why no bolt action reciever using AR components?

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WestKentucky

WestKentucky

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I was wondering last night when trying to go back to sleep why there is no platform out (there may be one I'm not aware of) where a person essentially uses an off the shelf bolt, and reciever to mate up to an AR stock set and barrel. You could even use an AR trigger group if you set it pretty far back with a little linkage to standard trigger position. If the only dedicated parts were the reciever, bolt, and a barrel nut supplied with the kit I would think a person could build a bolt rifle very similar to their favored AR for a very reasonable price. Especially if they found a way to use AR stocks and magazines as well. I understand it would not be nearly as big of a seller as the AR is, but with a reciever, bolt, barrel nut, and gas block plug, if you could price that in the 200 to 300 range I still feel like it would sell.
 
They exist for the .50 but I don't recall seeing one for anything smaller. I'd guess the reason boils down to there being no demand for such a chimera.

Anything that could use the AR mag well could be semi instead of bolt action and otherwise it is single shot. The 50 is a special case where single shot is acceptable and using this method reduces the cost significantly. IMO that case says more about the high cost of complete .50 bolt guns than proving the concept is viable.
 
Not precisely what you're asking for, probably, but you might want to take a look at the Tubb 2000 competition rifle. Not exactly but would give you some food for thought.
 
There are a lot of things that would sell well in the 200 - 300 range.

As gun laws get more restrictive, we may start seeing such things as fako AR bolt action kits.

A lot of target shooters use "tube guns" that handle like their AR Service Rifles but they are not cheap.
 
i was actually looking for the same thing.......i was hoping for a .308 or a 30.06 bolt action upper that bolted to an AR lower.

ive only been able to find them for .50bmg.......which is a gun i have been planning on building anyway.....so i guess its not a total loss.
 
Very similar to what I had in mind. If that bolt was shortened by 50 percent then you could use an empty buffer tube with whatever stock on it that you want. Thinking more about it, if the bolt was slotted and the firing pin was only in the front half or possibly even less you could use a standard trigger group without linkage. It might be getting close to time for a sketch or an Autocad drawing.
 
there are already bolt action AR15s out there, all you really need to do is remove the buffer spring, cut down the carrier (optional, if youd like a folding stock) and mount a side charging handle.. gas key is optional and use an AR-15 barrel with no gas port drilled and no gas system

you could also get a 1.25" OD 1" ID steel tube, thread the outside for the barrel nut, install a carrier without a gas key and bed it into a wooden stock... a mossberg magazine well can be purchased and bolted directly to the wood at the bottom of the stock... then drill a couple holes in the wooden stock to install some steel bushings so you can pin in a timney trigger pack, get an AK trigger guard you can attach to the wooden stock with wood screws and you can have a conventional style bolt action rifle that used AR bolts and barrels
 
using AR triggers wouldn't be possible in any bolt gun i know of, and you wouldn't want to anyway, since the lock time is so slow compared to actual bolt gun triggers, which are generally much better.

there are a lot of chassis systems out there that can use AR stocks and AR forearms and you just drop your rem700 or mod70 action into the chassis
 
I'm looking strictly at the market for home builds and I feel like I'm on to something. For once I'm so confident with this that I may follow up by building it on inventor then exporting to a cnc file. I know that I can accomplish 90% of the work. And if I keep it in a lower pressure cartridge then I can probably run an aluminum reciever, and steel bolt so it will not be costly to do.
 
Having used both bolt actions and AR's for hunting, I would not want one. The lower receiver is not needed and I prefer a standard rifle grip for hunting.
 
What I have in mind is not an "upper/lower" setup but rather a 1 piece reciever. Only issue I am not figuring out on my own is how to install hammer under spring tension with what I have drawn up.
 
Sounds neat. I always am a fan of the idea of being able to swap calibers and buy new ones w/out going through an ffl and have one super high quality lower set up the way i want.
 
captain awesome said:
Sounds neat. I always am a fan of the idea of being able to swap calibers and buy new ones w/out going through an ffl and have one super high quality lower set up the way i want.
Click to expand...

There are switch caliber bolt actions available. The TC Dimension (~$500) and the Blaser R8 (~$5000) come to mind. I have a TC Dimension that's a great shooter, caliber changes take less than five minutes. As with ARs, there's only an FFL check for the receiver, not for new bolts and barrels. In the Dimension the bolt lugs interface with the barrel, so there's no need to headspace. The only tool you need is a specialized torque wrench (included with the Dimension).
 
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I would like the idea of a bolt action AR upper. I can't say that it is any more practical than a semi-auto, but sometimes you just want to shoot a bolt action.

An AR upper is a pretty low cost item, the real extra cost item is a bolt with a handle. Hopefully one could be engineered for a reasonable cost. Having an AR upper with a straight pull or short throw bolt in it, and using a standard AR barrel attachment would be a nice option, if just for the sake of variety.

It would still be a modular upper, giving the user an accurate bolt action rifle in just a few moments from their semi auto.
 
i think the idea of a bolt action using AR parts comes in the most handy like i said above if you can put it in a more conventional stock.. the reason for this is the position of your hand and location of the bolt would allow you to operate the straight pull action incredibly quickly vs using it with an AR lower where your hand will have to travel further to reach the charging handle, not to mention your thumb being wrapped around the pistol grip

if you could put one in such a stock you can fire fast enough you might be able to trick someone into thinking you have a semi automatic, but unlike other straight pull bolt actions on the market youd also have the advantage of a 20-30 round detachable box magazine

so, a very high rate of fire, large magazine capacity, incredibly accurate action, and significantly simpler than the AR itself being able to omit the entire gas and buffer systems
 
Westkentucky said:
Only issue I am not figuring out on my own is how to install hammer under spring tension with what I have drawn up.
Click to expand...

The standard AR and AK hammers both have to be installed with compressed springs. I've been snapped pretty good - enough to draw blood - a couple times by AK's.

The real issue is the market. Is there a market for a bolt action AR? I think most people who can own or use a semi-auto will go that route. But good luck regardless.
 
I dont see any problem with bolt action AR's. If you want an accurate and easy to suppress rifle that has quick interchangeable and readily available parts that still takes high capacity magazines I can't imagine a better platform. Firing real fast turns out to be a good way to waste ammo real fast more than anything else.
 
Just because you can fire fast doesn't mean you have to though, and it's also possible to shoot some bolt actions quite fast - and accurately. I've outshot some hunting rifles with "issue" semi-auto rifles.

A bolt action AR may have some appeal in PA. It's currently illegal to hunt with semiauto rifles there... But there are pushes to change that. I think the 6.5 Grendel would make a great deer round. I also think a drop-in upper would still make more sense because you'd add utility to something a lot of guys already have but can't use, or you could sell them a complete rifle they could use now and add to later. I'm pretty sure pump action uppers have been tried. You could also look at the Browning BLR for inspiration - to see how the AR lock-up can be adapted to something completely different. But again... There may not be a huge market. Interesting concept though, and if you can build your prototype in a garage for not a huge investment, there is not much risk.
 
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