firearms A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originated ...

terminology, an action is the functional mechanism of a

breechloading A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzzle ...

firearm that handles (loads, locks, fires, extracts, and ejects) the

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

cartridges, or the method by which that mechanism works. Actions are technically not present on

muzzleloader A muzzleloader is any firearm in which the user loads the bullet, projectile and the propellant charge into the Muzzle (firearms), muzzle end of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern desi ...

s, as all those are

single-shot In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have ...

firearms with a closed off breech with the powder and projectile manually loaded from the muzzle. Instead, the muzzleloader ignition mechanism is referred to as the ''lock'' (e.g.

matchlock A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of flammable cord or twine that is in contact with the gunpowder through a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or Tri ...

wheellock A wheellock, wheel-lock, or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock, and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name ...

flintlock Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (firearm), ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism its ...

, and

caplock The percussion cap, percussion primer, or caplock, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. Its invention gave ...

). Actions can be categorized in several ways, including

single action A trigger is a mechanism that actuates the function of a ranged weapon such as a firearm, airgun, crossbow, or speargun. The word may also be used to describe a switch that initiates the operation of other non-shooting devices such as a tr ...

versus

double action Double action (or double-action) refers to one of two systems in firearms where the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. *Double-action only (DAO) firearms trigger: The trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. There is no single-action ...

break action Break action is a type of firearm action in which the barrel(s) are hinged much like a door and rotate perpendicularly to the bore axis to expose the breech and allow loading and unloading of cartridges. A separate operation may be required for ...

versus

lever-action The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Picture showing a Volcanic Pistol A lever action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocki ...

pump-action Pump action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by moving a sliding handguard on the gun's forestock. When shooting, the sliding forend is pulled rearward to eject any expended cartridge (firearms), cartridge and typically to co ...

bolt-action Bolt action is a type of manual Action (firearms), firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt (firearms), turn-bolt via a cocking handle, bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (a ...

, among many other types. The term action can also include short, long, and magnum if it is in reference to the length of the rifle's receiver and the length of the bolt. The short action rifle usually can accommodate a cartridge length of or smaller. The long action rifle can accommodate a cartridge of , and the magnum action rifle can accommodate cartridges of .

Single-shot actions

Single-shot actions operate only to ignite a cartridge that is separately set up ("in battery") for firing, and are incapable of moving the cartridge, itself. As the name implies, all single-shot firearms (unless they are multi-barreled) can only hold one round of

and need to be manually reloaded after every firing. Historically, these are the earliest cartridge firearm actions invented.

Breechblock

Dropping block

The dropping block are actions wherein the

breechblock A breechblock (or breech block) is the part of the firearm action that closes the breech of a breech loading weapon (whether small arms or artillery) before or at the moment of firing. It seals the breech and contains the pressure generated by ...

lowers or "drops" into the receiver to open the breech, usually actuated by an underlever. There are two principal types of dropping block: the tilting block and the falling block.

Pivoting block

In a tilting block or pivoting block action, the breechblock is hinged on a pin mounted at the rear (in contrast with

tilting bolt Tilting bolt action is a type of locking mechanism often used in self-loading firearms and, rarely, in straight-pull repeating rifles. Essentially, the design consists of a moving bolt driven by some mechanism, most often a piston with gas pres ...

, which is not hinged). When the lever is operated, the block tilts down and forward, exposing the chamber. The best-known pivoting block designs are the Peabody, the Peabody–Martini, and Ballard actions. The original Peabody rifles, manufactured by the

Providence Tool Company The Rhode Island Tool Company is a historic industrial property at 146-148 West River Street in Providence, Rhode Island. It is a parcel located between West River Street and the channelized West River, on which stand two historic buildings. ...

, used a manually cocked side-hammer. Swiss gunsmith Friedrich Martini developed a pivoting block action by modifying the Peabody, which incorporated a hammerless striker that was cocked by the operating lever with the same single efficient motion that also pivoted the block. The 1871

Martini–Henry The Martini–Henry is a breech-loading single-shot rifle with a lever action that was used by the British Army. It first entered service in 1871, eventually replacing the Snider–Enfield, a muzzle-loader converted to the cartridge system. Mar ...

which replaced the "trapdoor"

Snider–Enfield The British .577 Snider–Enfield was a breechloader, breech-loading rifle. The American inventor, Jacob Snider created this action (firearms), firearm action, and the Snider–Enfield was one of the most widely used of the Snider varieties. The ...

was the standard British Army rifle of the later Victorian era, and the Martini is also a popular action for civilian rifles. Charles H. Ballard's self-cocking tilting-block action was produced by the

Marlin Firearms Company Marlin Firearms is an American manufacturer of semi-automatic, lever-action and bolt-action rifles. In the past the company (based in Madison, North Carolina and formerly based in North Haven, Connecticut) made shotguns, derringers, revolvers ...

from 1875 and earned a superlative reputation among long-range "Creedmoor" target shooters. Surviving Marlin Ballards are today highly prized by collectors, especially those mounted in the elaborate Swiss-style Schützen stocks of the day.

