I remember my German machinist instructor once said "Your project is satisfyingly done. I have no adequate reason nor time to criticize it." I was walking on air that day.
@@chpruc Just to make sure im understanding the 'nor time' part, was he inferring, that with enough time studying it, he could of found something to criticize it? (It was done well enough there wasn't any real flaws)
As a german engineer myself I can confirm that we actually have the saying "Not complaining is enough praise". Completely unironically (as you would probably expect).
While my dad was stationed in Germany, he ordered one of these directly from the factory, was a very very cool experience, we were invited to come to the factory and choose the stock, and see the barrel blanks and pieces that would become the finished rifle. Heym is a quality company and we’d recommend them to anyone who can get one!
Yes, they are. I own a pre-war Heym drilling. High-end double rifles and drillings have historically been their speciality, which of course only a very high quality company is able to manufacture. They are credited for some very important patents throughout the years, one of them being the hammerless drilling action, I believe. I also have a custom SR20 in 7mm rem mag, and.. well, I've had a lot of Heyms, lol.
I worked at the Hanau R&G an we got the chance to visit the factory twice awesome factory, still hand fitting is being done mixing cnc with old world tradition. Where was your dad stationed
So cool! It’s just like the locking system on hydraulic hose couplings. Someone must have been inspired to do this after switching attachments on a tractor or skid steer. Genius!
another common use is actually locks. like lock locks. with keys and so on. Most high end padlocks physical locking is done by two large ball bearings being pushed out by a locking cylinder. The shackle has two half round cuts and the locking cylinder has another two cuts. On open the cylinders cuts line up with the bearings, thus allowing them to slide in on shackle being opened. On locked position rotate the cylinder 90 degrees and it is a solid cylinder wall lining up. It pushes the bearings out to the shackles matching cuts and it ain't coming out. Also ball bearings are extremely secure way to lock physically. As symmetric objects they don't have prone weak points like say sharp cut edges on lugs. The force would have to either push through the whole bolt, compress the plunger or rip apart the locking recesses on the barrel extension. Frankly I find it odd not more people use this method. Since it is also economical. No getting machining to cut complex bolt with lugs and so on. Just call the nearest reputable ball bearing supplier and ask for bearings of suitable material, hardness and dimension on order. rest of the locking system is either cylinder stock, lathing or drilling holes of various sizes. Extremely simple to make. As said the real hard part is the bearings, which are actually really really hard to make well. Luckily there is whole industrial consortiums whose whole business is to provide ball bearings of all possible sizes and materials to anyone who pays them money. Meaning the hardest item to make is of the shelf item.
The detachable trailer hitch on one of my cars works just the same. 4 or 6 not too big bearing balls are good for pulling over two tons. (I refer to bbs as bearing balls, because balls without a bearing race are just... balls, only the complete assembly is a bearing)
Superdude70 It looks pretty basic, higher end “classy” rifles don’t come with a picatinny rail up top. This looks like a Low-mid tier rifle alongside Rem 700, Sav M10, etc.
TMoD7007 while the manufacturer may usually make high end rifles, this is definitely not one. This appears to be a $600-700 rifle on gun broker which puts it in the low-mid tier budget rifle range. That’s not a bad thing. I checked the price of other Heym’s and some of their double rifles went for $20k and up. So I’m guessing this was their “budget line” rifle with a basic stock, questionable mounts (factory scope mounts are usually trash), and less fitting than their more expensive rifles. Blaser rifles are what I’d consider to be semi high end tier and a much better choice for straight pull bolt guns. But The best looking gun I’ve seen is my Uncle’s Browning X-Bolt White Gold Medallion and this Heym doesn’t come close at all.
@@Larcona_ you looked up a gunsamerica listing for the deluxe version of this rifle that includes a $1000+ leupold scope and is in .375ruger which is one of the more rare calibers for this rifle.
Ugg! ...along with lots of hydraulic quick-connect fittings that have brindled and peened ball bearing locking surfaces... spherical locking surfaces are an unnecessary concentration of locking forces.
Back in the late 1980’s, I walked into a gun shop in Washington, NC and saw this odd bolt action rifle. As it intrigued me, it stuck in my mind, I was interested in odd firearms, collecting them at the time, but this was something that I missed. As I was traveling to a later business meeting, I had to pass on the rifle at the time, but coming back through, I stopped and inquired about the rifle. It was gone and none of the staff at the shop at that time knew anything about it! I felt a little bit like I was in the Twilight Zone, but checked sources such as the Shotgun News and jobber friends, but drew a blank. Thank you Ian for letting know I wasn’t seeing things about a curious, innovative straight-pull German rifle.
Fun Fact: Here in Germany systems like that (especially the Blaser R8) are widely used in hunting, because the law forbids magazine capacities in semi-auto rifles to be bigger than two, but you can have bigger magazines in manual operated systems... Guten Tag!
Well the law dictates that you cant have more than 3 rounds in your Semiauto Rifles. Maximum Magazin capacity is 10 rounds and this count for all Rifles (Up to 20 For Pistols)
Google Larsen Winterros shotgun. Marvel at the beauty of that thing. Then go ask people if they know about this cool lever action shotgun made in the 1880s’, and the say no when someone eventually guesses winchester 1887. That should net you some considerable gun nerd cred.
I agree, although this is cool and pretty simple system, this makes the bolt to have about six more moving parts than regular rotating bolt. Which means: 1) more places to get dirt stuck into and also much harder to clean - i dont see any way how to get inside the hollow bolt 2) if any of the six rolling bearings were to fail, it makes the system much more prone to lock failure, given the nature of push-and-roll lock. I know this is very unlikely, but i can imagine some of the bearings missing, which would make rest of the bearings lose their locking pressure and general failure. On the rotating two-lug bolt this can hardly happen, you can have either two lugs lock or none at all and e.g. if one lug was cracked and is missing, second still locks in the place just as same as before, just with more pressure applied.
