What action is the most reliable?

What action is the most reliable?

  • Bolt

    Votes: 99 90.8%

  • Lever

    Votes: 2 1.8%

  • Pump

    Votes: 1 0.9%

  • They all have the same reliability

    Votes: 7 6.4%
  • Total voters
    109
  • Poll closed .
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Well, not saying the military always gets it right, but the most successful military rifles from the 1860s to the 1950s were bolt action. Sure, there were a few lever actions, as well as various adaptations of muzzleloaders to breech-loader, but from the Dreyse needle gun to the Mausers to James Paris Lee's contraptions, bolt actions had it covered. Levers tried and couldn't get any traction, single shots disappeared pretty fast once bolt actions hit the scenes, and semi-autos came in at the tail end of that but did not fully displace bolt actions until after WW2. So, looking at longevity and sheer number of different designs, I would say bolt actions ruled.
 
My vote is with James Paris Lee too. The designer of the oldest rifle I own. Remington Lee 1899.

But after Bolt action I go straight to Levers.
 
Break action double barrel rifles without auto ejectors.

Same thing with auto ejectors placed second by my objectives, conditions and standards.
 
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Not even close. Levers are the most complex actions with lots of moving parts and lots to go wrong. Semi-autos would rank ahead of levers. Pumps tend to be a little better, but lack any real leverage to get sticky cases out. All of them feed pretty well, it is extraction and ejection that are harder to accomplish. All work pretty well if perfectly clean and used with clean ammo. Start using one in harsh dirty conditions or with less than perfect ammo and bolt rifles, especially those with controlled round feed actions, are clearly better.
 
Bolt for me, I seem to remember Mike Venturino or Layne Simpson doing a speed test between a bolt, lever and pump action rifle. If I recall correctly, the bolt was the quickest, been a while though.
 
I'm the loan vote for they're all the same!

While some actions have more parts and people say they're more prone to failure, I've seen them all fail in the hands of people who don't take care of them. On the flip side I've seen auto loaders that did not fail in very harsh conditions and attribute that to the owners careful maintenance of it.
 
The pump is more reliable than semi, primarily because it opens later than the semi, so fewer hot gases enter the chamber area, drying it out. Semi-autos tend to rust in the chamber, if not cleaned. More semi's jam because of that and feeding issues than pumps, but pumps require a person to pull back on the handle as the trigger is pulled, so it does a full stroke after firing.

Levers usually work pretty well, until battered rounds fail to feed and dented cases fail to extract. People who own them, never clean/lube the action, and use the same box of ammo for 30 years are the culprits. The other problem is found in older 94s, where the hammer is dropped on the half-cock notch, breaking it off.

There are also more loading errors with lever guns, especially in cold weather, when full-cocked hammers slip off gloved, young thumbs, resulting in unintentional discharge. I've witnessed a few of those.
 
enfield mk4*1 was the best bolt action war rifle of the bunch. more shots without reloading, good reciever sights and very easy to repair in the field. and the enfield had the longest run of any bolt action war rifle made and used.eastbank.
 
The Mosin Nagant was the longest Produced Military Bolt Action. The Finns kept producing M39's up until the 70's I believe. Until about 1980 they stopped. Plus they are still used all over the world. By Paramilitary, police, and military orginizations.
 
I suppose if you are strictly asking for the most reliable mechanical action, top seat would go to:

A percussion cap fired BP muzzle loader. V spring and a nipple and…. Bob's yer Uncle!

Next in my book would be; Single Shots, Break action or Falling Block.

Followed by; Bolts, Pumps, then lever and semi-auto.

M
 
If you took the best of each action type, I think the Mauser 98 action would win out over the best pumps or levers.
Would definitely be an interesting study..think we could get a gov't grant;)
 
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