Falling block

In a falling block or sliding block action, a solid metal breechblock "slides" vertically in grooves cut into the breech of the firearm and actuated by a lever. Examples of firearms using the falling-block action are the

Sharps rifle Sharps rifles are a series of large-bore, single-shot, falling-block, breech-loading rifles, beginning with a design by Christian Sharps in 1848 and ceasing production in 1881. They were renowned for long-range accuracy. By 1874, the rifle ...

and Ruger No. 1.

Rolling block

In a rolling block action, the breechblock takes the form of a part-cylinder, with a pivot pin through its axis. The operator rotates or "rolls" the block to open and close the breech; it is a simple, rugged, and reliable design. Rolling blocks are most often associated with firearms made by Remington in the late 19th century; in the Remington action the hammer serves to lock the breech closed at the moment of firing, and the block in turn prevents the hammer from falling with the breech open.

Hinged block

The hinged block used in the earliest metallic-cartridge breechloaders designed for general military issue began as conversions of muzzle-loading

rifle-musket A rifled musket, rifle musket, or rifle-musket is a type of firearm made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels replaced with rifled barrel ...

s. The upper rear portion of the barrel was filed or milled away and replaced by a hinged breechblock, which opened upward to permit loading. An internal angled firing pin allowed the re-use of the rifle's existing side-hammer. The Allin action made by Springfield Arsenal in the US hinged forward; the

used by the British opened to the side. Whereas the British quickly replaced the Snider with a dropping-block Peabody-style Martini action, the US Army felt the trapdoor action to be adequate and followed its muzzleloader conversions with the new-production Springfield Model 1873, which was the principal longarm used as a weapon in the

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

and was still in service with some units in the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

Break-action

A break action is a type of firearm where the barrel(s) are hinged and can be "broken open" to expose the breech. Multi-barrel break action firearms are usually subdivided into over-and-under or side-by-side configurations for two barrel configurations or "

combination gun A combination gun is a firearm that usually comprises at least one rifled barrel and one smoothbore barrel, that is typically used with shot or some type of shotgun slug. Most have been break-action guns, although there have been other design ...

" when mixed rifle and shotgun barrels are used.

Bolt-action

Although bolt-action guns are usually associated with fixed or detachable box magazines (multi-shot), some are single-shot. In fact, the first general-issue military breechloader was a single-shot bolt action: the paper-cartridge Prussian needle gun of 1841. France countered in 1866 with its superior

Chassepot rifle The Chassepot (pronounced ; ), officially known as , was a bolt-action military breechloading rifle. It is famous for having been the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. It replaced an assortment of muzzleloading ...

, also a paper-cartridge bolt action. The first metallic-cartridge bolt actions in general military service were the Berdan Type II introduced by Russia in 1870, the

Mauser Model 1871 The Mauser Model 1871, adopted as the 71 or 71, or "Infantry Rifle 71" ("I.G.Mod.71" was stamped on the rifles themselves), was the first rifle model in a distinguished line designed and manufactured by Paul Mauser and Wilhelm Mauser of the M ...

, and a modified Chassepot, the

Gras rifle The Fusil Modèle 1874 or Gras was the French Army's primary service rifle from 1874 to 1886. Designed by Colonel Basile Gras, the Gras was a metallic cartridge adaptation of the single-shot, breech-loading, black powder Chassepot rifle. It was ...

of 1874; all these were single-shots. Today, most top-level smallbore match rifles are single-shot bolt action rifles. Single-shot bolt actions in .22 caliber were also widely manufactured as inexpensive "boys' guns" in the earlier 20th century; and there have been a few single-shot bolt-action shotguns, usually in .410 bore.

Eccentric screw action

The eccentric screw action first seen on the M1867 Werndl–Holub and later on the

Magnum Research Magnum Research, Inc. (MRI) was an American privately held corporation based in Fridley, Minnesota which manufactured and distributed firearms. The majority owners, Jim Skildum (President and CEO) and John Risdall (Chairman, COO), had been wit ...

Lone Eagle pistol, the breech closure is a rotating drum with the same axis, but offset from the bore. When locked, a firing pin aligns with the

primer Primer may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth * ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour Literature * Primer (textbook), a te ...

, the breech is otherwise solid. When rotated open, a slot in the drum is exposed for extraction and feeding of a new round. Though first used on the Werndl-Holub, this action is commonly known as a cannon breech due to its association with the French 75mm Model of 1897 cannon. The French M1897 was, itself, based on William Hubbell's .

Other actions

*The

Ferguson rifle The Ferguson rifle was one of the first breech-loading rifles to be put into service by the British military. It was designed by Major Patrick Ferguson (1744–1780). It fired a standard British carbine ball of .615" calibre and was used by the B ...