That’s right, my Anschütz 1727 F does the same. Some differences: The balls on the Fortner action (that is what the Aschütz Rifles with “F” use) are behind the magazine. Advantage: The length of pull is reduced, similar to a Lee-Enfield (locking lugs in the rear). To be noted: The length of pull on the .17 HMR model is a little bit longer. There is no decocking feature: You can use the “unlocked” position of the bolt handle (bolt completely in the front still) to hold the striker back or to smoothly lower the striker by guiding the bolt handle with pressed trigger. So this is only a feature for going easy on the rimfire striker, without a round in the chamber. I wonder how the forces on the Heym are. Although the operating forces in the Fortner action are not that high, for a continuous usage you have to practice your index finger.
Ball-bearings seem like an extremely cost effective solution to the age-old problem of weak blowback homemade guns. I'm imagining a home-brew AR-15 with this system.
You could even carry around a pouch of ball bearings and swap out old or damaged ones instead of buying a whole new bolt. you could spin them around and find any damage on individual balls well before the whole system failed and it would cost pennies to fix.
Machining the holes in the bolt that hold the balls from falling out would be hard to do at home. You need a round chamfered hole that matches the radius of the ball bearings, on the inside of the bolt.
@@ionstorm66 as a home machinist, I have to say that it would not be that difficult. Using an indexer on a milling machine you would drill the six holes. Then a two part chamferring tool, with the properly ground head attached after being inserted through the opposing hole to finish.
Im doing my hunters-education in Suhl at the moment and we have one of those to use as Training weapon for our 100m disciplines. The Action is buttersmoth and the trigger breaks like glas, no takeup, littlebit of pressure and peng...
It is nice that the action is either locked or cocked, but never locked and cocked at the same time. It can be ready, on safe with no stress on the firing system. Cocking is part of shifting to firing mode. It keeps the weapon cold, until just before the shot. Safing the gun, in either red dot or white dot mode, is natural and quick. Such a natural safety is more likely to be used. Another great video.
It also makes for a very sleek action. And the gun maker took full advantage of that with the stock design, that is one of the nicest looking rifles I have seen in a long time. Ingenious designs are often compromised with clunky execution, but that is a very elegant rifle. Thanks for sharing that.
Heym produces three repeating rifles the SR-21, the SR-30 and the Express. The SR-21 is a push feed action, the SR-30 is a straight pull action and the Express is a modified Mauser System. SR stands for "Sicherheitsrepetierer" meaning safety repeater. Both systems are preasure tested up to 7000 Bar (about 100000 psi) Heym rifles are extremly well made and are nearly completely made from metal and wood. I own a SR-21 and the only parts made from plastic are the neon colored express sight inlays. The finish is absolutely flawless and the feeding is extremly smooth. If you buy a Heym, you can visit the factory and watch your rifle beeing made. Heym has by far the best value for money of all german gun manufacturers. And you can get every rifle in a left hand version without extra charge.
That makes a lot of sense as a logical fundamental next step in bolt action rifle design. Seems it was left out for many years because we switched to guns which cycled automatically.
Just to address a number of things about this style of lock up, and similar styles like the Blaser collet lock. These are precise accurate and functional locking systems, BUT, they have some serious issues when they get debris in them, such as not locking, or jamming after firing and being unable to open the bolt. I know this because I was looking at buying a Blaser LRS rifle for long range shooting and a number of people who had bought them complained that if any dirt got near the system they stopped working till they were cleaned, and apparently if the got grit in them (gust of wind blowing up dust), they could be quite difficult to open, or close. I opted to stay with a rotating bolt action. This would make these actions completely unsuitable to any sort of military service, even though they make a very good target gun, where the environment is generally clean, the guns are kept clean, and all the cleaning kit is at hand to deal with anything.
Thank you. I was wondering why militaries still preferred manually rotating bolt actions. I was watching this video wondering if I would I ever want a modern manually rotating bolt-action since the modern straight-pull bolt actions seem at first glance to be superior. But if the small moving parts in these operating systems make them more prone to malfunctions in field conditions, that explains why they are not widely promoted as the future of bolt-action firearm designs in general. I imagine that such problems can be overcome with further engineering, and given the popularity of such rifles in the European sporting market development of straight-pull bolt actions will continue, perhaps to the point of surpassing the more common manually rotating bolt actions for hunting and military use. Although militaries are increasingly leaving manual actions behind altogether and replacing bolt-action rifles with semi-autos, due to legal restrictions the civilian and hunting market for manual actions will remain for the foreseeable future.
Really cool action! As a machinist ive often played around with various mechanisms and i conjured a similiar system many years ago the main difference being that my bolt design had dual offset rows of ball bearings and the bolt was guided and rode on roller bearings. i was not aware of this system at all! thanks for bringing it!
Very cool to see you tackle this system. The first time I saw a straight pull ball-bearing lock was in biathlon rifles by Anschütz/Fortner (biathlon being cross-country skiing + shooting, and fwiw "ü" is the same as the vowel sound [y]), far and away the most popular biathlon rifles, AFAIK they've been using this kind of system for a couple of decades now. Don't know who came up with it originally, Anschütz rifles are made under license by Fortner, but the system is also sometimes at least called the Fortner straight pull system...
Wonder if you could have the bearings pushed into position by a wider-than-usual cylindrical firing pin: Pin traveling forward locks the bolt and fires, and the bearings would prevent an out-of-battery discharge by blocking the pin if not seated properly.
