Action (firearms)
In
Actions can be categorized in several ways, including
Single-shot actions
Single-shot actions operate only to ignite a cartridge that is separately set up ("in battery") for firing, and are incapable of moving the cartridge by itself. As the name implies, all single-shot firearms (unless they are multi-barreled) can only hold one round of ammunition and need to be manually reloaded after every firing. Historically, these are the earliest cartridge firearm actions invented.
Breechblock
Dropping block
The dropping block are actions wherein the breechblock lowers or "drops" into the receiver to open the breech, usually actuated by an underlever. There are two principal types of dropping block: the tilting block and the falling block.
Pivoting block
In a tilting block or pivoting block action, the breechblock is hinged on a pin mounted at the rear (in contrast with tilting bolt, which is not hinged). When the lever is operated, the block tilts down and forward, exposing the chamber. The best-known pivoting block designs are the Peabody, the Peabody–Martini, and Ballard actions.
The original Peabody rifles, manufactured by the
Charles H. Ballard's self-cocking tilting-block action was produced by the
Falling block
In a falling block or sliding block action, a solid metal breechblock "slides" vertically in grooves cut into the breech of the firearm and actuated by a lever. Examples of firearms using the falling-block action are the Sharps rifle and Ruger No. 1.
Rolling block
In a rolling block action the breechblock takes the form of a part-cylinder, with a pivot pin through its axis. The operator rotates or "rolls" the block to open and close the breech; it is a simple, rugged and reliable design. Rolling blocks are most often associated with firearms made by Remington in the late 19th century; in the Remington action the hammer serves to lock the breech closed at the moment of firing, and the block in turn prevents the hammer from falling with the breech open.
Hinged block
The hinged block used in the earliest metallic-cartridge breechloaders designed for general military issue began as conversions of muzzle-loading
Break-action
A break action is a type of firearm where the barrel(s) are hinged and can be "broken open" to expose the breech. Multi-barrel break action firearms are usually subdivided into over-and-under or side-by-side configurations for two barrel configurations or "combination gun" when mixed rifle and shotgun barrels are used.
Bolt action
Although bolt-action guns are usually associated with fixed or detachable box magazines, in fact the first general-issue military breechloader was a single-shot bolt action: the paper-cartridge
Today most top-level smallbore match rifles are single-shot bolt actions.
Single-shot bolt actions in .22 caliber were also widely manufactured as inexpensive "boys' guns" in the earlier 20th century; and there have been a few single-shot bolt-action shotguns, usually in .410 bore.
Eccentric screw action
The eccentric screw action first seen on the
Other actions
- The Ferguson rifle: British Major Patrick Ferguson designed his rifle, considered to be the first military breechloader, in the 1770s. A plug-shaped breechblock was screw-threaded so that rotating the handle underneath would lower and raise it for loading with ball and loose powder; the flintlock action still required conventional priming.
- The Hall rifle: First U.S. cavalry breechloader, originally made in flint but later made-in and converted-to percussion in 1830s–1840s. The breech section tilts up to accept a paper cartridge. Excellent machine-made construction, but still tended to leak gas at the breech.
- The Kammerlader: A crank-operated Norwegian firearm produced around the time of the Prussian Needle-gun. Originally used a paper cartridge. Later many were converted to rimfire; this was the first Norwegian breechloader.
- The Tarpley carbine: This is categorized into falling block action, but the breech block is hinged, unlike the others.
- The Hall rifle, except it was designed to take a special centerfire cartridge. Very few of these were actually made; all were constructed in the late 1850s.
- The Joslyn rifle:
- Rising Breech Carbine:
Repeating actions
Repeating actions are characterized by
Manual operation
Revolver
A revolver is a multi-
Bolt action
In bolt-action firearms, the opening and closing of the breech is operated by direct manual manipulation of the bolt via a protruding bolt handle. Most bolt-actions utilize a rotating bolt ("turn-pull") design, where the bolt handle must be rotated upwards for unlocking before the bolt can be pulled back to opening the breech and eject any spent cartridge, and must be rotated back down for locking after the bolt closes the breech. The three predominant rotating bolt-action systems are the Mauser, Lee–Enfield, and Mosin–Nagant systems, with the Mauser system emerging into the mainstream as the most widely used rotating bolt-action design.
