Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Blind magazine bolt actions

40 years of hunting and never had it happen on a M700 Classic.
Never had a bolt handle fall off a Remington 700 either.

I have two blind magazine rifles, both left handed Remington KS Mountain Rifles, one in 300 H&H and one in 375 H&H. Takes only a few seconds to unload in the manner previously mentioned. No need to fully chamber a round. I guess I've never been in such a big hurry that an extra 8-10 seconds to unload at the truck impacted my day, or my attitude.

I built a M700 with a PT&G Oberndorf bottom metal and that damn thing would pop open everytime...... I re-engineered it and it is mo betta now

I have, more than once, and I don't think I'm particularly clumsy either. Cold and gloves were factors.

That said, in order of preference I roll: 1) DBM 2) hinged floorplate, and 3) blind.

A floorplate that can be dumped without deliberately operating the release is poorly designed or adjusted, or has a weak spring. Same can be said for DBM releases like the Howa Mini, which is just cheap.

One of my sons had a Classic SS .270 with a floorplate that would pop open. He fixed it by cutting the notch for the latch a bit deeper.

Both my Mausers have the slide-off version with a little button. As long as you close it properly, it ain't going anywhere.

Yep had one of them too , mine would open upon shooting sometime. fixed it with a stronger spring.

Yup.

Lost 20 pounds last year before elk season. Those hills were a LOT easier to tame.

ADL is NOT about losing rifle weight for most of us...

Going to lighter boots, pants and long John's nets big dividends IMO and IME. I use to wear Danner Canadians exclusively and two years ago switched to a much lighter boot. Made a huge difference in the mountains with no downsides.
I've played quit a bit with light rifles and for me there are definite downsides to using them in the field.

The round does NOT have to be chambered to remove it from the magazine--that's one of the first things I taught my son with his ADL.

Amazing how many people haven't learned that........

Carl,

A rifle that fits your blind mag requirement in 308 Win is the NULA M-20. Light, accurate, expensive. But another option to consider.

I had one of the original Kimber Montanas (not the current model) in 308 Win and had no complaints about either carry weight or accuracy. Another one you might want to look for, lightly used.

BTW, I assume you’re not looking for an AK DGR. A good Rem M700 ADL would seem to fit your requirements for your hunting as well as anything that’s been recommended. Just my 2 cents.

I grew up shooting a tang ruger with hinged floor plate, so all my rifles since 1973 have been so equipped. I traded into an adl years ago but sold it quickly. Blind vs hinged is merely preference . They all work.

Have some of both. No disadvantage in the field for ADL. Either is fine with me.

ive had situation where the floorrplate didn't latch properly and gave way later on...mk-V Wby IIRC.
[my carelessness]..but still Any machine with more moving parts means more potential problems.




apart from the issue of balance [which is more about weight distribution], weight also effects other dynamics,

Harry Selby slimmed /lightened the stock on .416 Mauser to make the rifle more swingable
[reduced inertia] for the demand of fast-shooting situations
you know like where he could be called on to empty a full magbox on a 'sudden explosion of lions'...

I do know that when I went to a lighter synthetic stock on my Roys and carried 10x25 Leicas
instead of 10x42 Zeiss binos, I became somewhat happier.

Even just putting a heavier higher mounted Zeiss on my .270 Roy annoyed me cause it effected
the dynamics-handling and weight
, so went back to a lower lighter Leup. 2.5-8x ....smiles again.





Paying more for less, sound counter-intuitive, but the merits are there.