@@ToastyMozart That's exactly what I thought was going on here the first moment I saw the bolt - it's a no brainer mechanical safety; the firing pin either will or will not fit through the gap between the ball bearings depending entirely on whether or not the bolt is in battery, if it physically can't fit then it can't fire. Now, if we just mill a small slot through one wall of the bolt, use this slot to attach a either an operating rod to which attaches a piston style gas system, or an AR15 style 'DI' nipple thing gas system - honestly shouldn't require very much gas pressure, just enough to overcome the firing pin spring(to unlock the bolt), then push the fully unlocked bolt(in other words, no drag from the friction of, say, turning torsional motion into linear motion, like rotating a bolt...) open against the spring pressure of, preferably, an AR18 style receiver-integrated dual recoil spring, to keep the operating parts of the rifle as compact and centralized as possible(I.E., no garbage AR15 style buffer tube hanging off the back - I'll take the mags though). Maybe have Ruger manufacture it since casting is MUCH cheaper than forgings or billet, and they may just be the best in the industry at casting, not to mention just making high quality budget firearms in general(think about it - the US military couldn't make the M14 worth a damn - but, Ruger managed to! LOL), which is where you really need to win to survive in the firearms industry. Of course, the high end stuff could be gold billet if you can write the check for it. Now, just figuring out how the hell to get anyone to buy one when, 1) it isn't an AR, 2) it isn't a plastic striker 9mm, 3) it isn't an AK, 4) it isn't a 1911, and 5) "...well, what is it?"
@@pebo8306 I understand your concern, but in practice the R8 is an extremely safe rifle. The locking lugs create a very large locking surface as compared to most other straight pull rifles. There's been instances of accidents with extreme over pressure that didn't cause the rifle to fail dangerously, like firing a .308 in a .270 barrel (which obviously destroyed the barrel and the bolt). I'd be slightly more concerned about an R93, as I know about an instance of a dangerous failure there. I'm sure you could make a n R8 fail dangerously if you really tried, but it would likely have to be under somewhat extraordinary circumstances.
Fair point, the system is unique in that unlike typical use of ball bearings (outside of firearms of course :p) they're not actually needed to spin under pressure while locked in battery, so 6 individual recesses prevents any rotational as well as the normal telescopic bolt movement
That is absolutely fascinating. As you said, it's just like a roller locked bolt, only using ball bearings instead. 300 Win Mag is not exactly a slouch, so it's obviously a strong setup. That's brilliant. That bolt has to be smooth as glass. I'm surprised that hasn't been picked up on by anyone else. I really, really like that idea a heck of a lot.
Great idea. In the shop where I work, we have something called "ball locks" that work almost the same way. In that case the plunger is an Allen screw. Tighten it down and the ball bearings push out. They're used to secure fixtures or vises to a cnc mill table. Super strong, precise, and repeatable.
Hah! I was just wondering when today’s video would be out: right on time 👍 Never even heard of ‘ball bearing locking’ before, and it must be pretty strong if it’s in .300WM. Another interesting video, cheers Ian!
@@miguelcontreras5694 depending on the configuration they retail for about 2500 € in germany. Cant say for sure about US pricing..... i guess a little cheaper (tax and stuff). Also there are a lot of different stocks, barrel options (length threading), engraving, quick change scope mounts etc......So price range in germany 1800-4000€ ish
Yeah, I've noticed that German gun companies are pretty full of themselves when it comes to pricing. Not that they don't make quality products, but they all seem to have the same idea that every rifle they produce within the country should start at no less than $2k USD.
Beau Leidig I guess that is a development based on the German gun culture in general. The market is so much smaller and getting a rifle is much more complicated than in some other countries so people are more willing to spend high amounts on a piece of engineering excellence rather than getting another reliable tool. Amongst the German brands, Heym is actually one of the cheaper ones. Check out Blaser, Sauer or Mauser (all belong to the same company...) also H&K need I say more?
@@beauleidig8670 yeah, companies can built such rifles, as their customers can afford such prices. (check the Blaser prices, and Blaser is the most popular hunting rifle in Europe) Which is understandable, seeing an average European hunting course: if you've spent 3K euro on a European hunting course, you're not likely going to buy a 200 euro K98.
Ah! Bless you, sir! I saw one of those at a gun show many years ago, only got a brief look as the table proprietor shooed away anyone looking for more than a moment at his wares (you know the sort, I'm sure... ). I never knew what MAKE the rifle was! I remember the bolt handle and cocking piece clearly. The locking balls I may never have seen before being told "If ya ain't gonna buy that, git yer hands off it!". Having been both dealer, and customer, dealers like that still annoy me!
I gotta hand it to you. My Father had a 30-06 version of that rifle. Very light and accurate. Almost as good as a Browning bolt action. It sits well oiled and clean in the gun safe. Nice pick!
Excellent clip regarding one of many outstanding straight-pull firearms. All of them, with some more complex than others, are are fine examples of quality engineering.
I believe it is called Fortner action? A different version of the Fortner action is also used on the Anschutz biathlon rifles. It's a highly modified air hose/hydraulic hose coupler.
Fortner is cooperating with Anschütz and Heym according to his website. So for me it looks like the SR30-action is a scaled up Fortner-action, built by Heym, licensed by Fortner.
The SR30 is a very good rifle. Heym Barrels are very precise and the triggers are awesome too. In germany you can buy them for under 2000,- euro. In my opinion the best price/performance ratio for hunting rifles over here.
I suspect the extra safety is a good idea when carrying the rifle on a sling, having the safety be the entire bolt handle seems like a good way to accidentally knock your safety off.
Dare I say this is the pop up headlights of firearms? This brings tools and firearms (both tops in my book) together in an easy to maintain realm of usability.
I had a Heym SR20G in 7mm Rem Mag, It was the best rifle I had, and the bolt action was the smoothest, I had ever shot and used! Well worth the money I had spent.
I have one of these, and it's totally dope. Heym makes extremely high-quality rifles under the radar compared to some of the firms there with a little more marketing money.
they are a very odd company. their big money spinners are the double rifles, and the STR prefits the SR20 SR30 are made in small runs, that usually sell out quite quickly. I spent about a year trying to buy an SR30 prefit, in the end the first gunshop gave in and I got one by stalking an employee on Facebook. when I finally got one it was cheap, super accurate, and arrived in three weeks. madness .
Forgotten Weapons, Please note the last sentence in the description. You have a "camping system" used to translate linear motion. Wouldn't a "camming system" work better than a camping system?
