action?

[Captain Ray]

Could somebody please explain to me, the difference in various kinds of action?

I have been reading here today, and several different terms are being used that I am not sure that I completely understand.

For instance.. the "toggle action" of a Luger as compared to the "Locked Breech" action of a P3at? Isn't the P3at a "blowback action"? The XD is a "blowback action" isn't it?


Then there is "long action", and "short action"...

I am confused. I looked it up on Wikipediea, but I just started getting more confused.


Raymond

[brian40]

I'm not an expert, but "blowback" is like most 22's like the Buckmark and Ruger. The blowback force of the round cycles the action. The rest I am not familiar with.

[Captain Ray]

I am still not getting it.. I have a ruger 22/45 and its action is simple... the rimfire round explodes, that blows the bolt back, the extractor snags the empty casing, the ejector throws the round out the side, the spring pops a fresh round into the chamber, the gun goes back into battery..

Isn't that the way all automatic pistols work? What is a "locked breech" action? What is a "toggle" action?

I just don't understand the mechanics.

Raymond

[einheit 13]

Originally Posted by Captain Ray

I am still not getting it.. I have a ruger 22/45 and its action is simple... the rimfire round explodes, that blows the bolt back, the extractor snags the empty casing, the ejector throws the round out the side, the spring pops a fresh round into the chamber, the gun goes back into battery..

Isn't that the way all automatic pistols work? What is a "locked breech" action? What is a "toggle" action?

I just don't understand the mechanics.

Raymond

Locked breach is how the XD works, I think, John Brownings design where the barrel "tilts" allowing the breech to unlock and thereby is delayed in its opening. A Makarov is like your .22, direct blow back action, the barrel is "fixed" and only the bolt(slide) itself moves. The 'toggle' in the Luger (if this will make any sense) is how the 'hinged' bolt actuates. No real slide or locking action like the XD, its a blow back design.

[DoctorSolo]

in a nutshell,
locked breech designs like the XD, Glock, Sig, etc... Stay locked until pressure in the barrel drops to safe levels. This is a little more efficient design than most blowbacks, since they do not require as heavy of a recoil spring. If this didn't happen, the gun would blow hot gas back into your face as it ejected the spent case.
Ever see a hi point pistol? They are pure blowbacks(it's a very cheap to manufacture design) they have no locking action, so they rely on the recoil spring and heavy slide to control the rate at which the slide moves rearward and ejects the empty case.

The down side of blowback pistols is that they tend to have very stiff recoil springs which can make them tough to rack-the-slide.

[Brickboy240]

Long action and short action usually relates to Mausers and other bolt guns. Long Actions usually are chambered for rounds like 30-06, 270 Winny, 8x57mm, 25-06. Short action rounds would be the 308 Winny, 243 Winny, 6.5x55mm and os on. Can a long action be chambered for a short action round? Sure, but it is most likely a custom job, like my varmint rig that is a 98 Mauser long action that was re-barreled/rechambered for the 22-250 Rem.

Locked breech refers to the Browning styled actions on pistols like XDs, Glocks, Sigs etc. Blowback actions are like the Makarov and Walther PPK - usually not very powerful loads in this type of action.

- Brickboy240