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Thread: AR gas system

  1. #1
    Banned bigted's Avatar
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    AR gas system

    Thought occurred to me the other day.

    If the gas system were disabled on the AR 15 rifle and a bolt handle added to the bolt ... would the action stay closed and locked up upon firing ?

    Does anybody see a reason for NOT trying to make the AR into a bolt gun?

    Be an interesting single shot rifle with a slam style system that is manually functioned rather then using the gas to cycle it.

    Guess my question is two fold. Would it work ... and ... has anybody done this ... or am I under a stump here and this has been visited and moved on from.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

    rancher1913's Avatar
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    when the gas port gets pluged with fouling it stops the gun from working the bolt, the gas is what "moves" the bolt. it can be used as a single shot but its a pain to do it with the charging handle, a side charge upper works better for what you are trying to do.
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  3. #3
    Boolit Master Moleman-'s Avatar
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    There are bolt actions based off of the ar15 bolt and extension/barrels. They lack any primary extraction. If you look at your bolt carrier, there is a short run, the angled helix then another short run. The short run at the rear is so the carrier can build up some speed to jerk the case out of the chamber. When making an ar15/10 barrel I'll usually test fire it and make a chamber casting before finish profiling so that if I'm not happy with it the barrel can be set back and recut. For the most part the cases eject fine. Occasionally you'll have some that take some effort or require you to mortar the rifle to remove the stuck case.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master

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    Also, the AR-15 does not have the camming action of a turn-bolt bolt action rifle. i could forsee an opportunity for difficult extraction and stuck cases.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    I must be missing something. Why would anyone want to turn any semi automatic rifle into a full time single shot bolt gun? I understand that some competition shooters shooting 80 grain bullets out of an AR have to cycle the gun as a single action due to The length of the projectile but why would you want to make an AR 15 a full-time bolt gun? What would the possible benefits be?
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  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy
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    Look up Solo 300. It’s a side charge, straight pull bolt action 300BLK AR pistol with no gas system, no recoil system, and a shortened carrier. Kind of has a C96 look to it. I imagine it’s pretty darn quiet when suppressed.

    The guys on the build forum were doing quite a few variants. Some found that the larger calibers were difficult to extract but 5.56 and .300BLK worked fairly well.

    Poppy, I think it’s just a fun range toy for the Han Solo aficionado. It could also be a potential way to have an AR in restricted states. I know that in Europe pump action ARs and AKs are popular with competitive shooters

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    Disconnect gas tube and use the charging handle.
    Whatever!

  8. #8
    Banned bigted's Avatar
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    It is an interesting proposition to turn a sleek semi into a weapon that has the same reliability and opportunity to feed out of a mag and have high capacity and yet keep hold of every fired case. The rifle should be very quiet with a can of high volume with no action rattle or noise.

    Be an interesting project none the less. A feller could continue to use the rear spring and forward assist to ensure lockup of the push feed bolt.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master


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    I will pass and get a Mossberg bolt taking AR mags. Works smoothly.

  10. #10
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  11. #11
    Boolit Master armoredman's Avatar
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    I believe I saw some bolt action AR style rifles shown in England. There are pump action AKs, might be able to find something like that as well.

  12. #12
    Boolit Grand Master FergusonTO35's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bigted View Post
    Thought occurred to me the other day.

    If the gas system were disabled on the AR 15 rifle and a bolt handle added to the bolt ... would the action stay closed and locked up upon firing ?

    Does anybody see a reason for NOT trying to make the AR into a bolt gun?

    Be an interesting single shot rifle with a slam style system that is manually functioned rather then using the gas to cycle it.

    Guess my question is two fold. Would it work ... and ... has anybody done this ... or am I under a stump here and this has been visited and moved on from.
    Pretty sure that is how UK legal AR's are made. Ruger did or does make a straight pull bolt action version of the Mini 14 the same way for places that don't allow autoloaders. That being said, I would much rather have my Ruger American Ranch that uses AR mags. I consider it to be a 21st century Jungle Carbine!
    Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.

  13. #13
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    Texas by God's Avatar
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    An adjustable gas block to turn off the gas to the bolt carrier would be neat for shooting from the bench.

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  14. #14
    Boolit Grand Master Nobade's Avatar
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    Years ago I removed the gas system on an AR, slotted the left side of the upper receiver, and added a handle to the bolt carrier just so I could shoot our cast bullet silhouette match with it. It worked just fine and allowed me to load it for top accuracy rather than worrying about function. I was rather successful with that rifle for quite a while until someone decided they wanted to give me too much money for it. I do think a pump action one would be pretty neat, especially if you wanted to play the 300 blackout game since you could load for effect instead of function. But as mentioned previously, you can't go very hot on the loads since you don't have any primary extraction but for us boolit shooters that's seldom an issue.

  15. #15
    Boolit Master


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    I fired 10 or 15 rounds from my 7.62X39 side charge AR with 8 gr Unique and a lee 312 165 gas check boolit just to see what would happen. It was exactly like a spring loaded straight pull rifle. I will make some more one of these days.
    Last edited by frkelly74; 10-16-2021 at 02:02 PM.
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  16. #16
    Banned bigted's Avatar
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    Cool! Thanks for all the reply's. Gives me a few routes to investigate.

    My very accurate shortened 223 Encore barrel shoots my Lee 55 grain PC'd and sized .225 very well. I load them with lite loads of Trail Boss and velocity is between 22LR and 22Mag. Hole in hole at 25 yds makes it a nice small game load with no meat torn up.

    I have some loaded with IMR 3031 to a bit under factory velocity but have not tried them yet to see if they will hold together for accuracy.

    Any rate ... thanks again for the excellent reply's. Fun endeavor for sure.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check