge I found out of a full magazine was a 7mm Rem Mag cartridge that was completely bent double. While that was the path of most escaping gas, there was gas escaping everywhere else, albeit in smaller quantities. The bolt shroud definitely saved my eyes.

InfoSponge

Thanks for the advice
I have seen a few rifle blow up since I worked at the local shooting club range during a few summers. I think it's nothing to joke about and most of the blow up's are because of incorrect handloads or poor quality of the rifles. I hope it never will happend to me, knock on wood

I'm quite sure it has nothing to do with me beeing at the range
/ JOHAN