As soon as the case mouth releases from the inside of the receiver when the bolt is pulled to the rear, the ejectors kick the fired case out of the action. The dual plunger ejectors pass through the bolt face and put continual pressure on the case head. This arrangement yields optimal extraction and ejection, even with long magnums that have the scope mounted very low on the receiver. The extractor rides in the outboard lug that sits low in the ejection port during bolt travel. The 100 has dual ejectors that sit opposite a blade extractor. The Sauer 100's ejector/extractor geometry is also better designed than most of its competitors. Sauer's models for big magnums have a four-plus-one capacity. You can comfortably carry the rifle at its balance point with more rounds in the rifle. While a five-round magazine isn't a big deal, it still gives the shooter a five-plus-one capacity without the magazine protruding below the bottom metal. There is very little chance the bolt will slip off the case head during feeding, even when the cartridge noses up and into the chamber. The increased surface area of the bolt face and cartridge case head engagement means feeding is ultra-reliable, especially welcome when feeding the short magnum rounds. There is enough bolt face real estate (thanks to the lug) that Sauer could alternate cartridges from the left and right instead of having to keep them in the center. When the bolt of this three-lug action moves forward, the bottom lug hits the case head of the top cartridge in the magazine. That puts a whole lot of bolt face material right behind the magazine. I like three-lug actions because they usually have a lug at the 6-o'clock position when the action is open. That's a nice feature but it's mostly just a convenience thing. Three-lug actions have a short 60-degree throw, which makes for a fast-cycling action. The three-lug bolt is designed to such close tolerances with the receiver that no lug raceways are used. Actions made this way need someone trained in headspacing a rifle to get the barrel in the right position. Because the action is so large, there are wide variations on where those lug abutments actually wind up. Once the barrel is threaded into place, the bolt lugs sit on the abutments to lock the action closed so the rifle can safely fire. Traditional bolt-action manufacturing takes a large cylindrical piece of steel and cuts the lug abutments into the front of it (internally). The bolt lugs sit against this breech ring when the action is closed and the front of the breech ring acts as an index point for the barrel.īreech rings are an emerging trend in bolt-action rifles and their popularity will only increase because the advantages they offer both shooter and manufacturer are too compelling to ignore. Sauer cuts a recess in the receiver and then puts a breech ring in place. Sauer's receiver doesn't have the lug abutments (what the bolt lugs seat against) cut into the receiver like almost every American action. However, Sauer isn't content to just do what everyone over here does, either. Its barrel is screwed and torqued into the receiver just like we prefer. The Sauer 100 steps away from the traditional European model in favor of the American method. This makes for a very solid lock-up between barrel and receiver but also means the local gunsmith cannot put a new barrel on that rifle. A common manufacturing process in Europe is to heat the receiver and press-fit the barrel in place. For instance, where Americans like the idea of being able to rebarrel their rifles, many European companies don't allow that. However, it is by far the most sophisticated rifle in this category.Įuropean rifles occasionally struggle in the American market because they do things differently on the other side of the pond. The Sauer rifle has been available for about a year and is one of the best so-called "value rifles" on the market, foreign or domestic.
One in particular that sticks out is the Sauer 100. During the last year, we've seen solid contributions from most of the American manufacturers and a few quality submissions from our European cousins.
The current rifle craze of which a manufacturer can do the most for the least, is still very much in season.
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