page_title: Bolt action
section_title: Straight pull
hierarchical_section_title: Bolt action / Major bolt-action systems / Straight pull
caption_attribution_description: English: Rifle Lee Navy 95
context_page_description: Bolt action is a type of firearm action where the handling of cartridges into and out of the weapon's barrel chamber is operated by manually manipulating the bolt directly via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon. When the handle is operated, the bolt is unlocked from the receiver and pulled rearward to open the breech allowing the spent cartridge case to be extracted and ejected, the firing pin within the bolt is cocked and engages the sear, then upon the bolt being pushed back, a new cartridge is loaded into the chamber, and finally the breech is closed tight by the bolt re-locking against the receiver.
  Bolt-action firearms are most often repeating rifles, but there are some bolt-action variants of shotguns and a few handguns as well. Examples of this system date as far back as the early 19th century, notably in the Dreyse needle gun. From the late 19th century, all the way through both World Wars, the bolt-action rifle was the standard infantry firearm for most of the world's military forces.
context_section_description: Straight bolt actions differ from a conventional bolt action mechanisms in that the manipulation required from the user in order to chamber and extract a cartridge predominantly consists of a linear motion only, as opposed to a traditional rotating-bolt action where the user has to manually rotate the bolt for chambering and primary extraction. Therefore, in a straight-pull action, the bolt can be cycled back and forward without rotating the handle, hence producing a reduced range of motion by the shooter from four movements to two, with the goal of increasing the rifle's rate of fire. In contrast, operation of the Mauser-style turn-bolt action requires the bolt handle to be rotated upward, drawn rearward, pushed forward, and finally rotated downward back into lock to complete the loading cycle. The straight pull bolt movements are also all inline with the gun's barrelled action, unlike the turn-bolt designs whose bolt rotations can exert unwanted torques that might throw the gun off aim.
  In 1993 the German Blaser company 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 listed its successor Blaser R8 as one of the three most popular straight pull rifles together with Merkel Helix and Browning Maral. Some other notable modern straight pull rifles are made by Chapuis, Heym, Lynx, Rößler, Strasser, and Steel Action.
  Most straight bolt rifles have a firing mechanism without a hammer, but there are some hammer fired models, such as the Merkel Helix. Firearms using a hammer usually have a comparably longer lock time than hammer-less mechanisms.
  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.
caption: Lee Navy Model 1895
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