: British Major Patrick Ferguson designed his rifle, considered to be the first military

breechloader A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition from the breech end of the barrel (i.e., from the rearward, open end of the gun's barrel), as opposed to a muzzleloader, in which the user loads the ammunition from the ( muzz ...

in the 1770s. A plug-shaped breechblock was screw-threaded so that rotating the handle underneath would lower and raise it for loading with ball and loose powder; the flintlock action still required conventional priming. *The Hall rifle: First U.S. cavalry breechloader, originally made in flint but later made-in and converted to percussion in 1830s–1840s. The breech section tilts up to accept a paper cartridge. Excellent machine-made construction, but still tended to leak gas at the breech. *The

Kammerlader The ''Kammerlader'', or "chamber loader", was the first Norwegian breech-loading rifle, and among the first breech loaders adopted for use by an armed force anywhere in the world. A single-shot black-powder rifle, the ''kammerlader'' was operate ...

: A crank-operated Norwegian firearm produced around the time of the Prussian Needle-gun. Originally used a paper cartridge. Later, many were converted to rimfire; this was the first Norwegian breechloader. *The Tarpley carbine: This is categorized into falling block action, but the breech block is hinged, unlike the others. *The Morse Carbine: This mostly brass action is somewhat like the Hall rifle, except it was designed to take a special centerfire cartridge. Very few of these were actually made; all were constructed in the late 1850s. *The

Joslyn rifle The term Joslyn Rifle refers to a series of rifles produced in the mid-19th century. The term is often used to refer specifically to the Joslyn Model 1861/1862, which was the first mass-produced breech-loading rifle produced at the Springfield Arm ...

: * Rising Breech Carbine:

Repeating actions

Repeating actions are characterized by reciprocating/

rotating Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersec ...

components that can move cartridges in and out of battery from an

-holding device (which is a

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

cylinder A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...

, or belt), which allows the gun to hold multiple rounds and shoot repeatedly before needing a manual ammunition reload.

Manual operation

Revolver

A revolver is a multi- chamber (but single-

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

led) firearm that houses cartridges in a rotary

which

index Index (: indexes or indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on the Halo Array in the ...

es each round into alignment with the bore (with the help of a forcing cone) prior to each shot. Revolvers are most often

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

s; however, examples of revolving rifles, shotguns, and cannons have been made. The cylinder is most often rotated via linkage to a manually manipulated external

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

, although some revolvers are "double-action" and can use the manual pull of the

trigger Trigger may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Trigger (''Only Fools and Horses''), in the TV sitcom * Trigger Argee, in science fiction short stories by James H. Schmitz * Devil Trigger, a transformation ability of ...

to drive both the cylinder rotation and hammer cocking. Some examples of firearms using the revolver principle are the

Smith & Wesson Model 3 The Smith & Wesson Model 3 is a single-action, cartridge-firing, top-break revolver produced by Smith & Wesson (S&W) from around 1870 to 1915, and was recently again offered as a reproduction by Smith & Wesson and Uberti. It was produced in se ...

and Colt Model 1889.

Bolt action

In bolt-action firearms, the opening and closing of the breech is operated by direct manual manipulation of the bolt via a protruding bolt handle.

= Rotating bolt action

= Most bolt-actions utilize a rotating bolt ("turn-pull") design, where the bolt handle must be rotated upwards for unlocking before the bolt can be pulled back to opening the breech and eject any spent cartridge, and must be rotated back down for locking after the bolt closes the breech. The three predominant rotating bolt-action systems are the

Mauser Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and ...

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...

, and

Mosin–Nagant The Mosin–Nagant is a five-shot, Bolt action, bolt-action, Magazine (firearms), internal magazine–fed military rifle. Known officially as the 3-line rifle M1891, in Russia and the former Soviet Union as Mosin's rifle (, ISO 9: ) and inform ...

systems, with the Mauser system emerging into the mainstream as the most widely used rotating bolt-action design.

= Straight-pull action

= There are also straight pull bolt-action systems that use complex bolt head designs to facilitate locking instead of needing to rotate the bolt handle every time. M1895 US Navy Straight Pull Rifle

In the Mauser-style turn-bolt action, the bolt handle must be rotated upward, pull rearward, pushed forward, and finally rotated back downward into lock. In a straight pull bolt-action, the bolt can be cycled without rotating, hence reducing the required range of motion by the shooter from four movements to two, with the goal of increasing the

rate of fire Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In m ...

. The

Ross Ross may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ross (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan Places Antarctica * Ross Sea ...

and

Schmidt–Rubin The Schmidt–Rubin rifles were a series of Swiss Army service rifles in use between 1889 and 1958. They are distinguished by the straight-pull bolt action invented by Rudolf Schmidt and use Eduard Rubin's GP90 7.5×53.5 and GP11 7.5×55 Schmid ...

rifles load via

stripper clip A stripper clip (also known as a charger or charger clip, especially in Commonwealth English military vocabulary) is a speedloader that holds several cartridges (usually between 5 and 10) together in a single unit for easier and faster loadin ...

s, albeit of an unusual

paperboard Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 Inch#Equivalents, points) than paper and has certain superior ...

and steel design in the Schmidt–Rubin rifle, while the Mannlicher uses

en-bloc clip A clip is a device that is used to store multiple rounds of ammunition together as a unit for insertion into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm. This speeds up the process by loading the firearm with multiple rounds simultaneously, rather th ...

s. The Schmidt–Rubin series, which culminated in the

K31 The Karabiner Modell 1931 (officially abbreviated to Kar. 31/Mq. 31; commonly but incorrectly known in civilian circles as the K31) is a magazine-fed, straight-pull bolt-action rifle. It was the standard-issue rifle of the Swiss armed forces fro ...

