It's odd to me, because even though I read comments about how people assume that a BAR, for example, is heavy, the reality is that the current BAR Mark III weighs the same as a Model 70 Featherweight. Well, okay, it weighs a whopping 2 oz more.
The BAR Safari (scroll-engraved steel receiver) is 6 oz _lighter_ than a Super Grade 70. I assume that's from the 2" longer bbl on the 70.
So, in other words, a modern auto-loader is _not_ heavier than a bolt gun, but apparently people still _think_ they are(?). I only own 1 BAR, so it's hard to state empirically how reliability compares. What I know is that sometimes a bolt gun balks on me when chambering a cartridge. Not an outright jam, normally, but sometimes a bit of a balk. The only time my BAR has had any functional issue is when I was adjusting (closing) the gas port to precisely match my long-range handloads.
NOTE: All comparisons here are using the 30-06 chambering
