Thread: Hunting Rifle

@Farmer_John just a quick note on Mauser 98 action, controlled feed verses push feed. This is for you as a novice shooter/hunter, not for the experts on this forum.

The Mauser 98 action (Designed 1898–1936) is the father, grandfather, great grandfather and great great grandfather of pretty much (*there are exceptions) every modern bolt, in every modern rifle, whether it is "Controlled feed," or "Push feed."

What's the difference?

Controlled Feed: The full length extractor on a Mauser 98, or one of its many descendants, engages with the rim of the cartridge as it is pushed forward and lifted up out of the magazine. Which means the bolt and the cartridge are coupled together, as if one unit, as the cartridge goes into the breach. This allows the shooter to either: chamber the round and fire, got to a "half cocked" setting, or stop the forward motion of the cartridge and extract it part way through the motion. In addition, if the cartridge has been chambered, but not fired, it can also be extracted, as it can from a "half cocked" position.

PUSH FEED: As the bolt travels forward, it dislodges the cartridge from the magazine. Subject to model, the cartridge canor may move forward into the chamber under inertial or gravity, it is NOT necessarily connected to, or held by the bolt extractor claw, both are separate. The shooter cannot extract the cartridge from the breech until the bolt has been fully closed into the firing position. The action of closing the bolt engages the extractor claws with the rim of the cartridge. A dangerous hunting scenario would be if an inexperienced hunter was hunting with the bolt open (WHY!?) and climbed over a rock, fallen tree, whatever, the bolt could slide forward and "bump" a cartridge into the breech, or an inexperienced hunter, adrenalized by the chase, could unwittingly "bump" a round into the chamber, then unwittingly close the bolt on a live round without realising it. This will sound far fetched and unlikely to the experienced shooters/hunter reading this, but I'm not writing this for them, I'm writing this for @Farmer_John, a novice, new inexperienced shooter/hunter. Some magazines, on some push feed rifles, which don't have a detachable magazine, or opening floor plates, can only be unloaded by working the live round through the breech, closing the bolt on a live round each time. To my thinking that just adds another level of unnecessary risk.

As a novice hunter I suggest you buy a controlled fed rifle as your first rifle. This may be a Mauser 98 action, and if not it will almost certainly be a descendant of the Mauser 98.

You have had some really good advice from very experienced shooters/hunters on this forum, people like, @Barrythehunter, @Countrycuts, @STC (the first comment), @Rock river arms hunter, @Eat Meater, I'll add one more suggestion: research, find, seek out your local gunsmiths, perhaps two or three of them. Go and talk to them about makes, models, action, calibres. They will guide you (hopefully) without bias and emotion. Gunsmiths also usually have racks and racks of guns, barrels, gun parts and sometime you will pick-up a really good second hand rifle from an estate, or someone who doesn't want to go on the Register, or someone who has retired from hunting.

And remember this, "Dinosaurs will come back to rule the world in 2024!"