There are also straight-pull bolt-action systems that uses complex bolt head designs to facilitate locking instead of needing to rotate the bolt handle every time.
Straight-pull action
In the Mauser-style
In 1993, the German firearms company Blaser, introduced the Blaser R93, a new straight-pull action where locking is achieved by a series of concentric "claws" that protrude/retract from the bolthead, a design that is referred to as Radialbundverschluss ("radial connection"). As of 2017 the Rifle Shooter magazine[6] listed its successor Blaser R8 as one of the three most popular straight pull rifles together with Merkel Helix[7] and Browning Maral.[8] Some other notable modern straight pull rifles are made by Chapuis,[9] Heym,[10] Lynx,[11] Rößler,[12] Strasser,[13] and Steel Action.[14]
In the sport of biathlon, because shooting speed is an important performance factor and semi-automatic guns are illegal for race use, straight-pull actions are quite common, and are used almost exclusively on the Biathlon World Cup. The first company to make the straight-pull action for .22 caliber was J. G. Anschütz; the action is specifically the straight-pull ball bearing-lock action, which features spring-loaded ball bearings on the side of the bolt which lock into a groove inside the bolt's housing. With the new design came a new dry-fire method; instead of the bolt being turned up slightly, the action is locked back to catch the firing pin.
Pump-action
In pump action firearms, a sliding grip at the fore-end beneath the barrel is manually operated by the user to eject and chamber cartridges. Pump actions are predominantly found in
Lever-action
The lever-action firearms, a
Bolt release
The bolt release or lever release action
Whilst the basic principle can be traced back to other self-ejecting rifles, such as the single-shot
Other actions
- Rotary cannon: Gatling gun, M134 Minigun
- Treeby chain gun
- Kalthoff repeater
- Cookson repeater
- Belton flintlock
- The Jennings Magazine Rifle
- Meigs Sliding Guard Action Repeater
- Roper repeater
- The Orvill Robinson Model 2 rifle: Orvill Robinson, a New York-based firearms designer, developed two rifles. His first, patented in 1870 and commonly referred to by collectors as the "Model 1" though it has no official designation, was a precursor to straight-pull bolt actions like the Mannlicher M1886. The second rifle designed by Robinson, patented in 1872, was very different, employing a double hinged action that folded upward from the receiver to remove the spent casing and back down and forward to chamber a new round. Though hammer-fired, it is recognizable as a manually actuated ancestor of the toggle action found in firearms such as the Luger Parabellum 1908 pistol or Pedersen Rifle.
- Krag-Petersson Rifle Though frequently classified as only single-shot firearms, one tilting block rifle usually falls under the category of repeating firearms. The user, upon ejecting a round from the chamber, would load a round from the underbarrel magazine onto the loading surface of the tilting block, then raise it to the mouth of the chamber where the user could then easily push it forward into the chamber. Though this would not meet most standards of "repeating" for most modern users, the classification has been in use historically.
- Remington-Rider Magazine Pistol has a manually-actuated rolling block action to pull a cartridge from a tubular magazine set below the barrel and simultaneously cock the firearm. The block was rolled back into battery, loading the cartridge into the chamber, by spring pressure while the hammer remained in the cocked position.
Autoloading operation
Blowback operation
The blowback operation is a system in which
Delayed blowback actions use some mechanism to slow down rearward travel of the bolt, allowing this action to handle more powerful ammunition and/or reduced weight of the bolt.
Examples of blowback operation
- Simple blowback: Uzi submachine gun, Varan PMX-80
- Lever-delayed blowback: AA-52, 2B-A-40, TKB-517
- Roller-delayed blowback:
- Gas-delayed blowback:
- Toggle-delayed blowback: Luger rifle and Pedersen rifle
- Blish Lock: early Thompson submachine guns
- Hesitation locked: Remington Model 51 and R51 pistols
- Chamber-ring delayed blowback: Seecamp pistol
Blow-forward operation
The blow-forward operation uses a fixed breech and moving barrel that is forced forward relative to the breech by the friction of the projectile against the bore as well as the breech recoiling away from the barrel. The barrel is spring loaded and returns automatically to chamber a fresh round from the magazine.