With how precise machining can be these days and with all the different kinds of machining centers there are you can put out really high quality and tight toleranced anything pretty easily now.
This looks to be the same as the Fortner system used in Anschutz (and maybe other) biathlon rifles, as well as a couple of target rifles of various kinds. I don't know which of those came first though.
Peter fortner invented it in the 80's to help his friend gain an advantage over Russian biathlon competitors - he licensed the design to Heym a while later, mine is from the 90's.
I’ve handled one of this on an hunting exhibition a few moths ago, they’re very smooth and extremely well build rifles. Sometime in the future I could see myself buying one of these but until then I’m enjoying my Swiss k31
Hm well since the bolt handle is more connected to the inner moving bolt bit than the outer where it extracts, you can definitely get a bit of a runup with the bolt handle before it starts moving the bolt back, so you could probably jar a stuck case free. It wouldn't have the problem that you get when the handle is directly attached to the bolt face and you have to just pull the case free directly.
I don't know, but judging from the prices Heym charges for their rifles, my guess is that the user is expected to shoot very high quality ammunition out of this very high quality rifle and therefore never to be in the position to need extra leverage for extraction.
Advertisers and especially writers make far too much on the concept of “primary extraction,” as the subject seems to be virtually a creation of gun writers. Consider that you won’t see the subject or the theory come up in firearms literature until the 1990’s or do. This period covers the 1910-1970 period of insane work with wildcats, some grossly over pressure, but using what is considered “unsafe” actions. I’m in now way advocating unsafe firearms or firearm practices, but really!
I was under the impression that primary extraction was most useful in muddy trench warfare situations where failure to extract might have fatal consiquences?
That is such an elegant system--simple, user-friendly, and undoubtedly reliable. Somewhere on the far side of the River Styx, the shade of Sir Charles Ross turns to the shade of Frederick Ritter von Mannlicher and exclaims, "Why didn't one of us think of that?"
I think the Maral (from browning), the merkel helix and Blaser R8 would all have an intersting straight pull system. some having a (kinda) spring loaded bolt that close itself yet isn't hard to pull open, other having (i seems) a shorter pull than the bolt travel. If you come across any of these can you make vids one it please? I think it's woth it as they seems to have pretty intersting mechanism to look at.
Great video. I've recently been seeing lots of hype about the Savage Impulse similar system. The adage remains true: nothing really is new anymore in firearms.
As has been suggested by some of the comments, the system could be simplified by reducing the number of ball-bearings, the final iteration being by having just two rollers, one on either side of the bolt, with a wedge-shaped plunger forcing them outwards. This system was, in fact, used by SIG in the SG530-1 assault rifle (5.56x45) in the late sixties. The rifle was gas-operated with the rollers being forced out into locking recesses in the receiver by the wedge-shaped nose of the rear part of the bolt on locking. On firing the the rear part of the bolt was forced back by a gas piston and the rollers withdrawn from the locking recesses. It may be significant to note that this rifle was only produced in very small numbers and that SIG switched to a conventional rotating bolt in the 540 series rifles which followed the SG530.
In the late 1960s, I had a Hodaka motorcycle that used exactly this mechanism in the transmission. It had four sets of ball bearings, and the sliding internal spacer would expand the balls out to select any gear. Very cool to see it again
incredibly strong, there's a Finnish website where they stuff a 3006 case with a massively over proof load and fire the rifle inside a bunker using a pice of string. some scorching, the circlip is toast but the rifle is fine.
The old Hodaka Ace 100 dirt bike used ball/plunger mechanism to shift gears. There were five sets of balls inside 5 gears on the main transmission shaft and moving the plunger moved only one set of balls at a time to lock only one of a pair of gears at a time to the input shaft. Really really good at allowing power-on clutchless upshifting !
Glad you made this video, looks to me like this is the exact bolt lock up design that savage stole for the impulse rifle they recently released with minimal changes. I will say since I found a recent fascination with straight pulls, the Strasser RS 14 and Blaser R8 rifles are some of the most popular on the other side of the pond and they don't use a rotating bolt.
I would recommend you to get your Hands on a Blaser R 93. It's also a german straight-pull sporting rifle and it is really successful here. I own two of those myself. They also have a really interesting and unique locking system. I would like to see a R93 on your table.
@@davidross1839 As far as I know the R93 is not produced anymore. Therefore, it is perfect for Forgotten Weapons ;-) The R8 is a great Rifle, too. But the R8's mother is the R93.
It's the same way that newer CNC machines change tools. It's a good way to lock together two rotating parts. The cyntriphical forces make your connection stronger and not weaker.
A very similar system is employed in the trigger mechanism in some old Diana air rifles. A very well designed rifle but probably cost prohibitive in today's manufacturing where products are made as cheaply as possible. Also a very nice looking rifle. Thank you for the video.
"A really good application of general principles" - Ian utteres the highest compliment a german engineer could receive.
I remember my German machinist instructor once said "Your project is satisfyingly done. I have no adequate reason nor time to criticize it."
I was walking on air that day.
@@chpruc Just to make sure im understanding the 'nor time' part, was he inferring, that with enough time studying it, he could of found something to criticize it? (It was done well enough there wasn't any real flaws)
@@Gruvmpy pretty much. That's how he spoke. Basically he said he didn't think it was worth time to look for flaws
As a german engineer myself I can confirm that we actually have the saying "Not complaining is enough praise". Completely unironically (as you would probably expect).
Exactly what Savage adopted into the new Impulse
While my dad was stationed in Germany, he ordered one of these directly from the factory, was a very very cool experience, we were invited to come to the factory and choose the stock, and see the barrel blanks and pieces that would become the finished rifle. Heym is a quality company and we’d recommend them to anyone who can get one!
