Bolt in..... bolt out...

[TommyD11730]

So after a days shooting you clean your rifle. Remove the bolt, disassemble and clean. Before you put your rifle away do you really insert the bolt?
Is there any advantage to putting the rifle away with no bolt?
Thanks!

 

[Holliday]

Nope.

 

[GrumpyOleFart]

Personal preference.

 

[Steel head]

Huge advantage
You get to be the guy who shows up with no bolt.

 

[Mike Casselton]

^^^^^^
If it hasn't happened, it will

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Huge advantage
You get to be the guy who shows up with no bolt.

Guilty

 

[DIBBS]

We have rifle with no bolt, rifle but no ammo, ammo with no rifle, rifle-ammo-and no cheek piece, rifle ammo and no magazine, let's see what else have I done in my career....

To the OP, keep them together.

 

[lennyo3034]

Guilty

Guilty

 

[lennyo3034]

Also if you have multiple of the same action, don't clean them at same time. Had a guy in my squad show up with a .223 bolt on a 6.5 barrel.

 

[Rob01]

Nope. Bolt and a magazine always stay in my rifles so I do not show up without them. Also the gun room is cluttered enough without bolts sitting around. LOL

 

[slm9s]

Some benchrest shooters have a leather bolt holder and always keep the bolt out when traveling. I never understood it.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

The bolt thing only happened to me once and it was back when I used a hard case for transport. You know how those bolt cut outs look awesome in photos? That was my undoing, a friend and I had hiked to our shooting spot and when we got set up I'd realized I'd left my bolt in its convenient cut out. It wasn't too far to walk back but just far enough away to kick myself the entire time over what a dunce I was. I don't think it was long after that I eschewed hard cases and just left my bolt in the gun.

 

[RFutch]

What's this cleaning crap some of you speak of?

 

[300zx_tt]

Op doesn’t know how bad it sucks to drive out to the range, unpack the truck get all set up and then realize there’s no fucking bolt in the boom stick.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Op doesn’t know how bad it sucks to drive out to the range, unpack the truck get all set up and then realize there’s no fucking bolt in the boom stick.

Or get out there and realize you didn’t bring the right ammo or none at all, didn’t bring the right magazine for the gun, didn’t bring targets, or forgot your bipod was on the other gun you left at home. BTDT with all of them, shoot long enough and it’ll happen to you too lol.

 

[BlackRifle]

Holy shit, thank you for this thread. Thought it was just me.

 

[BuLLet]

Many bolts out of my rifles when in the safe, I can cram more in that way

Have yet to leave one home when taking a rifle out to shoot. Magazines on the other hand have been left home

 

[hafejd30]

Forgot mine once,

Went all the way to the range, realized…no bolt

Turned around walked 7 steps back in my gun room and grabbed it.

I love living in the country

 

[roostercogburn98]

Guess if you showed up to range with a bolt and no rifle?, well I think there’s a saying for that.

 

[Mike Casselton]

We have rifle with no bolt, rifle but no ammo, ammo with no rifle, rifle-ammo-and no cheek piece, rifle ammo and no magazine, let's see what else have I done in my career....

To the OP, keep them together.

After you clean it, do a full function test, minus live ammo of course.

It'll force you to verify everything is present.

Or, do like me and rarely clean.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I took some vacation time before Thanksgiving and I cleaned my rifles for the first time in over a year for sure, it was cathartic. They all have their bolts in them too.

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

Huge advantage
You get to be the guy who shows up with no bolt.

Probably worst feeling ever.

 

[TommyD11730]

Huge advantage
You get to be the guy who shows up with no bolt.

LMAO... I'm usually the guy who brings the wrong rifle. So... right rifle.. no bolt. I'm halfway there.

 

[TommyD11730]

Nope. Bolt and a magazine always stay in my rifles so I do not show up without them. Also the gun room is cluttered enough without bolts sitting around. LOL

Funny, now that you mention it with me, mag in... bolt out.

 

[jlorensen]

I fell victim to no targets last week........luckily some clown tossed a nice square of cardboard in the ditch instead of the trash. Aside from looking like a dumbass walking around in the ditch, the day was saved.

 

[CShooter92]

Guess if you showed up to range with a bolt and no rifle?, well I think there’s a saying for that.

Back when I was pretty heavy into trap shooting, I went to a match where another shooter showed up with the stock of his shotgun but left the barrels at home on his workbench

 

[Guns&WhiteWater]

Huge advantage
You get to be the guy who shows up with no bolt.

That’s funny as hell. I arrived at the range once without my bipod because I had left it on another rifle in the safe. Bought another one the next day.