, are also known for being among the most accurate military

service rifle A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to its regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is generally a versatile, rugged, and reliable assault rifle or battle rifle, suitable for use in nearly all environments ...

s ever made. Yet another variant of the straight pull bolt-action, of which the

M1895 Lee Navy The M1895 Lee Navy was a straight-pull magazine rifle adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1895 as a first-line infantry rifle.Walter, John, ''The Rifle Story: An Illustrated History from 1776 to the Present Day'', MBI ...

is an example, is a camming action in which pulling the bolt handle causes the bolt to rock, freeing a stud from the receiver and unlocking the bolt. In 1993, the German firearms company

Blaser Blaser Jagdwaffen GmbH (pronounced: Blah-zer) is a German firearms manufacturer of high-end shotguns and rifles both for the hunting and tactical market. It was founded in 1957 by Horst Blaser, developing the drilling Blaser Diplomat. In Se ...

, introduced the

Blaser R93 The Blaser R93 is a straight-pull action precision rifle offered in a multitude of calibers and barrel lengths manufactured by the German firearms manufacturer Blaser. Designed by Blasers' designer Mr. Meinhard Zeh in 1993, it had a number ...

, a new straight pull bolt-action rifle where locking is achieved by a series of concentric "claws" that protrude/retract from the bolthead, a design that is referred to as ''Radialbundverschluss'' ("radial connection"). As of 2017 the Rifle Shooter magazine listed its successor

Blaser R8 The Blaser R8 is a German straight-pull rifle known for its radially locking bolt system, modularity and its barrel mounted scope mount manufactured by Blaser. The rifle also features a manual cocking system and a direct trigger. In 2015 the ...

as one of the three most popular straight pull bolt-action together with Merkel Helix and Browning Maral. Some other notable modern straight pull bolt-action rifles are made by Chapuis,

Heym Heym is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Georg Heym (1887–1912), German author * Stefan Heym (1913–2001), German author See also * Heym (gun manufacturer) * Chayyim, the basis for this name * Haim (disambiguation) * Hei ...

Lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

Rößler Rößler is a surname and may refer to: * Hole Rößler (born 1949), German modern pentathlete * Matthias Rößler (born 1955), German politician (CDU) * Robert Rößler (1838–1883), German poet * Rößler firearms, an Austrian firearms manufactur ...

, Strasser, and Steel Action. In the sport of

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

, because shooting speed is an important performance factor and semi-automatic guns are illegal for race use, straight pull bolt-actions are quite common, and are used almost exclusively on the

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...

. The first company to make straight pull bolt-actions for .22 caliber was J. G. Anschütz; the action is specifically the straight-pull

ball bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this ...

-lock action, which features spring-loaded ball bearings on the side of the bolt which lock into a groove inside the bolt's housing. With the new design came a new dry-fire method; instead of the bolt being turned up slightly, the action is locked back to catch the firing pin.

Pump-action

In pump action firearms, a sliding grip at the fore-end beneath the barrel is manually operated by the user to eject and chamber cartridges. Pump actions are predominantly found in

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

s. Some examples of firearms using the pump-action are the

Winchester Model 1912 The Winchester Model 1912, also commonly known as the Winchester 1912, Model 12, or M12, is an internal-hammer pump-action shotgun with an external tube magazine. Popularly named the ''Perfect Repeater'' at its introduction, it largely set the s ...

Remington 870 The Remington Model 870 is a pump-action shotgun manufactured by Remington Arms Company, LLC. It is widely used by the public for shooting sports, hunting and self-defense, as well as by law enforcement and military organizations worldwide. De ...

, and

Mossberg 500 The Mossberg 500 is a series of pump-action shotguns manufactured by O.F. Mossberg & Sons. The 500 series comprises widely varying models of hammerless repeaters, all of which share the same basic receiver and action, but differ in bore size, ...

Lever-action

The lever-action firearms, a linked lever is manually operated to eject and chamber cartridges. Some examples of firearms using lever-action are the Henry Model 1860,

Winchester Model 1876 Winchester rifle is a comprehensive term describing a series of lever action repeating rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Developed from the 1860 Henry rifle, Winchester rifles were among the earliest repeaters. Th ...

, and Marlin Model 1894.

Bolt release

The bolt release or lever release action is a hybrid repeating action that uses the physical manipulation of a bolt release lever/button to complete the cartridge chambering process. However, unlike the lever action (which demands the shooter's hand to actually provide the force needed for cycling the action), bolt release firearms eject the used cartridge automatically without involving the lever, usually via blowback or

gas operation Gas-operation is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech, autoloading firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent ...