Yes, they are. I own a pre-war Heym drilling. High-end double rifles and drillings have historically been their speciality, which of course only a very high quality company is able to manufacture. They are credited for some very important patents throughout the years, one of them being the hammerless drilling action, I believe. I also have a custom SR20 in 7mm rem mag, and.. well, I've had a lot of Heyms, lol.
As everyone should
I worked at the Hanau R&G an we got the chance to visit the factory twice awesome factory, still hand fitting is being done mixing cnc with old world tradition. Where was your dad stationed
So cool! It’s just like the locking system on hydraulic hose couplings.
Someone must have been inspired to do this after switching attachments on a tractor or skid steer.
Genius!
another common use is actually locks. like lock locks. with keys and so on. Most high end padlocks physical locking is done by two large ball bearings being pushed out by a locking cylinder. The shackle has two half round cuts and the locking cylinder has another two cuts. On open the cylinders cuts line up with the bearings, thus allowing them to slide in on shackle being opened. On locked position rotate the cylinder 90 degrees and it is a solid cylinder wall lining up. It pushes the bearings out to the shackles matching cuts and it ain't coming out.
Also ball bearings are extremely secure way to lock physically. As symmetric objects they don't have prone weak points like say sharp cut edges on lugs. The force would have to either push through the whole bolt, compress the plunger or rip apart the locking recesses on the barrel extension.
Frankly I find it odd not more people use this method. Since it is also economical. No getting machining to cut complex bolt with lugs and so on. Just call the nearest reputable ball bearing supplier and ask for bearings of suitable material, hardness and dimension on order. rest of the locking system is either cylinder stock, lathing or drilling holes of various sizes. Extremely simple to make.
As said the real hard part is the bearings, which are actually really really hard to make well. Luckily there is whole industrial consortiums whose whole business is to provide ball bearings of all possible sizes and materials to anyone who pays them money. Meaning the hardest item to make is of the shelf item.
@@aritakalo8011 that's the first thing I thought to but the hydraulic push fittings make sense too.
The detachable trailer hitch on one of my cars works just the same. 4 or 6 not too big bearing balls are good for pulling over two tons.
(I refer to bbs as bearing balls, because balls without a bearing race are just... balls, only the complete assembly is a bearing)
i was thinking quick connect air hose couplers
@@michaellesak6912 same here. Use them every day at work.
Not only a cool different locking mechanism, but also aesthetically pleasing rifle.
Superdude70 It looks pretty basic, higher end “classy” rifles don’t come with a picatinny rail up top. This looks like a Low-mid tier rifle alongside Rem 700, Sav M10, etc.
TMoD7007 while the manufacturer may usually make high end rifles, this is definitely not one. This appears to be a $600-700 rifle on gun broker which puts it in the low-mid tier budget rifle range. That’s not a bad thing. I checked the price of other Heym’s and some of their double rifles went for $20k and up. So I’m guessing this was their “budget line” rifle with a basic stock, questionable mounts (factory scope mounts are usually trash), and less fitting than their more expensive rifles.
Blaser rifles are what I’d consider to be semi high end tier and a much better choice for straight pull bolt guns.
But The best looking gun I’ve seen is my Uncle’s Browning X-Bolt White Gold Medallion and this Heym doesn’t come close at all.
@@BuggaBoy69 Yeah, no. This is a $2000 rifle at the low end.
@@Larcona_ you looked up a gunsamerica listing for the deluxe version of this rifle that includes a $1000+ leupold scope and is in .375ruger which is one of the more rare calibers for this rifle.
@@BuggaBoy69 Nope, every version of the rifle I could find.
That actually makes a lot of sense. This type of locking mechanism is used a lot in many other applications.
Exactly. Tons of pneumatic systems use that locking system.
@@charlesperry1051 along with all sorts of Hydraulic disconnect fittings!
Ugg! ...along with lots of hydraulic quick-connect fittings that have brindled and peened ball bearing locking surfaces... spherical locking surfaces are an unnecessary concentration of locking forces.
It was used in 22lr rifles for ages
Zündapp and maico used a simular thing for thier gearboxes.
“Locked unlocked locked unlocked” your excitement is contagious
those simple things, eh
Back in the late 1980’s, I walked into a gun shop in Washington, NC and saw this odd bolt action rifle. As it intrigued me, it stuck in my mind, I was interested in odd firearms, collecting them at the time, but this was something that I missed.
As I was traveling to a later business meeting, I had to pass on the rifle at the time, but coming back through, I stopped and inquired about the rifle. It was gone and none of the staff at the shop at that time knew anything about it! I felt a little bit like I was in the Twilight Zone, but checked sources such as the Shotgun News and jobber friends, but drew a blank.
Thank you Ian for letting know I wasn’t seeing things about a curious, innovative straight-pull German rifle.
I really hate Twilight Zone instances, but cool story.
Curious, indeed. Maybe it is because the SR30 started to hit the market in 1996. 🤷🏼♂️
Fun Fact: Here in Germany systems like that (especially the Blaser R8) are widely used in hunting, because the law forbids magazine capacities in semi-auto rifles to be bigger than two, but you can have bigger magazines in manual operated systems... Guten Tag!
Well the law dictates that you cant have more than 3 rounds in your Semiauto Rifles. Maximum Magazin capacity is 10 rounds and this count for all Rifles (Up to 20 For Pistols)
@@uwesca6263 danke!!
This is the "Fortner System", as used in basically any modern-ish Anschütz Biathlon rifle nowadays :-) Invented in 1984.
Dammit Gun Jesus. This is the one rifle i’d heard of i could rely on other gun people not having heard of.
Try the Steel Action HS, even here in Germany it is not as well known as the Heym SR30, the Merkel Helix or the Blaser R8.
Google Larsen Winterros shotgun. Marvel at the beauty of that thing. Then go ask people if they know about this cool lever action shotgun made in the 1880s’, and the say no when someone eventually guesses winchester 1887.
That should net you some considerable gun nerd cred.
leo_hunts Hey cheers for the heads up on that rifle. Really cool stuff.
