Over sized/tactical bolt knob?

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35bore
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Over sized/tactical bolt knob?

Post by 35bore » Mon Jan 25, 2016 10:26 am

Just curious if anyone has any real world experience with these things?

I have been using 700's for over 20 years now, in a lot of different applications. The huge bolt knob seem to be a growing trend. With any trend I usually like to here what REAL people have to say about them before I make a decision.

Is the only real advantage, it's easier to operate the bolt with gloves on? If there are other advantages, please let me know.

I have, in the past operated a few bolts with these things on them, they just seem a little cumbersome. In my mind they just don't feel they would give the shooter much of an advantage, besides looking cool. Feedback is always appreciated. Thanks.

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charlesb
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Re: Over sized/tactical bolt knob?

Post by charlesb » Mon Jan 25, 2016 7:10 pm

For hunting, I have my doubts about the tactical bolt knobs. - They will slow you down if a follow-up shot is required.

The oversize bolt knob is OK though if you are just target shooting off of a bench. It is slower to use than a regular bolt knob, but that is not an issue for target shooting.

The reason that they are popular is because people see movies about snipers, and the sniper has one so they figure that they ought to have one too.

It's tactical... The tactical stuff is a money-making machine. One outfit sells "tactical" duct tape in OD green for eight bucks a roll. Other sources that do not call it tactical sell the same OD green duct tape for three bucks a roll.

The idea is to sell you something that you don't really need for at least twice the usual markup.

But some guys like the way they look. Back in the early 1960's, a lot of people thought it looked good to have a pair of two-inch day-glow fuzzy dice hanging from an elastic thread from your car's rear-view mirror. - It's hard to put a dollar value on "looks good" but apparently a lot of shooters think that the over-sized bolt knobs are worth the price.

I had an over-sized tactical bolt knob on one of my guns. It looked good, and since it was on a target rifle, it didn't slow me down any. I think I paid 68 dollars for it. It's kind of hard to say whether I would ever invest in one again. I definitely would not put one on a hunting rifle.

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35bore
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Re: Over sized/tactical bolt knob?

Post by 35bore » Tue Jan 26, 2016 9:46 am

Never thought about the movie angle. Makes sense though. SALES

Again my ex-father-in-law bought one of the original savage scout rifles and it had this huge bolt knob on it. He and I were really unimpressed with it, just didn't see an advantage to it. My thoughts (even from a tactical standpoint ) is that it is just one more thing to get snagged on something.

I'm sure there are some folks that probably love them, and would love to hear from them to find out what the advantages are. I doubt I would change my mind, I'm just a curious fella I guess. A local gun store has a couple of "tactical " bolt rifles on the shelf, probably make the trip and ask some questions.

BTW, I still have my fuzzy dice in the suburban. My oldest son borrowed the money to buy them for my birthday, many years ago.

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