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2,3,or 4 lugs.

I was looking at Bruno's site today for BAT actions. BAT is now making a 3 lug. Some make 4 lug actions. It seems to me that the more lugs you have the heavier the bolt lift would be, the harder it is to lap lugs to the action body.

What are the advantages/Disadvantages of 2,3,or 4 lug actions.

Thanks,


Chuck
 
Chuck,

The supposed advantage with multi-lug designs are two. One, you get a more evenly distributed force on the bolt face under recoil. Not a big deal with out hand loads, but using issue ammo, this can be an advantage. I belive this started with Palma shooters in Bisley, as they were isues Radway Green for the Palma championships.

The second "advantage" is you can go with a much shorter bolt lift. Generally, 60* instead of 90*. You are corect though, the shorter lift is almost always at the expense of ease of manipualtion.

I don't see any real advantge to multi-lug actions unless you are shooting with very low mounted iron sights, or crappy ammo. They do have a CDI factor of 7.6 though ;)

Chris...
 
The additional bolt lift required by 3 and 4 lug actions is only a potential problem when shooting from the bench, off of sand bags in which case the additional force required has the potential of upsetting the rifle's position on the bags thereby reducing shot to shot consistency of rifle support, and potential speed in shooting a group due to the time required to reposition the rifle.

On the other hand the late Creighton Audette,a highpower shooter, gunsmith and author of national reputation) demonstrated and wrote about the effect that the extent and location of bolt head support influence accuracy, particularly when less than perfect brass is used. He even went so far as to say that a Remington 700 has an advantage over a Winchester model 70 in this regard because of wider lugs providing support around more of the circumference of the bolt face.

Many types of shooting are not done from the bench, over sand bags, may not involve multiple shot at the same target, and in many instances, that, combined with the lack of availability of really good brass in many of the calibers used, gives a theoretical advantage to 3 and 4 lug actions in those applications.

Also, you may find it relevant that the greatest Benchrest shooter of all time, Tony Boyer, and another Benchrest great, last years NBRSA Shooter of the Year, Lester Bruno, have, this past season, been shooting BAT 3 lug actions. It would seem that they have been able to successfully deal with a slight increase in bolt lift with some degree of success. BAT has gone to a roller cocking piece to minimize the effect.

This is not to say that there has been a mass exodus away from the two lug action in Benchrest. The past and current performance of two lug actions, and the excellent quality of the brass used, as well as the previously mentioned nature of the rifle supports and course of fire would seem to indicate that there might be less advantage to 3 and certainly 4 lugs, in this application than in others.
 
Boyd

Although Tony may be shooting Bats on his bag guns, the rail gun that he won the NBRSA Nationals with and which picked up several Hall of Fame Points,as if he needed them) has a Stiller Viper action on it.

All of the custom actions are outstanding. Bat seems to be at the top of the heap lately, but we're a fickle lot. We'll have a new flavor of the year soon.

Shelley
 
Chuck,

CDI - chicks dig it ;)

FWIW,, I'm going to stick with two lugs actions for the forseable future, unless I luck up into a G&E or a Barnard for cheap.

Chris...
 
Chris,
Ya, got to love it.
I too will stay with a two lug, El Rohos, new Speedy gun will be there next week. I might drive up to see it.

,it has a real funky stock) CDI Factor 9.78457


Chuck
 
One thing I would add is that while a two-lug should theoretically be easier to open than a three-lug, individual designs vary significantly. For example, a Savage two-lug is notoriously stiff on opening,for a bunch of reasons). It is almost impossible to open a Savage action without rocking the gun on the bags. By contrast, a Barnard three-lug opens with relatively little effort and bolt closure is smooth as silk.

So you really do have to try different actions before making a buying decision. Regarding the BAT three-lugs, there were some issues with the initial run of these. Ask the folks at Bruno's for details.
 

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