“Just seems like a cool system”
Like a very cool system. Less moving parts on firearms the better and more accurate you get. Super cool weapon.
I agree, although this is cool and pretty simple system, this makes the bolt to have about six more moving parts than regular rotating bolt.
Which means:
1) more places to get dirt stuck into and also much harder to clean - i dont see any way how to get inside the hollow bolt
2) if any of the six rolling bearings were to fail, it makes the system much more prone to lock failure, given the nature of push-and-roll lock. I know this is very unlikely, but i can imagine some of the bearings missing, which would make rest of the bearings lose their locking pressure and general failure. On the rotating two-lug bolt this can hardly happen, you can have either two lugs lock or none at all and e.g. if one lug was cracked and is missing, second still locks in the place just as same as before, just with more pressure applied.
Biathlon rifles in .22lr use this system since the '80 or so, it's even faster than the toggle lock they had before.
Anschutz also makes a .17HMR sporting rifle using the same system but it's eye-wateringly expensive for a rimfire.
That’s right, my Anschütz 1727 F does the same.
Some differences:
The balls on the Fortner action (that is what the Aschütz Rifles with “F” use) are behind the magazine. Advantage: The length of pull is reduced, similar to a Lee-Enfield (locking lugs in the rear). To be noted: The length of pull on the .17 HMR model is a little bit longer.
There is no decocking feature: You can use the “unlocked” position of the bolt handle (bolt completely in the front still) to hold the striker back or to smoothly lower the striker by guiding the bolt handle with pressed trigger. So this is only a feature for going easy on the rimfire striker, without a round in the chamber.
I wonder how the forces on the Heym are. Although the operating forces in the Fortner action are not that high, for a continuous usage you have to practice your index finger.
I did not know that's how they locked, I just figured it was a standard straight pull configuration but miniature. Makes a lot of sense, thanks!
Ball-bearings seem like an extremely cost effective solution to the age-old problem of weak blowback homemade guns. I'm imagining a home-brew AR-15 with this system.
You could even carry around a pouch of ball bearings and swap out old or damaged ones instead of buying a whole new bolt. you could spin them around and find any damage on individual balls well before the whole system failed and it would cost pennies to fix.
@@MrLoobu Ssshhhh most of these "manufacturers" Would go bankrupt with these ideas.
Machining the holes in the bolt that hold the balls from falling out would be hard to do at home. You need a round chamfered hole that matches the radius of the ball bearings, on the inside of the bolt.
@@MrLoobu bolts gonna break before a ball bearing
@@ionstorm66 as a home machinist, I have to say that it would not be that difficult. Using an indexer on a milling machine you would drill the six holes. Then a two part chamferring tool, with the properly ground head attached after being inserted through the opposing hole to finish.
I imagine Ian spending more time than he should playing with the bolt going, "locked....unlocked! Locked...unlocked!"
Im doing my hunters-education in Suhl at the moment and we have one of those to use as Training weapon for our 100m disciplines. The Action is buttersmoth and the trigger breaks like glas, no takeup, littlebit of pressure and peng...
It is nice that the action is either locked or cocked, but never locked and cocked at the same time. It can be ready, on safe with no stress on the firing system. Cocking is part of shifting to firing mode. It keeps the weapon cold, until just before the shot. Safing the gun, in either red dot or white dot mode, is natural and quick. Such a natural safety is more likely to be used. Another great video.
It also makes for a very sleek action. And the gun maker took full advantage of that with the stock design, that is one of the nicest looking rifles I have seen in a long time. Ingenious designs are often compromised with clunky execution, but that is a very elegant rifle. Thanks for sharing that.
This is basically how a quick detach sling swivel works. This is actually extremely cool.
As soon as you said there is a plunger in the hollow bolt, I knew exactly how it worked. Such an ingenious design.
Heym produces three repeating rifles the SR-21, the SR-30 and the Express. The SR-21 is a push feed action, the SR-30 is a straight pull action and the Express is a modified Mauser System. SR stands for "Sicherheitsrepetierer" meaning safety repeater. Both systems are preasure tested up to 7000 Bar (about 100000 psi) Heym rifles are extremly well made and are nearly completely made from metal and wood. I own a SR-21 and the only parts made from plastic are the neon colored express sight inlays. The finish is absolutely flawless and the feeding is extremly smooth. If you buy a Heym, you can visit the factory and watch your rifle beeing made. Heym has by far the best value for money of all german gun manufacturers. And you can get every rifle in a left hand version without extra charge.
you've been watching this channel too much when you can picture the entire operating system when the video just starts.
yes
That makes a lot of sense as a logical fundamental next step in bolt action rifle design. Seems it was left out for many years because we switched to guns which cycled automatically.
Just to address a number of things about this style of lock up, and similar styles like the Blaser collet lock. These are precise accurate and functional locking systems, BUT, they have some serious issues when they get debris in them, such as not locking, or jamming after firing and being unable to open the bolt. I know this because I was looking at buying a Blaser LRS rifle for long range shooting and a number of people who had bought them complained that if any dirt got near the system they stopped working till they were cleaned, and apparently if the got grit in them (gust of wind blowing up dust), they could be quite difficult to open, or close. I opted to stay with a rotating bolt action. This would make these actions completely unsuitable to any sort of military service, even though they make a very good target gun, where the environment is generally clean, the guns are kept clean, and all the cleaning kit is at hand to deal with anything.
Thank you. I was wondering why militaries still preferred manually rotating bolt actions. I was watching this video wondering if I would I ever want a modern manually rotating bolt-action since the modern straight-pull bolt actions seem at first glance to be superior. But if the small moving parts in these operating systems make them more prone to malfunctions in field conditions, that explains why they are not widely promoted as the future of bolt-action firearm designs in general.