, and often uses a spring-assisted mechanism to chamber the next round. However, after moving rearwards the bolt is stopped by a bolt catch and will not move back into battery position and chamber the new round, until the user manually disengages the catch by depressing a release lever/button. Due to the fact that the action can not complete its loading cycle without manual input from the user, it is technically a manually operated action rather than a self-loading one. Whilst the basic principle can be traced back to other self-ejecting rifles, such as the single-shot

Harrington & Richardson Harrington & Richardson Arms Company (or H&R) is an American brand of firearms and a subsidiary of JJE Capital Holdings. H&R ceased independent production February 27, 2015. History The original H&R firm was in business for over a century from 1 ...

Model 755 rifle, this action has since been popularized in the United Kingdom by Southern Gun Company, who manufacture with "Manually Actuated Release System" (MARS) action rifles/

pistol-caliber carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a gun barrel, barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridge (firearms), cartri ...

s in .223,

.308 The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar, but not identical, to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...

9mm This is a list of firearm cartridges that have bullets in the to caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviate ...

and

.45 ACP The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol), also known as .45 Auto, .45 Automatic, or 11.43×23mm is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After su ...

calibers, as the interrupted mechanism complies with The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 which bans possession of self-loading

centrefire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A center-fire (or centerfire) is a type of metallic cartridge used in firearms, where the primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i ...

rifles. The French company Verney-Carron makes and exports the ''Speedline'' hunting rifle and the ''Véloce'' shotgun, which has caused some moral concern in the

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large Mass media, mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Noam Chomsky, Choms ...

in Australia due to lobbying by the Greens and anti-gun groups such as

Gun Control Australia Gun Control Australia (GCA) is an Australian incorporated anti-gun association that advocates for tighter gun laws. Itwebsiteis run by volunteer lawyers, public health academics and social media activists. The organisation is funded by communit ...

, with

David Shoebridge David Martin Shoebridge (born 17 September 1971) is an Australian politician and former barrister. He is a member of the Australian Greens and was elected to the Senate as the party's lead candidate in New South Wales at the 2022 federal elect ...

quoting the term "semi-semi-automatic". Similarly,

Savage Arms Savage Arms is an American gunmaker based in Westfield, Massachusetts, with operations in Canada and China. Savage makes a variety of Rimfire ammunition, rimfire and centerfire rifles, as well as Stevens single-shot rifles and shotguns. The comp ...

has introduced the A17R and A22R rimfire rifles (both modified from its new A-series rifles, with a bolt release lever in front of the

trigger guard A trigger guard is a protective loop surrounding the trigger (firearms), trigger of a firearm designed to prevent unwanted contact with the trigger, which may cause an accidental discharge. Other devices that use a trigger-like actuator mechanism, ...

), aiming at the Australian market, but law enforcement agencies such as the

Northern Territory Police The Northern Territory Police Force is the police body that has legal jurisdiction over the Northern Territory of Australia. This police service has 1,607 police members (2021-22 financial year) made up of 83 senior sergeants, 228 sergeants, 912 ...

has attempted to unilaterally defining these rifles as "linear repeating firearms with assisted ejection" and reclassify them as semi-automatic, and hence prohibited without at least a Category C license, which is off-limit to most urban and rural residents who do not own farms. In 2020, CZ also introduced CZ 515, a bolt-release modified version of the CZ 512, to the Australian market via its importer Winchester Australia. The Turkish manufacturer Pardus Arms also produces the 12 gauge-caliber BRS17 shotgun, which uses a bolt release button on the back of the receiver to chamber rounds before firing.

Other actions

Rotary cannon A rotary cannon, rotary autocannon, rotary gun or Gatling cannon, is any large-caliber multiple-barreled automatic firearm that uses a Gatling-type rotating barrel assembly to deliver a sustained saturational direct fire at much greater ra ...

Gatling gun The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling of North Carolina. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operatio ...

M134 Minigun The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric ...

Chain gun A chain gun is a type of autocannon or machine gun that uses an external source of power to cycle the weapon's action via a continuous loop of chain, similar to that used on a motorcycle or bicycle, instead of diverting excess energy from the ...

: Hughes Chain Gun, Guycot Chain Rifle,

Treeby chain gun A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

Kalthoff repeater The Kalthoff repeater was a type of repeating firearm that was designed by members of the Kalthoff family around 1630, and became the first repeating firearm to be brought into military service. At least nineteen gunsmiths are known to have m ...

Cookson repeater The Cookson flintlock rifle, a lever-action breech-loading repeater, also known as the Cookson gun, is one of many similar designs to appear beginning in the 17th century. The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has a Cookson Gun, dating to 1690. ...

Belton flintlock The Belton flintlock was a repeating flintlock design using superposed loads, conceived by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, resident Joseph Belton some time prior to 1777. The musket design was offered by Belton to the newly formed Continental Congr ...

