Straight Pull Rifles

[Cyrano]

I've long been fascinated by sraight pull rifles; I got my first one, a Steyr M 95, in 1954. The various mechnisms that lock and unlock the bolt with just a pull to the rear I find interesting and ingenious. Anyone else out there like these contraptions? Please post your pictures. Here's a some of mine; the first batch are all commerecial hunting and plinking rifles.
Photo 1. Browning T Bolt 22 (old version) light and handy, wonderful plinker and surprisingly accurate. It wears a Weaver K4. Underneath is an Izmash Biathlon 22. Not really a biathlon rifle but he action is probably derived from one. Ingenious toggle joint mechanism, like a Luger laid on its side. Very accurate, particularly with the Weaver K 10 scope shown. Very light, target grade trigger pull.
Photo 2. Mauser Model 1996 in 30-06. Another light and handy rifle. Despite the light barrel it's a real tack driver. It wears a Mauser 10X scope. The rifle evidently didn't sell well as youy seldom see them.
Photo 3. Winchester-Lee 6mm sporter, the sporting version of the 6mm Winchester-Lee Navy rifle of 1895.
Pnoto 4: The Izmash with the action open.

 

[NE450No2]

My favorite hunting bolt rifle is a straight pull Blaser R 93.

It also has interchangeable barrels.

 

[Cyrano]

Ross Rifles

Here are a few Ross rifles. Sir Charles Ross emigrated to Canada to escape the results of a very messy divorce. He set up his rifle factory on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City, although the building has long since been torn down. The rifles were interesting and innovative, but Sir Charles was an inventor, not a developer, and the rifles, particularly the military rifles, were full of bugs that had to be dug out, painfully, one at a time. One of their peculiarities is that the muzzles are not crowned; Ross thought it hindered accuracy. The rifles, both military and civilian, are vey accurate, and the civilian ones are finished to the same standards as the best grade rifles in Great Britain. He also made a few target rifles, with straight stocks, and 30 inch barrels in 280 Ross: they had a long stem target sight on the grip, and another on the top of the butt, for firing in the supine position. They cleaned up at Camp Perry for a couple of years before 1914.
Photo 1. Ross single shot 22. This is the military training rifle version; there's also a civilian sporter. The straight pull operation offers little advantage in a single shot weapon; this is probably the only design of single shot straight pull rifle.
Photo 2. Ross Mk II (1905) military rifle in caliber 303. These were rendered obsolete in 1910 by the Mark II and were kept in reserve. When the US entered World War I, we bought many of them, and some 303 ammunition, mostly for drill purposes. This is one of those rifles, with the ordnance bomb and the letters US stamped on the grip.
Photo 3. Ross M10B; a military rifle with civilian markings on the M 1910 action. They were offered to Britain early in the war when there was a desperate shortage of military rifles. Britain also got 135,000 Japanese Arisakas, the great majority of them were the Model 1905.
Photo 4. Ross M 1910 sporter in caliber 280 Ross. Exquisite workmanship and beautiful wood. I don't think I'll shoot this one; there's no factory ammo, and dies and brass and bullets are scarce and expensive. Loading data is non-existant. Also these things had a reputation of not staying shut when fired, even with the bolt head correctly assembled; bad for the rifle and worse for the shooter.
Photo 5. M 1910 action half open showing the interrupted thread locking lugs.

 

[2152hq]

I've got a Ross Sporter 280cal that's seen a hard life as a deer rifle. It's in line for a going over and light restoration.
I've shot it,making brass from 375Ruger and using standard 7mm projectiles.
7mmRemMag load data was my guide and minimum loads at that.

I lucked into a set ofRCBS dies w/shell shoulder at an OGCA show for $25 so it made the prospect of firing it a possibility.
It has the Porter rear 'peep' sight as yours does.
I always liked the open rear bbl sight on these,, a single standing blade marked to 500yrds. It did OK at 100 which is the max at our range, though it's overall accuracy was nothing to write about.
A combination of a somewhat worn bore, those undersize bullets and guesstimate loads I'm blaming. I'd like to try for some better results when time permits,,the functioning was perfect though.

I had several of the M1895 Austrian Military carbines and long rifles (they were cheap!). A couple European sporters built on them too. A 303 Ross in full military was mine for a very short time. One of the NYS marked ones (Model 1905?). Cheap buy and hard sell at the time. Would be nice to still have.
Never had one of the Swiss StraightPull rifles

The Ross .280 is all I have left in a straight pull.

 

[KEN L]

Hard to beat the Swiss K31. I've owned several.

 

[LVSteve]

Hard to beat the Swiss K31. I've owned several.

Got one with a no-drill scope mount. Makes me look good on the range with GP 11 ammo.

 

[KEN L]

Got any pics? Would love to see that one!

 

[Cyrano]

Here's the no-drill scope mount on a K 31. That's a Weaver K 10 it's wearing, and it's rock solid even with that heavy scope. A great rig for load development, or even for the fun of watching a 10 shot group form with all the shots touching. I got mine from Brownell's and I think the guy who owns the Swiss rifles forum developed it.

