.338 BAR and Bolt Manipulation

M

moose fat

New member
My brother inlaw has a new, last year/one season, BAR he uses mosse hunting. We usually drift quietly down rivers, rifle has no round in the chamber. When he goes to chamber a round he has to let the slide slam forward, Noisy.

When he eases the slide forward, quietly, the slide fails to go into battery and is unable to fire. He's about to give up on the gun.

I have seen some other posts with good comments about the BAR.

Suggestions, comments?

Thank You
 
I won't say whether it's the right thing to do or not,but most people would have it loaded and treat it accordingly.Unless some ordinance says not to.
 
As I understand it, a boat is a vessel and you cannot have a loaded weapon in a moving vessel. Or something to that effect, right?

I had a BAR in 7mmMag for a while and can relate to the noise. The reason the bolt does not go into battery is the extractor has to snap over the case rim and in order to do so it has to overcome the force of the ejector spring. Easy when you slam the bolt, not so easy when you ease it forward. I will assume you have tried pushing on the bolt handle to force the rifle into battery, or tried short-cycling the bolt and letting it slam home from about 1" out. If not, give that a try. If you tried that and it didn't work, about the only way I see that you will get the bolt into battery is to release the bolt and let it slam home.
 
Alaska state law says it is unlawful to take game from a motorized boat with the motor running.The motor has to be turned off and the motor driven forward motion ceased.Says nothing about a loaded gun.NC is the same way.We hunt ducks from boats all the time ,but they become indignant if you try to chase them down.Of course ,any particular county or whatever can have their own rules.
 
Moose fat,

I think your only choice is to have a hot chamber with the safety on and the rifle secured and not messed with it until it's needed.

I hunt from a boat too-a couple days upriver from ya- with a Ruger #1. I have to keep a hot chamber. I keep it loaded and bungeed to the control console until needed. Others are kept on a rack on the side of the cab.
 
Yeah a round in the chamber. I asked him again today and he just eases the bolt forward.

There wouldn't be enough force for the extractor to snap over the round. Kinda like easing the slide to chamber a round in a 1911, then bumping the back of the slide.

When we're hunting moose we travel as far upriver as we can get without digging clams or losing the lower end on BIG ROCK and then make camp. In the AM we'll drift and pole down with out the motor, or try and go even further up without the weight of the camping gear. We see a moose we pull over to the bank and tie off. If we don't see Mr. Moose before lunch we'll stop eat lunch and/or fish for silvers or graylings, pick blue berries, glass around, wander up a hill and glass around. Then back to camp.

When I'm in my boat it depends if I'm actively hunting or not . I'm usually hunting for something so my 06, Bushy or 69A is hot and safety on, never in the hand, off the way or next to the console.

Seven more days till moose hunting!:D
 
One of the reasons I got rid of my bar 30/06 was the problem you describe. It doesn't make much sense to ease up in a tree and then let your bolt slam. I was able to engage the bolt, sometimes, with a sharp blow from the heel of my hand to the bolt handle. Not a perfect solution, obviously.
I liked the rifle, otherwise, it just didn't fit the way I hunt. Back to a bolt action.
 
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