* The Jennings Magazine Rifle * Meigs Sliding Guard Action Repeater * Roper repeater *

The Orvill Robinson Model 2 ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

rifle: Orvill Robinson, a New York-based firearms designer, developed two rifles. His first, patented in 1870 and commonly referred to by collectors as the "Model 1" though it has no official designation, was a precursor to straight pull bolt-actions like the Mannlicher M1886. The second rifle designed by Robinson, patented in 1872, was very different, employing a double hinged action that folded upward from the receiver to remove the spent casing and back down and forward to chamber a new round. Though hammer-fired, it is recognizable as a manually actuated ancestor of the toggle action found in firearms such as the Luger Parabellum 1908 pistol or Pedersen Rifle. * Krag-Petersson Rifle Though frequently classified as only single-shot firearms, one tilting block rifle usually falls under the category of repeating firearms. The user, upon ejecting a round from the chamber, would load a round from the underbarrel magazine onto the loading surface of the tilting block, then raise it to the mouth of the chamber where the user could then easily push it forward into the chamber. Though this would not meet most standards of "repeating" for most modern users, the classification has been in use historically. *Remington-Rider Magazine Pistol has a manually actuated rolling block action to pull a cartridge from a tubular magazine set below the barrel and simultaneously cock the firearm. The block was rolled back into battery, loading the cartridge into the chamber, by spring pressure while the hammer remained in the cocked position. Nylon66

Autoloading operation

Firearm operating systems Public Domain CC0 by Grasyl

Blowback operation

The blowback operation is a system in which semi-automatic and

fully automatic firearm Fully () is a municipality in the district of Martigny in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History Fully is first mentioned in the 11th Century as ''Fuliacum''. Geography Fully has an area, , of . Of this area, 30.5% is used for agricultur ...

s operate through the energy created by combustion in the chamber and bore acting directly on the bolt face through the cartridge. In blowback operation the bolt is not locked to the chamber, relying only on spring pressure and inertia from the weight of the bolt to keep the action from opening too quickly. Blowback operation is used for low-powered cartridges due to the weight of the bolt required. Delayed blowback actions use some mechanism to slow down rearward travel of the bolt, allowing this action to handle more powerful ammunition and/or reduced weight of the bolt.

=Examples of blowback operation

= *Simple blowback:

Halcón M-1943 The Halcón M-1943 is a submachine gun of Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connec ...

Uzi submachine gun The Uzi (; ; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel. ...

, Varan PMX-80 *Advanced primer ignition: Becker Type M2,

Oerlikon 20 mm The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models employ ...

Mk 19 grenade launcher The Mk 19 grenade launcher (pronounced Mark 19) is an American 40 mm belt-fed automatic grenade launcher that was first developed during the Vietnam War. Overview The Mk 19 is a belt-fed, blowback-operated, air-cooled, crew-ser ...

Atchisson AA-12 The AA-12 (Auto Assault - 12), originally designed and known as the Atchisson Assault Shotgun, is a fully automatic combat shotgun developed in 1972 by Maxwell Atchisson. However, the original development by Atchisson seems to have produced only ...

, QLU-11 (LG5) *Lever-delayed blowback:

FAMAS The FAMAS ( French: ''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', lit. 'Assault rifle from the Saint-Étienne Weapon Factory') is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978. It is known by ...

Sterling 7.62 The Sterling submachine gun is a British submachine gun (SMG). It was tested by the British Army in 1944–1945, but did not start to replace the Sten until 1953. A successful and reliable design, it remained standard issue in the British Army ...

AA-52 The term AA-5 or AA5 may refer to: * AA-5 Ash, NATO reporting name for the Bisnovat R-4 a Soviet long-range air-to-air missile * Grumman American AA-5, an American light aircraft * All American Five The term All American Five (abbreviated AA5) is ...

, 2B-A-40,

TKB-517 The TKB-517 () is an assault rifle designed by German Aleksandrovich Korobov. This rifle was externally similar to the AK-47, but based on the Blowback (firearms)#Lever-delayed, lever-delayed blowback mechanism invented by John Pedersen (arms des ...

*Radial-delayed blowback:

CMMG MkG The CMMG MkG is a .45 ACP carbine developed by CMMG. The weapon is an M16 derivative and uses a radial delayed blowback Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is ...

*Roller-delayed blowback: SIG 510,

HK MP5 The Heckler & Koch MP5 (, ) is a submachine gun developed in the 1960s by German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It uses a similar modular design to the Heckler & Koch G3, and has over 100 variants and clones, including selective fire, s ...

, HK P9,

HK G3 The Heckler & Koch G3 () is a select-fire battle rifle chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO developed in the 1950s by the German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch, in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned firearms manufacturer CETME. The G3 ...

*Gas-delayed blowback:

Volkssturmgewehr 1-5 The Volkssturmgewehr ("People's Storm - Rifle") is the name of several rifle designs developed by Nazi Germany during the final months of World War II (February 1945-May 1945). They share the common characteristic of being greatly simplified as to ...