Recoil operation
The recoil operation is a type of
Examples of recoil operation
- Short-recoil: M82
- Long-recoil: Browning Auto 5, Femaru STOP Pistol, Mars Automatic Pistol, Chauchat
- Inertia: Benelli shotguns
Gas operation
The gas operation is a system of operation mechanism used to provide energy to semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is tapped through a hole in the barrel and diverted to operate the action. There are three basic types: long stroke gas piston (where the gas piston goes the same distance as the operating stroke of the action parts, and is often attached to the action parts), short stroke gas piston (where the gas piston travels a shorter distance than the operating stroke of the action parts), and direct impingement (AKA "direct gas", "gas impingement", where there is no piston, and the gas acts directly on the action parts). A fourth type, now considered obsolete and ineffective, are those systems based on the Bang rifle that utilize a muzzle cap to capture gas after the bullet has left the barrel. While this system is successful in boosting the operating power of recoil operated guns, it is insufficient and too susceptible to fouling for use as the primary operating system.
Examples of gas operation
- Short-stroke gas piston: FN FAL, SAR-87, HK G36
- Long-stroke gas piston: M1 Garand, AK-47, FN FNC
- AG-42
- Bang M1922 rifle[21]
See also
- Locked-breech
- Lock (firearm)
- Trigger
References
- ^ Brown, Edmund G. (2009). Handgun Safety Certificate. West Sacramento, California: California Department of Justice. p. 52.
- ^ "Shooting Vocabulary: Long-Action Bolt Rifles versus Short-Action Bolt Rifles". www.nssfblog.com. Archived from the original on 2017-04-07. Retrieved 2017-04-07.
- ^ "Revolver History – Colt Revolver". www.samuelcolt.net. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
- ^ USOG (27 November 2016). "Best Straight Pull Rifle Actions – Blaser, Merkel Helix, Heym, Browning Acera". Archived from the original on 2021-11-14 – via YouTube.
- ^ Fieldsports Channel (7 December 2016). "Straight-Pull Rifle Test". Archived from the original on 2021-11-14 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Straight pull rifles - in depth analysis of three popular straight pulls". Rifle Shooter. 2022-06-15. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ "Merkel RX Helix Review | Sporting Rifle magazine". Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ "Browning Maral | Straight-Pull Rifles Reviews | Gun Mart". Archived from the original on 2020-11-06. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ "Chapuis Armes "ROLS": New Straight Pull Bolt Action Rifle – The Firearm BlogThe Firearm Blog". Archived from the original on 2020-11-02. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ "Heym SR30 straight-pull rifle review review – Shooting UK". Archived from the original on 2020-11-01. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ "Lynx 94 Review | Sporting Rifle magazine". Archived from the original on 2020-10-26. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ "Titan 16 straight-pull rifle review – Shooting UK". Archived from the original on 2020-11-02. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ "Strasser RS Solo review – Shooting UK". Archived from the original on 2020-11-02. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ "German Straight Pull Bolt Action Rifles by Steel Action – The Firearm BlogThe Firearm Blog". Archived from the original on 2021-10-30. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- ^ Gun Mart TV (15 December 2016). "Southern Gun Co LR9". Aceville Magazines Ltd. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017 – via Gunmart.net.
- ^ "Southern Gun Company Example Gun Builds". Southern Gun Company. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
- ^ Carbonell, Rachel (2018-05-30). "Push to import new 'rapid-fire' shotgun into Australia sparks concerns". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ^ "New "semi-semi-automatic" firearms fresh risk to public safety". David Shoebridge – Media Release. 2018-06-08. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ^ McLennan, hris (2019-11-28). "New firearm laws catch owners by surprise". Katherine Times. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ISBN 978-1-4402-3276-3.
- ^ "Experimental semi-automatic rifles, 1919-1931- excluding Garand's and Pedersen's rifles – Springfield Armory National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Archived from the original on 2009-12-02. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
External links
- How Small Arms Work – Training Movie on YouTube
- How Does It Work: Toggle Actions Forgotten Weapons