I guess it's common knowledge that the Swiss rifles, except for the Model 1889, are all 30 caliber, wih bores of .300" and grooves of .308".

I was fortunate to get a set of detachable target sights with my K 31. The rear is a peep sight with adjustable aperture, and adjustments for windage and elevation. The detachable front sight accepts various inserts; mine came with a post which is the sight I like.

 

[Cyrano]

Swiss Straight Pulls

A whole collection could be made of Swiss straight pulls starting with the Model of 1889, and ending with the K 31/55 sniping rifle. I only have two, a much modified G96/11 and a K 31. I particularly lust after one of the Steyrs made under contract for Switzerland; one of the Hammerli free rifles made on single shot K 31 actions, and the K 31/55 sniper. The K 31 action ejects straight up, so to avoid problems with an offset scope in the sniping version, they just rotated the action 45º and carved scope mount bases integral with the receiver. Although the 31/55 action is based on the K 31, about the only part common to the two models is the firing pin. A few snipers came into the US, but they're pretty pricy now.
Photo 1. My G 96/11. You can tell it's a 96/11 by the pistol grip: the separate piece is inletted into the small of the stock. When these first appeared on the US market, 7.5X55 Swiss ammo was hard to get. The only source was Norma and it was expensive and poorly distributed. Someone modified the G11 and 96/11s to 308 'sporters' on a production basis. I've seen two US rifle racks; 40 rifles, all the same, at a gun store in the '60s. The 7.5 Swiss round is fatter than the 308, making rechambering difficult; The barrel was set back about two inches, where the taper of the Swiss case made it the same diameter as the 308 Winchester. They rechambered the barrel and introduced almost two inches of freebore, possibly out of respect for the pressure of the 308 in these half century old rifles. Then the cut off the stock and shortened the barrel to 22 inches. I've shot mine a lot with standard 308 ammo and military 7.62 NATO and have had no indication of high pressure (sticky extraction from the skinny front part of the bolt humping under undue pressure). I removed the rear sight and added a Lyman 48; you have to have a higher front sight or the crosspiece of the Lyman hits the receiver before you can get it down on target. The rifle sure isn't very pretty but mine is very accurate, once I found out my barrel has a groove diameter of .311" instead of .308". When I posted this on the Swiss rifle forum, they didn't want to hear that, but if you have accuracy problems with one of these rifles, when all else fails, slug the bore; you might be surprised at what you find.
Photo 2. The 96/11 with the action open. The locking lugs are just visible at the rear of the receiver.
Photo 3. My K31. It has a walnut stock, instead of the later beech stocks, and there is a plastic tag under the buttplate with the name, address and unit designation of the soldier to whom it was issued. These, too, are very accurate, and on various forums there's a lot of discussion about how to tune them for best accuracy. For some reason, Switzerland adopted a conventional open sight adjustable for elevation (range) only, making the K 31 a lot more difficult to shoot. That's why I'm glad to thave the detachable scope mount and detachable target sights.
Photo 4. The K 31 action partly open. The locking lugs are at the front of the bolt and the whole action is a lot more compact than the 96/11.
Photo 5. the Swiss cross stamped on the receiver ring of the K 31.

 

[Cyrano]

A few Swiss accessories.
Photo 1. Swiss military cartridge belt. Each pouch holds two clips of six cartridges each.
Photo 2. Swiss stripper clip. The clip holds six rounds: the capacity of the G11 and K31 magazines. Different colored clips indicate specialty ammunition: tracer, blank,etc.
Photo 3. Fron sight adjuster for G 11 and K 31 rifles. Probably the most complex front sight adjuster ever developed.

 

[Cyrano]

2152hq: I like the idea of using 7mm Rem Mag minimum loads for the 280, although I still don't think I'll fire mine. Many years ago Barnes made .288" diameter bullets for the 280, but I don't think they're still available. Bertram makes the brass. It probably wouldn't be too hard, if you had a machine shop, to make a bullet swadging die that swadged 7mm, 140 gr bullets to .288" diameter.

NE450No2. Ooooh, a Blaser. Nice rifle. I've seen them at gun shows and been properly envious, but they're a little above my income level. Can you change bolt heads as well as barrels, say from 270 to 375 H&H?.

 

[NE450No2]

I am pretty sure that Hawk Bullets will make you bullets in .288.
I have used their bullets in 450/400 and in 9,3x74R. They worked great.

Cyrano
Yes, you just change the bolt head. Also you can go from a right handed rifle to a left handed rifle just by changing the bolt carrier.

I have barrels for the 223, 308, 300 Win Mag, 375 H&H, and for the 22LR and even a 28ga shotgun barrel. I have killed squirrel, rabbits, several kinds of birds, including ducks, mountain grouse and a turkey with the 28ga barrel.

It takes less than five minutes to go from one calibre to another. And the rifle is still perfectly zeroed after a calibre change, as the scope mount is on the barrel. Also the Blaser scope mount goes on and off the barrel and maintains perfect zero as well.