I imagine that such problems can be overcome with further engineering, and given the popularity of such rifles in the European sporting market development of straight-pull bolt actions will continue, perhaps to the point of surpassing the more common manually rotating bolt actions for hunting and military use. Although militaries are increasingly leaving manual actions behind altogether and replacing bolt-action rifles with semi-autos, due to legal restrictions the civilian and hunting market for manual actions will remain for the foreseeable future.
Gorgeous usage of simple, reliable mechanics. It's my two favorite things for a mechanical design: clever and humble :)
Really cool action!
As a machinist ive often played around with various mechanisms and i conjured a similiar system many years ago
the main difference being that my bolt design had dual offset rows of ball bearings and the bolt was guided and rode on roller bearings.
i was not aware of this system at all! thanks for bringing it!
that would be the logical next step, it always opens smoothly sometimes but binds a little on the way shut
The simplicity of this action is so awesome and that rifle looks stunning
Very cool to see you tackle this system. The first time I saw a straight pull ball-bearing lock was in biathlon rifles by Anschütz/Fortner (biathlon being cross-country skiing + shooting, and fwiw "ü" is the same as the vowel sound [y]), far and away the most popular biathlon rifles, AFAIK they've been using this kind of system for a couple of decades now. Don't know who came up with it originally, Anschütz rifles are made under license by Fortner, but the system is also sometimes at least called the Fortner straight pull system...
Next level: semiauto version. Anyone?
Also, if you can use standard ball bearings... Cost is minimal.
Are metric more expensive?
har har
@@SW-ii5gg
No such thing as minimal cost on a Heym
Wonder if you could have the bearings pushed into position by a wider-than-usual cylindrical firing pin: Pin traveling forward locks the bolt and fires, and the bearings would prevent an out-of-battery discharge by blocking the pin if not seated properly.
@@ToastyMozart That's exactly what I thought was going on here the first moment I saw the bolt - it's a no brainer mechanical safety; the firing pin either will or will not fit through the gap between the ball bearings depending entirely on whether or not the bolt is in battery, if it physically can't fit then it can't fire.
Now, if we just mill a small slot through one wall of the bolt, use this slot to attach a either an operating rod to which attaches a piston style gas system, or an AR15 style 'DI' nipple thing gas system - honestly shouldn't require very much gas pressure, just enough to overcome the firing pin spring(to unlock the bolt), then push the fully unlocked bolt(in other words, no drag from the friction of, say, turning torsional motion into linear motion, like rotating a bolt...) open against the spring pressure of, preferably, an AR18 style receiver-integrated dual recoil spring, to keep the operating parts of the rifle as compact and centralized as possible(I.E., no garbage AR15 style buffer tube hanging off the back - I'll take the mags though).
Maybe have Ruger manufacture it since casting is MUCH cheaper than forgings or billet, and they may just be the best in the industry at casting, not to mention just making high quality budget firearms in general(think about it - the US military couldn't make the M14 worth a damn - but, Ruger managed to! LOL), which is where you really need to win to survive in the firearms industry. Of course, the high end stuff could be gold billet if you can write the check for it.
Now, just figuring out how the hell to get anyone to buy one when, 1) it isn't an AR, 2) it isn't a plastic striker 9mm, 3) it isn't an AK, 4) it isn't a 1911, and 5) "...well, what is it?"
Ian: I have an interest in unusual operating systems, and if you are watching this there’s a good chance you do to...
Me: 😊 yeah
A simple yet clever idea, as is blasers lock-up system, which is basically an expanding collet, like you would use on a milling machine.
i would not bet my life or my health on a blaser!basically no margin of safety,if anything goes wrong!
@@pebo8306 I understand your concern, but in practice the R8 is an extremely safe rifle. The locking lugs create a very large locking surface as compared to most other straight pull rifles. There's been instances of accidents with extreme over pressure that didn't cause the rifle to fail dangerously, like firing a .308 in a .270 barrel (which obviously destroyed the barrel and the bolt). I'd be slightly more concerned about an R93, as I know about an instance of a dangerous failure there. I'm sure you could make a n R8 fail dangerously if you really tried, but it would likely have to be under somewhat extraordinary circumstances.
I would think rather than 6 individual recesses, it would have a single milled circumferential ring as to allow the rotation of the bearings in it
I had the same thought one annular grove for the 6 balls to lock into would be easy to machine.
Fair point, the system is unique in that unlike typical use of ball bearings (outside of firearms of course :p) they're not actually needed to spin under pressure while locked in battery, so 6 individual recesses prevents any rotational as well as the normal telescopic bolt movement
Extreemly smooth system too
Pretty cool. Seen a similar mechanism for quick change tombstones/pallets for CNC milling machines
That is absolutely fascinating. As you said, it's just like a roller locked bolt, only using ball bearings instead. 300 Win Mag is not exactly a slouch, so it's obviously a strong setup. That's brilliant. That bolt has to be smooth as glass. I'm surprised that hasn't been picked up on by anyone else. I really, really like that idea a heck of a lot.
Looks like a well thought out smooth action. I likes
Great idea. In the shop where I work, we have something called "ball locks" that work almost the same way. In that case the plunger is an Allen screw. Tighten it down and the ball bearings push out. They're used to secure fixtures or vises to a cnc mill table. Super strong, precise, and repeatable.
Hah! I was just wondering when today’s video would be out: right on time 👍
Never even heard of ‘ball bearing locking’ before, and it must be pretty strong if it’s in .300WM. Another interesting video, cheers Ian!
It's used in a lot of locks on hydraulic lines, almost 1:1 to the lines I used to hook up to our tractors back on the farm
Drowns In Kool Aid I grew up working on the farm using tractors: I kicked myself for not thinking of it as soon as I read your comment!
@@matthayward7889 Took me a minute to recognize where I'd seen a setup like that before myself lol
Props to gun jesus for pronouncing "Heym" absolutely correct. He just never disappoints.
I bought my girlfriend one of these in .308win for hunting, really lovely rifle!
BaufBaufTV how much was it. I really wanna get one now in .308.
