Thread: Straight pull rifles

Hey gents,

With the flood of legal straight-pull ARs, do you think we could ever see anything like this in NZ?

I'm very happy with my Ruger American Ranch in 7.62x39, but something like this would be very cool.

Saiga Izhmash Straight Pull 7.62 x 39 Rifle (also comes in .223)


If it’s anything like the straight-pull SVDs that were sold here, I don’t see why not.
To be legal in the UK, I believe those SVDs were rebarreled with barrels that had no gas port, and of course, the gas system was removed.

I suppose the main concern of the police is how easy it would be for someone with the know-how to convert it back to semi-auto.

Here’s the site—it also has a straight-pull SLR, some actual AKs, etc.:
https://www.gunstar.co.uk/Straight-Pull/A/Rifles

That's legal and a Remington Model 760 is Banned. Go figure.

My brother has one of these.

https://browning.eu/all-products/fir...4x-nordic.html

Very accurate and so far a great hunting rifle.

What's the advantage/difference or disadvantage of the Saiga compared to this?

Originally Posted by BSA

That's legal and a Remington Model 760 is Banned. Go figure.Attachment 277122

Yup straight out bollocks. Scary interchangeable mags

no sorry that Saiga looks ugly and would be a pain to carry in the scrub that mag sticks out right on point of balance nah -- the browning is lovely but the wood blued one please - Remington pump bit of a loss on those they handled like a shot gun but they rattled - the fore end was loose and noisy -put me right of them - I had the semi auto 742 for many years lovely I miss it

There are straight pull Vz58's floating around the country. I used to have one but sold it to another member on here. WBP from Poland and Arsenal in Bulgaria make straight pull versions of their AK's. It wouldn't be a problem for anyone to bring them in, just need the money and motivation. I'd imagine most dealers and importers are looking to see which way the arms act blows before committing to anything else.

Practicality wise, the AR type straightpulls are much better, but I get just wanting something. I've had a Utas 516 I got from Delta Mike a while ago, it's been really good. I've heavily upgraded it and use it as my main rifle.

are the straight pull rifle's better than a standard bolt action? kinda just seems like a way to have something like what we used to have but not necessarily any better than what we currently have.

the europeans like them especially for driven hunts and I can see the point something like the browning would be fast to use and everything about it designed for fast work - but I guess some of them yes a longing for the semiautos we once had rather than a fast handling rifle - but any better than a bolt a good one yes but only by a small amount likely

If you have a set up like mine, there is the added bonus of being able to run a thermal clip on in front of the optic. The AR type ones have the party trick of being able to run a 22lr conversion kit. While not as accurate as a purpose made 22, they're good enough for rabbits and possums. Or just plinking.

Originally Posted by BSA

That's legal and a Remington Model 760 is Banned. Go figure.Attachment 277122

They cant just ban all guns at the same time, so they do it peacemeal... gotta start somewhere...

Have not tried the modern straight pull rifles but have 2 a Shmidt Rubin 1911 and a steyr M95 and have always found them clunky and hard to try and not pull the bolt up from 60+ years of regular bolt guns.

It is just not the same. Five years gone by and I still miss these two every time I go to my safe.


Apologies to the OP.

Price point is the main issue. Straight pulls are nice and some fill the gap left by the confiscation of scary looking guns, but I don't see people paying much over 1.5k for one. Less than 1k would actually get common buy-in and may actually see greater profit from higher sales.

This' the issue the straight pull ARs are having in NZ - they're neat, but not many people want them at $2k-4k.

Personally I'd buy a straight pull ak clone at 1k just because it would be fun, but not at $1.5 or $2k. Id spend $1.5k on a straight pull SVD or tigr because I like the look, but again, I can't buy them for that price.

That's my 2C at least. If you can get the price down, they'll sell.


In terms of ease of conversion, people convert enfields to semi auto using stuff they bought from bunnings and hand tools, so the cat's well and truly out of the bag on trying to stop people from making semi autos if they choose to break the law.

Originally Posted by canross

Price point is the main issue. Straight pulls are nice and some fill the gap left by the confiscation of scary looking guns, but I don't see people paying much over 1.5k for one. Less than 1k would actually get common buy-in and may actually see greater profit from higher sales.

This' the issue the straight pull ARs are having in NZ - they're neat, but not many people want them at $2k-4k.

Personally I'd buy a straight pull ak clone at 1k just because it would be fun, but not at $1.5 or $2k. Id spend $1.5k on a straight pull SVD or tigr because I like the look, but again, I can't buy them for that price.

That's my 2C at least. If you can get the price down, they'll sell.


In terms of ease of conversion, people convert enfields to semi auto using stuff they bought from bunnings and hand tools, so the cat's well and truly out of the bag on trying to stop people from making semi autos if they choose to break the law.

I agree. I just can't stomach paying 2-4k for a neutered AR.

There are a lot of cool stuff that is legal for NZ out there but I suspect that no one is keen to invest the money in case the police decide to not approve it or illegally limit the numbers allowed for import to such a small amount they can't get a good price or make their money back

You just need to perish the thought of shooting being an affordable thing now. I've been told by some dealers that even if semi autos "came back" so to speak, the days of $1200 AR's are well behind us. Both the dealers in mind mentioned these days you would have to run a landed price of 2.5-3x the US street price, after shipping, GST, commercial rent, staff wages etc just to make it worth getting out of bed.

It's not so much that the guns are too expensive, it's just the local economy sucks. They seem expensive because the last time we could really have guns that looked like this, they were affordable. Compare it to the prices of new Tikka's, Leupolds etc. Everything has gone up since 2019. Heck, try and find .223 ammo for under $1 a shot now. You couldn't even handload it cheaper at today's component costs.