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Ease of bolt lift after firing

JMayo said:
I too have wondered about this. Watching Sam & Scottie work their bolt quickly and it seemed to not have that cocking bump. Using their index finger to raise and eject ......:oops:
One of my bats have a sharper cock point than the other. I suspect ones had been polished down or maybe wore down, idk.
But to the point, i have to use my thumb on the shroud for leverage and grasp the bolt knob.
Brass not being the issue i suppose polishing the cocking ramp & point might helpI
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I would suspect your ammo or chambering. Hot loads cause hard bolt lifts. Also, I had a 284 that I had to stand up to eject the brass even at 1000 matches. I had it rechambered with a different reamer and now it ejects brass like a 22 rimfire. You may also try annealing your brass and adjusting your sizing die.
Henry
 
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Bought another Savage bolt from Midway. $129 plus $5 shipping, plus tax, minus $25.
This is the absolute worst bolt lift I have ever felt. You have to hold the rifle when going over the notch on open. Maybe I'll measure with a torque wrench.
I hope this isn't the norm for Savage.
Thinking of keeping it stock as an example of heavy lift. :)
 
Nothing to do with a Savage but something to think about. The new American coup de Grace action has an adjustable trigger hanger. When it's adjusted properly, you can cycle the action with your pinky, fired or empty. All about eliminating any cock on closing or opening. For the curious there is a youtube video on adjusting it.
 
Alex Wheeler said:
Most of the bolt lift comes from the spring and cocking ramp design. Depending on the action and the era it was from will tell you a lot. Theres only so much you can do with a spring and you can only go so light before giving up accuracy. The cocking ramp itself plays a big role. Theres some tricks you can do to help smooth out the lift with the design. I have been cutting cocking ramps for a decade now and have tried a lot of different things with the helix. A straight consistent helix works but its not the best way. I shared some of that with Borden and you will notice a change in the helix on those bolts if you have been paying attention. Particularly at the top of the helix. The newer bolts open much better than the old straight helix bolts. This has been a while though, maybe 3 or 4 years now. Bats are the opposite. The old Bats had too shallow of a ramp to get much firing pin fall. I used to have to cut every one. I did get them to change the ramps maybs 5 or 6 years ago. But I still re cut my personal ones deeper yet and incorporate some of those designs because I prefer a lot of firing pin fall. The steeper ramp can actually open as good or better than a shallower one if its done right. Now my testing has been mostly all long range. The little involvement I have in short range has shown that in that game you can get away with less energy. The thing I have never seen hurt accuracy is too much firing pin fall and I prefer more than most from what I have seen. Not enough is a killer same with springs. However, the springs really have a relationship to the primer and are chosen accordingly. Still there is a minimum threshold. And all of this is based on a good clean ignition. They have to be gone through and all bind or drag eliminated. Depending on the action your comparing to, it may be that they open easier or it my be your technique. You should be able to roll open the bolt even with a heavy spring and not slow down much. You cant just grab the knob and lift. Push the shroud down and roll open the bolt with your fingers. I have some guys that complain about bolt lift and I have their stuff setup as low as I can without hurting anything and they still cant shoot as fast as some with 25+ springs that open far worse. So technique is huge. Now if your willing to live with cock on close then all that goes out the window and you can make them open real easy. Im not.
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On your cutting closing cams....wow! Impressive, seriously.
 
Thats how you run a bolt. You roll it open. Lift with a finger while putting thumb pressure down on the shroud. Thats how you dont rock a gun. Then pushing the bolt forward with his thumb. You want to push the bolt not the handle. The handle binds things up. Just as important, his eye stays in the scope and hes not blinking....... head doesnt come up every shot either. The biggest thing that helped me get real fast was not blinking. I always kept my head down and didnt look for the ammo but blinking when the shot broke cost me a split second. After training to keep my eye open during the shot I never have to find the scope or see if Im on the dot. I already know. That was huge for me.
 
Alex Wheeler said:
Thats how you run a bolt. You roll it open. Lift with a finger while putting thumb pressure down on the shroud. Thats how you dont rock a gun. Then pushing the bolt forward with his thumb. You want to push the bolt not the handle. The handle binds things up. Just as important, his eye stays in the scope and hes not blinking....... head doesnt come up every shot either. The biggest thing that helped me get real fast was not blinking. I always kept my head down and didnt look for the ammo but blinking when the shot broke cost me a split second. After training to keep my eye open during the shot I never have to find the scope or see if Im on the dot. I already know. That was huge for me.
Click to expand...
Thanks for explaining the fine points. I watched the video a number of times and did not pick up any of those points. A picture is great sometimes, other times I need a written explanation of what I actually see.
 
Alex Wheeler said:
Thats how you run a bolt. You roll it open. Lift with a finger while putting thumb pressure down on the shroud. Thats how you dont rock a gun. Then pushing the bolt forward with his thumb. You want to push the bolt not the handle. The handle binds things up. Just as important, his eye stays in the scope and hes not blinking....... head doesnt come up every shot either. The biggest thing that helped me get real fast was not blinking. I always kept my head down and didnt look for the ammo but blinking when the shot broke cost me a split second. After training to keep my eye open during the shot I never have to find the scope or see if Im on the dot. I already know. That was huge for me.
Click to expand...
I’ve been working on not blinking for a while….tough! When I get back on my feet gonna try practicing with my 10/22. There’s a video of Tom Mousel (?) running a LR rifle, very impressive as well. E
 
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