Originally Posted by Futura


I don’t think the original tang safety is controlled round feed at all. On my 308 flat bolt it pushes a cartridge into the chamber and then the extractor clips over the rim when the bolt is fully closed. I think the 1st MK II rifles were the same before switching to full CRF.


AFAIK, that's correct. I understand the original M77s were push feed with a plunger ejector. The M77 MkII went to a fixed blade ejector, but was still push feed. Later MkIIs were CRF with fixed blade ejectors. All Hawkeyes to my knowledge are CRF.

This is what the first MkII push-feed (fixed blade ejectors) bolt faces looked like. Later MkIIs were opened up at the bottom to permit CRF. In fact, I've read that you can have the bottom lip milled offer and create a CRF feed out of a push feed, but not if it has a plunger ejector.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]