Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Butter knife bolt handle

Warum? (why?) The thread on the Mannlicher Schoenauer reminded me of this. What is the purpose of a butter knife bolt handle? Besides working the bolt, duh . It seems to be a very unintuitive design all around, lying flatter against the stock so it's harder to grab, then not providing any kind of real gripping object and in fact putting a somewhat sharp edge into the palm which seems like it would be very uncomfortable if worked in a hurry.

My uneducated guess is that it's just some early 20th Century German's idea of cool so I'm looking to be educated here.

I'm interested in any rel reasons brought up. Be Well. Rusty

Sits well in a saddle scabbard - early appearances were on cavalry carbines.

Sitting flat against the stock means it doesn't dig into your back when the carbine or rifle's slung across your back too.

And no doubt some people also thought to themselves "that looks rather good, really". It is true of a number of things with sporting firearms, some of which have no real practical value at all.

Also worth noting that in Europe the usual habit is to grasp the bolt between finger and thumb, not "palm" it.

so you can shoot a butter-knife antlered bull elk with it

In my eyes, it's simply a way to open the bolt....the rest is aesthetics. Seems we all march to different drummers......and this isn't one of my favorite tunes.

No one palms a butter knife bolt handle

You forgot ugly.

My thots as well.

Some don’t look so bad IMO.

Jerry

Ugly? Butter knifes aren't my favorite, but I find them about 4,000 times more attractive than "tactical" bolts with a knob the size of Cleveland.

I am in total agreement as to the "tactical" bolts.

All seem good reasons, thanks for the explanation.

I'm going to use it from time to time and give you credit.

I'm sure those are exactly the reasons for their development.

They look good on some rifles.

That moose looks like it can't believe what just happened.

It's thinking, "you took me with a 100 year old rifle and 75 year old ammo. I guess there's worse ways to go."

Yep, it happens.....in this case a 1903 built in 1939 and 50 year old Norma ammo:



This Brno 22F is only 68 years old:









Yes, I like butter knife bolt handles....and full stocked rifles!

so funny ! ! !

The moose rifle is a 1908, 8x56 MS. The ammo is Western 200 grain RN Lubaloy. The scope a Leupold 3x. It's shocking just how accurate that little rifle is.