Thread: What are some of the smoothest bolt actions you have handled?

My Tikka 695 would have to be up there for me.

As above a Mod 695 very smooth, My tikka's are all great as are the Rem 700 i have. They all improve with use. Back many years the Sako Vixen and Forrester I had were very pretty good too.
For a cheaper rifle I find my Ruger American 30 06 good as well.

Slickest action I have tried was a Tikka M558. Just amazing. I did not buy one because of the synthetic material used around the bolt (which made it so ultra-slick). I wondered how long the synthetic would last and if it would be possible to import the part into NZ. The next slickest I have come across was the Tikka M590. Tikka dropped the synthetic part and went back to a completely steel bolt (except for the shroud) and i bought one. I kept my M55 as well - a very smooth action and excellent trigger. Another more modern rifle I have tried which surprised me due to the smoothness of the action was the Antonio Zoli version of the Husqvarna 1900. I have not found the Sako actions to be particularly 'grateful' to use, having tried the Vixen, Forester, L61, M75, M591 and M995.

I have about 15 Bolt Action Rifles and have used about 30 others at various times. Without a shadow of doubt the smoothest bolt action I have ever used is on my Mauser 66, Single Trigger .308 Calibre. Smooth as glass. If you Google the Mauser 66 there are lots of comment about the smoothness of the Modell 66 action, including a celebrated description somewhere that the Mauser 66 action is like... "the silky poop tube on a goose", r something similar!

Schultz and Larsen Classic
Never felt anything like it before

Like sliding ice over ice

Originally Posted by gundoc

Krag, early Mannlicher Schonauer, Lee-Enfield, in that order for smoothness, move Lee-Enfield to the top of the heap for rapidity of fire!

Have you ever used one of the STR / Scandinavian Target Rifles, how smooth do they cycle? I see someone "beat" Sgt Snoxall's record with one.

Originally Posted by MB

Tikka. After owning a Tikka for a while, I went to buy a Ruger American Ranch and the action was horrible in comparison. I learnt the difference between a cheap and a mid-range gun that day.

The Ruger can be made smooth for a fraction of the difference in price between the Ruger Ranch and 'slicker' rifles.

My Defiance for sure, followed by a Steyr Mannlicher and Krico. My sons Model 7 CDL with jeweled bolt was very smooth too.

Smoothest I have ever owned was my Seekins Precision PH2 - after I broke it in and applied grease. Was Shocking before that.

After that it would be my CRF Model 70 - many times I checked to see if it actually fed a round, the controlled round feeding worked that well.

Vz33 would be up there as well

Enfield
Defiance
Lone peak
AI AW
Blaser
Mod 70 push feed
Sako
Tikka

Clearly only very few of you have handled a Krag (not surprising as they fairly thin on the ground in NZ) but nothing else comes close, smoother than a silk worm's singlet!

I have 4 pre 64 Model 70's. They are the slickest rifles I own.......followed by the three Tikka's........Next up would be the Howa in 204Ruger..

Originally Posted by Cordite

Have you ever used one of the STR / Scandinavian Target Rifles, how smooth do they cycle? I see someone "beat" Sgt Snoxall's record with one.

That are slick allright and are the benchmark for DFS shooting here. They are still not as slick as a Krag imho,they are however new produced.

Vanishing few shooters use Krags these days.

Mannlicher Schoenauer.
Tikka T3x and Sako 85 a fair way behind the MC but still better than most.

Originally Posted by Woody

I had a pre '64 win 30-06 for a while, with a stock by Jack Bramley. A tack driver I regret selling to this day.

@Woody That Winchester wasn’t a mid 50s Super Grade by any chance?
I’ve been trying to track the history of mine that I picked up about 15-20 years ago used from Reloaders..it has a stock that I think is a Fajen? Cheers, Charlie