Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Safety locking bolt down.

I want my bolt locked down when I put my bolt action rifle on safe. Why is it manufactures make rifles that do not lock the bolt down when the safety is on? Is it really a lawyer thing? It keeps me from buying rifles that won't lock the bolt down.

Ok

Three-position is my preference, but doesn't drive my choice in rifles, just another raisin in the cookie.

Be glad when hunting season gets here and stops all the introspection.

Why? As long as the trigger is safe I couldn’t care less whether the bolt is locked. That feature doesn’t even rate a consideration to me.

I've had brush flip a bolt open, and others have supposedly lost bolts that way. I also prefer being able to unload the chamber with the trigger or striker blocked. Lastly, I prefer the Mauser-like safeties that lift the striker off the trigger rather than just block it.

It is so you can unload an unfired round with the rifle in a safe condition. Some mfgs lock the trigger, some the firing pin, and some the bolt as well as one of the others. Sounds like you found the solution.

I prefer the bolt locked <because> I was used to it before it became an issue.

I've never had anything to raise the handle ***MUCH LESS*** drag the bolt OUT. I'm not sure that's possible. I don't think I've ever handled a rifle that did not have 'some' bolt release to prevent the bolt coming out of the action.

I have both kinds of rifles today and it's not that big of a deal to me but I prefer the bolt to lock on safe.


Jerry

I bought a NULA two p[osition three funtion safety from Brownell's for my Rem 660. It works great.

www.brownells.com/rifle-parts/safety-parts/safeties/remington-600-700-3-function-safety-prod13788.aspx?avs%7cMake_3=Remington

I'm exactly opposite and HATE the lock down feature.

I forgot one time and stripped the locking pin part way off of a Savage 340.

Like someone said, not locking the bolt allows you to unload the chamber while the safety is on, rather than doing it with a live round in a cocked chamber with the safety set on fire.

Okanagan,

Unloading the chamber is the reason so many companies use 2-position safeties that don't lock down the bolt: They can get sued if the safety has to be off to cycle the bolt, and somebody inadvertently pulls the trigger while they're running rounds through the chamber during unloading. (I've never understood why so many shooters feel they need to chamber every round, all the way, when unloading a rifle, but many do.)

The other factor is that 3-position safeties are more expensive than 2-position safeties,

To me, the issue of whether or not a safety incorporates a bolt lock feature and the issue of failure of the bolt stop (resulting in a lost bolt) arerelated but separate (mostly). Ilike safeties which directly lock the striker back and don't really care whether or not they lock the bolt down. Bolt stops which have to be pulled out to release the bolt are less likely to be tripped accidently than are stops which are pushed to release. One of the best but somewhat intricate safety mechanisms is the one on the Lee Enfield. The P14 safety is even better. Rugged, with a super-strong bolt lock.
Bolt stops like the Mauser, P14, and Springfield are ulikely to ever drop a bolt. Again, the Lee Enfield system is pretty foolproof. In the end, I've never lost a bolt and never had the safety disengaged by accident. Kind of a non-issue, I guess. GD

Hence Weatherby Mark V rifles are my first choice. Bolt locked on safe, sear disengaged, easy to manipulate with gloves, quiet, very hard to inadvertently knock off safe to fire. Happy Trails

It is a lawyer thing. They don’t want to get sued when some mental giant flips the safety off and touches off a round when unloading the rifle. I’ve had the bolt come open multiple times on rifles that don’t lock the bolt. I’ve never lost a bolt but can see how it could happen on a rifle with a cheesy bolt stop like Remingtons.

I like it locked closed too. I guess my rifles are about half and half

I had one of the early Remingtons which locked the bolt when the safety was on. I then modified the safety so it no longer locked the bolt. Have never dropped a bolt out of a rifle with this system. There are different systems out there, you will just have to buy one that works the way you like.

Jim

As I suspected some want a locked bolt and many don't care. I only know one guy who lost a bolt and he did it going up a mountain side in one of Alaska's legendary alder patches. He discovered it was missing after about 4 hours of fighting through the alders. He had slung his rifle to keep both hands free. Fortunately his buddy still had a functioning rifle.

I know I have locked my bolt down on and empty chamber when pushing through the alders after having a bolt come open, but it stayed in the rifle.

Put me down for locked.
Have had bolt get lifted enough to prevent firing twice.
There are two here that don't lock,
really don't plan to ever make it three.

Matter of fact, been thinking of making a Model 7 243 into a 308.
If I find a good take-off it's getting a 3-position put on at the same time.

The perfect whitetail rifle then,

for awhile anyway.

I want the bolt locked when the safe is on, like others here, and for the same reasons. It is what I am used to, and it prevents the bolt being knocked enough that the rifle won't fire when I want it to, or worse still, dropping open and losing a round.

I see no good reason for having a safety that allows you to open the action to unload, while still on safe. If you can't open the breech without inadvertently pulling the trigger you have no business with a firearm. I'm not much of a fan of typical three-position safeties either.

Dan,
I always hated the need to off safe to unload.
Until I got a 700 that didn't lock the bolt, now
I know better.

Interesting how different people's ideas on this are.
Often, where and how one hunts plays into these things.
People only think of their experiences, and then transfer that
knowledge to places where it may not fit.

When I look at feeders and tripod blinds, I assume certain things about that kind of hunting.
I bet if I did it, I would find I was wrong more than right

POS 700s, AFTER the lawyers figured it was easier and cheaper than to fix the fail on fire safety. Like you, I simply won't even consider a rifle whose safety does not lock the bolt.