, HK P7,

Steyr GB The Steyr GB is a double-action 9×19mm Parabellum caliber, large-framed semi-automatic pistol employing a gas-delayed blowback action. As such the GB abbreviation stands for ''Gasbremse'' (gas brake). It was designed in 1968, intended as a repla ...

*Primer-actuated unlocking: Garand Model 1919, Postnikov APT, Springfield 1903 primer-actuated rifle and Clarke carbine *Toggle-delayed blowback: Schwarzlose MG M.07/12,

Luger rifle Luger may refer to , or: * Luger pistol, a semi-automatic handgun * Luger (film), ''Luger'' (film), a 1982 Dutch film written and directed by Theo van Gogh * Operation Luger, a joint military operation between the Canadian Forces and Afghan Nat ...

and

Pedersen rifle The Pedersen Rifle, officially known in final form as the T1E3 rifle, was a United States semi-automatic rifle designed by John Pedersen that was made in small numbers for testing by the United States Army during the 1920s as part of a program to ...

*Screw-delayed blowback: Salvator-Dormus M1893 &

Demro TAC-1 The Demro TAC-1 is a semi-automatic carbine chambered in either .45 ACP or 9×19mm Parabellum. The TAC-1 is the reintroduction of the Fox Carbine to the law enforcement market after a fallout between Gerard J. Fox, the inventor, and Dean Machine ...

(Helical screw), Sheppard automatic rifle and

Thompson Autorifle The Thompson Autorifle, (also referred to as the Thomoson Model 1923 Autoloading Rifle; and the .30-06 Model 1923 Semi-Automatic Rifle, among others, etc.) was a semi-automatic rifle that used a Blish Lock to delay the action of the weapon. It ...

(Turnbolt) *Blish Lock: early

Thompson submachine gun The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy gun", "Chicago typewriter", or "trench broom") is a blowback-operated, selective-fire submachine gun, invented and developed by Brigadier General John T. Thompson, a United States Arm ...

s *Hesitation locked:

Remington Model 51 The Remington Model 51 is a small pocket pistol designed by John Pedersen and manufactured by Remington Arms in the early 20th century for the American civilian market. Remington manufactured approximately 65,000 Model 51 pistols in .32 ACP and ...

and R51 pistols,

M50 Reising The .45 Reising submachine gun was manufactured by Harrington & Richardson (H&R) Arms Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, and was designed and patented by Eugene Reising in 1940. The three versions of the weapon were the Model 50, the fold ...

SIG MKMO The SIG MKMO is a submachine gun produced by Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG) company in Neuhausen from 1933 to 1937. The MKMO – M = Maschinen, K = Karabiner M = Militär, O = Oben (Top ejection) – was designed for the military and ...

and Rudd Arms AR-180 *Flywheel-delayed blowback:

Barnitzke machine gun The Barnitzke machine gun is a prototype machine gun of late World War II German origin. The weapon uses an unusual delayed blowback operation, where during firing the bolt opening is delayed by the rotational inertia of two flywheels, which ar ...

, Kazachok SMG, and MGD PM-9 *Detent-delayed blowback: Show Low Manufacturing Black-Jack *Chamber-ring delayed blowback:

Seecamp L. W. Seecamp Co. Is an American manufacturer of pocket pistols located in Milford, Connecticut from 1981 to 2014. In 2014, Whalley Precision purchased the company and took over production of the pistols from their facility in Southwick, Massach ...

pistol *Pneumatic-delay:

Suomi KP/-31 The Suomi KP/-31 () is a Finnish submachine gun that was mainly used during World War II. It is a descendant of the M-22 prototype and the KP/-26 production model, which was revealed to the public in 1925. It entered service in Finland in 1931, a ...

and Moore submachine gun

Blow-forward operation

The blow-forward operation uses a fixed breech and moving barrel that is forced forward relative to the breech by the friction of the projectile against the bore as well as the breech recoiling away from the barrel. The barrel is spring loaded and returns automatically to chamber a fresh round from the magazine. Examples of this action are the

Steyr Mannlicher M1894 The Mannlicher M1894 was an early blow-forward semi-automatic pistol. General features The earliest Ferdinand Mannlicher pistol, manufactured by Fabrique D'Armes de Neuhausen, Switzerland, was designed to be self-loading and to use a special ...

Hino Komuro M1908 Pistol Hino may refer to: Places Estonia * Hino, Põlva County * Hino, Võru County ** Lake Hino Japan * Hino, Shiga * Hino, Tokyo * Hino, Tottori ** Hino District, Tottori ** Hino River Transportation * Hino Motors, a Japanese truck manufacturer ...

and the

Schwarzlose Model 1908 The Schwarzlose Model 1908 was a semi-automatic pistol, designed by Andreas Schwarzlose, released in 1908 in the German Empire and produced until 1911. Operation The Schwarzlose employs a very distinctive " blow-forward action" operating m ...

