Uncocking a bolt action

[AllOut]

ive always made it a practice of mine while hunting that i load one in the chamber and uncock the bolt by lifting the bolt and squeezing the trigge while letting it down similar to a hammer on a revolver while sitting in the stand or walking around. Is this a good practice or bad... the reason for asking is last year my buddy bought a new savage accutrigger and i did it with his gun and after letting the bolt down it hesitated then fired. I tried to make it do it again later (unloaded of course) and it would uncock and then after a couple times it would fire and work fine a few times. Is this an accutrigger deal or is there something wrong with his cause i just bought one a few months ago and it works just fine?

 

[mr ed]

Your lucky you or somebody else is not dead.
A bolt action rifle when uncocked, has the firing pin protruding thru the front of the bolt.
This means you have the firing pin resting against a live round. The slightest bump or jar would set the round off. Very dangerous thing to do.

A revolver only has the firing pin protruding when the trigger has been pulled. it returns to the non-protruding position upon release of the trigger.
You can lower a revolver hammer without the firing pin making contact with the primer. but not on a Bolt action rifle.

 

[angsniper]

If you are going to do that why not leave the chamber empty? You still have to cycle the bolt. Personnally when I'm hunting there's a round in the chamber... just like when I'm carrying. (which is always)

 

[criticalbass]

Not a good practice. Outside the design intent, and results are unpredictable.

Some folks like to store bolt guns with the spring "resting." This just adds one more cycle to the spring, wearing it out just a tiny bit faster (not a realistic factor to worry about), but absolutely unnecessary.

I have never before heard of anyone hunting with an uncocked bolt action. I think I'd evaluate the potential dangers and decide to either depend on the safety or to keep the chamber empty (a bad idea if you don't want to scare game with gun noise and extra motion). CB

 

[AllOut]

thats kind of why i was aking just to make sure... its a little easier cause i dont have to cycle the hole bolt just lift and push back down but for safety reasons i will refrain from now on.
any ideas on why the savage will fire every now and then while do it

 

[Spiff]

Yeah, that's a really bad idea.

 

[Larry Morgan]

thats kind of why i was aking just to make sure... its a little easier cause i dont have to cycle the hole bolt just lift and push back down but for safety reasons i will refrain from now on.
any ideas on why the savage will fire every now and then while do it

Probably because every now and then it catches the sear a little bit and somewhat stops the firing pin then allows it to shoot forward like it does in firing. You can get as technical as you want, but the bottom line is that the gun wasn't designed to function in that use case (trigger depressed, slowly trying to lower the bolt), so there's no telling how it will behave.

Your gun is far safer to carry with a round chambered, cocked, and with the safety on than they way you mentioned. The times I've been hunting (not that many) I've carried with a loaded chamber. Just observe the cardinal gun safety rules.

 

[Danny]

I agree with everyone else. Not a good idea at all. Please stop doing that before something bad happens.

 

[dieseltech09]

Im sorry but I just have to ask. Who told you that you do this with a bolt gun. I have never heard or even thought about this. I just dont see any reason behind it.

 

[ldp4570]

What your refering to is an old trick that was done with the older military bolt guns. The trigger was held back while the bolt was slowly rode forward. Since these old battle rifles had a knob or lever on the back that could be pulled back to arm the weapon. Not so today with the modern boltaction guns, and its not safe in the newer ones. In the older Mauser/Springfield type guns holding the trigger back while riding the bolt forward there was no cocking action by the bolt.