 

[V-Ref]

Testament to Impact 737Rs...I left my bolt behind on Day 1 of a 2 day PRS match

A good friend that shoots Impact shared his bolt with me....he'd shoot the stage..then lend me his bolt so I could shoot the stage. Got through the day, my gun shot excellent with his bolt, couldn't tell a difference in cock on close or any other interaction with the rifle.

Measured fired brass after the match with my finish reamer custom made chamber gauge...within my tooling and abilities to measure...I called it identical to the fired brass I had from my bolt leftover at home with the same number of firings.

I know I've heard of other Impact stories like this. No doubt other actions this has happened, just sharing

 

[Threadcutter308]

Testament to Impact 737Rs...I left my bolt behind on Day 1 of a 2 day PRS match

A good friend that shoots Impact shared his bolt with me....he'd shoot the stage..then lend me his bolt so I could shoot the stage. Got through the day, my gun shot excellent with his bolt, couldn't tell a difference in cock on close or any other interaction with the rifle.

Measured fired brass after the match with my finish reamer custom made chamber gauge...within my tooling and abilities to measure...I called it identical to the fired brass I had from my bolt leftover at home with the same number of firings.

I know I've heard of other Impact stories like this. No doubt other actions this has happened, just sharing

Same with Zermatt/Bighorns.

 

[acudaowner]

I try to keep mine outside the gun in my range bag i never leave home without it . lol

 

[mark5pt56]

Some benchrest shooters have a leather bolt holder and always keep the bolt out when traveling. I never understood it.

Because they are different--

 

[Boss334OP]

I have a few R700 SA's in .223, .243, .22-250, .308, 6 & 6.5 CM. They are are all well loved at this point (same wear marks & same bolt handles) and without looking very closely, the bolts all look pretty much the same. I can tell you for certain that the headspace is different on all of these rifles. For this reason, the bolt stays with the gun at all times and only incompatible bolts are pulled at the same time for cleaning/maintenance. Prevents a "Kaboom!", damage, or case failure. Kaboom would still be unlikely, as the headspace would have to be too tight but not so tight as to prevent round from chambering, but I am not going to risk it. Damage or case failure is much more likely and still enough to ruin your day.
The other major reason that I will parrot is: "Wrong bolt or no bolt = No pew-pew!"

 

[carbonbased]

I’m the guy who shows up with the correct rifle, ammo, mags, and targets, but forgets his pants.



Ok, j/k. I keep my bolts in the rifles as well. It they get in the way in the safe, I just open the action all the way back.

 

[BadAccountant]

Guy here showed up to a club match without a trigger. LMAO, poor guy.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Huge advantage
You get to be the guy who shows up with no bolt.

Guilty

 

[clcustom1911]

Probably worst feeling ever.

Second only to driving 45 minutes to the range just to find you forgot your ammo.

I never understood leaving the bolt separate from the firearm....because bolt gun.

Do we take out the BCG's from AR's or leave the slides off semi-auti pistols after cleaning?

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

Second only to driving 45 minutes to the range just to find you forgot your ammo.

I never understood leaving the bolt separate from the firearm....because bolt gun.

Do we take out the BCG's from AR's or leave the slides off semi-auti pistols after cleaning?

Lol, only 45min? Typical drive to a worthy place to shoot for me was 3hrs.

I dont remember why I took the bolt out exactly. Maybe something to do with the case I was using at the time. I packing everything up the night before. When I got there to do a sight in my stomach just dropped... No bolt in the gun! First thought was I left it sitting on the workbench. Scrambling around searching everywhere thinking I couldnt be this stupid. Luckily I just forgot that I had stuck it in my range bag. Which I never do.

That was the last time I leave any firearm dissasembled or dysfunctional. Unless its broken.

 

[clcustom1911]

Lol, only 45min? Typical drive to a worthy place to shoot for me was 3hrs.

I dont remember why I took the bolt out exactly. Maybe something to do with the case I was using at the time. I packing everything up the night before. When I got there to do a sight in my stomach just dropped... No bolt in the gun! First thought was I left it sitting on the workbench. Scrambling around searching everywhere thinking I couldnt be this stupid. Luckily I just forgot that I had stuck it in my range bag. Which I never do.

That was the last time I leave any firearm dissasembled or dysfunctional. Unless its broken.

Yeah 45 min to a 100y range. To go farther it was probably a couple hours.

Now in AZ I can drive 10-15 minutes in a few different directions and have different spots for different purposes

 

[2aBaC̶a̶]

Yeah 45 min to a 100y range. To go farther it was probably a couple hours.

Now in AZ I can drive 10-15 minutes in a few different directions and have different spots for different purposes

I moved to Idaho this summer. I can be on public land in 15min.