Recoil operation

The recoil operation is a type of

locked-breech Locked breech is the design of a breech-reloading firearm's action (firearms), action. This is important in understanding how a self-reloading firearm works. In the simplest terms, the locked breech is one way to slow down the opening of the bree ...

action used in semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms. It also uses energy from the combustion in the chamber acting directly on the bolt through the cartridge head, but in this case the firearm has a reciprocating barrel and breech assembly, combined with a bolt that locks to the breech. The breech remains locked as the bolt and barrel travel rearward together for some distance, allowing pressure in the chamber to drop to a safe level before the breech is opened.

=Examples of recoil operation

= *Short-recoil:

Colt M1911 The Colt M1911 (also known as 1911, Colt 1911, Colt .45, or Colt Government in the case of Colt-produced models) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered primarily for the .45 ACP cartridge. History Early histor ...

, MAB PA-15,

Browning Hi-Power The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol available in the 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W calibers. It was based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at FN Herstal. ...

HK USP The Heckler & Koch USP (''Universelle Selbstladepistole'' or "universal self-loading pistol") is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Germany by Heckler & Koch, Heckler & Koch GmbH (H&K) as a replacement for the Heckler & Koch P7, P7 series of han ...

Glock Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

Mamba Pistol The Mamba is a semi-automatic pistol developed in Rhodesia and later produced in South Africa, intended for military and police duty. Named for the venomous snake indigenous to southern Africa, the Mamba was the first semi-automatic pistol to be ma ...

M2 Browning machine gun The M2 machine gun or Browning .50-caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed near the end of World War I by John Browning. While similar to Browning's M1919 Browning machine gun, which was chamber ...

MG42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enteri ...

, Vz 52 pistol, Revol Arms DL45, M82 *Long-recoil: Browning Auto 5, Femaru STOP Pistol,

Mars Automatic Pistol The Mars Automatic Pistol, also sometimes known as the Webley-Mars, was a semi-automatic pistol developed in 1900 by the Englishman Hugh Gabbet-Fairfax and distributed by the Mars Automatic Pistol Syndicate Ltd. of Birmingham. It was manufactu ...

Chauchat The Chauchat ("show-sha", ) was the standard light machine gun or "machine rifle" of the French Army during World War I (1914–18). Its official designation was "Fusil Mitrailleur Modele 1915 CSRG" ("Machine Rifle Model 1915 CSRG"). Beginning ...

*Inertia: Sjögren Inertial, certain Benelli shotguns

Gas operation

The gas operation is a system of operation mechanism used to provide energy to semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms. In gas-operation, a portion of high pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is tapped through a hole in the barrel and diverted to operate the action. There are three basic types: long stroke gas piston (where the gas piston goes the same distance as the operating stroke of the action parts, and is often attached to the action parts), short stroke gas piston (where the gas piston travels a shorter distance than the operating stroke of the action parts), and direct impingement (AKA "direct gas", "gas impingement", where there is no piston, and the gas acts directly on the action parts). A fourth type, now considered obsolete and ineffective, are those systems based on the Bang rifle that utilize a muzzle cap to capture gas after the bullet has left the barrel. While this system is successful in boosting the operating power of recoil operated guns, it is insufficient and too susceptible to fouling for use as the primary operating system.

=Examples of gas operation

= *Short-stroke gas piston:

FN FAL The FAL (, English: Light Automatic Rifle) is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal and others since 1953. During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of the NATO, North Atlantic Trea ...

SAR-87 The Sterling SAR-87 is a military assault rifle of the late 20th century. The Sterling Assault Rifle (SAR), which included elements from Sterling's earlier Light Automatic Rifle (LAR) design, was jointly engineered by Sterling Armaments Company a ...

HK G36 The Heckler & Koch G36 (Gewehr 36) is an assault rifle designed in the early 1990s by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch. It is chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO, and replaced the heavier G3 battle rifle chambered in 7.62×51mm. The G36 ...

*Long-stroke gas piston:

M1 Garand The M1 Garand or M1 rifleOfficially designated as U.S. rifle, caliber .30, M1, later simply called Rifle, Caliber .30, M1, also called US Rifle, Cal. .30, M1 is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the United States Army, U.S. ...

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kala ...

FN FNC The FN FNC () is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed by the Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal and introduced in the late 1970s. Development The FNC was developed between 1975 and 1977 for NATO standardization trials, as a less expensive ...

Direct impingement Direct impingement is a type of gas operation for a firearm that utilizes gas from a fired cartridge to impart force on the bolt carrier or slide assembly to cycle the action. Firearms using direct impingement are theoretically lighter, more acc ...

: MAS 49,

M16 The M16 (officially Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine. In 1964, th ...

, AG-42 * Gas trap:

Gewehr 41 The Gewehr 41 , commonly known as the G41(W) or G41(M), denoting the manufacturer ( Walther/ Mauser), are two distinct and different battle rifles manufactured and used by Germany during World War II. The Walther variant of the G41 was far mor ...

, Bang M1922 rifle

References

External links

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How Does It Work: Toggle Actions
Forgotten Weapons {{DEFAULTSORT:Firearm Action Firearm terminology