@@miguelcontreras5694 depending on the configuration they retail for about 2500 € in germany. Cant say for sure about US pricing..... i guess a little cheaper (tax and stuff).
Also there are a lot of different stocks, barrel options (length threading), engraving, quick change scope mounts etc......So price range in germany 1800-4000€ ish
Yeah, I've noticed that German gun companies are pretty full of themselves when it comes to pricing. Not that they don't make quality products, but they all seem to have the same idea that every rifle they produce within the country should start at no less than $2k USD.
Beau Leidig I guess that is a development based on the German gun culture in general. The market is so much smaller and getting a rifle is much more complicated than in some other countries so people are more willing to spend high amounts on a piece of engineering excellence rather than getting another reliable tool. Amongst the German brands, Heym is actually one of the cheaper ones. Check out Blaser, Sauer or Mauser (all belong to the same company...) also H&K need I say more?
@@beauleidig8670 yeah, companies can built such rifles, as their customers can afford such prices. (check the Blaser prices, and Blaser is the most popular hunting rifle in Europe) Which is understandable, seeing an average European hunting course: if you've spent 3K euro on a European hunting course, you're not likely going to buy a 200 euro K98.
I couldn’t imagine how it would work. But as soon as he pulled it out it clicked. Honestly so ingenious
Who all came back here after the Savage Impulse hit the algorithm?
Me
Here here. At least we can get a brand new American copy of this design for a relatively affordable price.
Ah! Bless you, sir! I saw one of those at a gun show many years ago, only got a brief look as the table proprietor shooed away anyone looking for more than a moment at his wares (you know the sort, I'm sure... ). I never knew what MAKE the rifle was! I remember the bolt handle and cocking piece clearly. The locking balls I may never have seen before being told "If ya ain't gonna buy that, git yer hands off it!". Having been both dealer, and customer, dealers like that still annoy me!
I'm a simple man. I see 'Straight Pull Ball-Bearing Lock' and I click.
Well, that's one of the most gorgeous rifles and most clever systems I've ever seen.
Now if the ejection port was on both sides and you could flip the "bolt" over, wow, then it would be the ultimate ambidextrous rifle!
I gotta hand it to you.
My Father had a 30-06 version of that rifle.
Very light and accurate.
Almost as good as a Browning bolt action.
It sits well oiled and clean in the gun safe.
Nice pick!
Leave it to Germans to continually amaze us with such Engineering skill.
Excellent clip regarding one of many outstanding straight-pull firearms. All of them, with some more complex than others, are are fine examples of quality engineering.
Yes, there will be people who will enjoy it!
It is a interesting and well made system!
It's a old name in German Huntingrifle world!
Wow. This is an elegantly simple and beautiful design. I'm going to keep an eye open for one.
"The Heym SR30 is a modern hunting rifle produced in Thuringia, Germany"
figures it would be the germans with crazy roller systems again
To who ever made this design. You are a genius and hope you gotten good fortune from it.
I believe it is called Fortner action? A different version of the Fortner action is also used on the Anschutz biathlon rifles. It's a highly modified air hose/hydraulic hose coupler.
You always impress me every video, I've seen and learned more about obscure firearms from you than I have from any book.
Looks like it work the same as a Fortner style action used on biathlon rifles.
Fortner is cooperating with Anschütz and Heym according to his website. So for me it looks like the SR30-action is a scaled up Fortner-action, built by Heym, licensed by Fortner.
Similar to a quick detached air line . Also to a CZ 52 that uses dollars instead of balls . Very nice .
A German made roller locked rifle
Who would though that
is it so unusual? i mean we are germans we do shit like that regularly
@Michael F yes but we germans are very efficient and don't have humor
@@jolioding_2253 yeah the germans are after all the least funny people in the world
@@nutball3756 knock knock
@@jolioding_2253 who is there
I can’t stop coming back to this video just watching in awe at its beauty I need one in my life
Don't a lot of Olympic style straight pull .22s use the same system? I always wondered why it wasn't more widespread.
I guess we know where Savage got their inspiration for the new impulse family of rifles : P
Absolutely wonderful mechanism!
Oh lawd heym-a comin
This rifle is cherry...at least to us Heym-men.
The SR30 is a very good rifle. Heym Barrels are very precise and the triggers are awesome too. In germany you can buy them for under 2000,- euro. In my opinion the best price/performance ratio for hunting rifles over here.
Did shoot the SR21 bolt action for hunting training (running boar). Very nice as well. Runs like a charm. Near perfect trigger weight.
I suspect the extra safety is a good idea when carrying the rifle on a sling, having the safety be the entire bolt handle seems like a good way to accidentally knock your safety off.
I often wondered why this bolt style wasn't used, glad to see it is! Very cool. Thanks Ian
"It's all ball bearings nowadays" - Fletch, 1985
Came here looking for this comment, wasn't disappointed.
The world needs more Fletch references.
Legend
Dare I say this is the pop up headlights of firearms? This brings tools and firearms (both tops in my book) together in an easy to maintain realm of usability.
I had a Heym SR20G in 7mm Rem Mag, It was the best rifle I had, and the bolt action was the smoothest, I had ever shot and used! Well worth the money I had spent.
Knew it, saw the bolt handle and thought isn't that the weird ball bearing locking bolt that is expensive and rare
I don't think they are rare. And there's more expensive rifles out there
I have one of these, and it's totally dope. Heym makes extremely high-quality rifles under the radar compared to some of the firms there with a little more marketing money.
The matching recess are six ball holes or a single ring where the balls lock?
@@adrielkaua6418 Single. Built around 2001 or so. It has never failed.
they are a very odd company. their big money spinners are the double rifles, and the STR prefits the SR20 SR30 are made in small runs, that usually sell out quite quickly. I spent about a year trying to buy an SR30 prefit, in the end the first gunshop gave in and I got one by stalking an employee on Facebook. when I finally got one it was cheap, super accurate, and arrived in three weeks. madness .
Forgotten Weapons,
Please note the last sentence in the description. You have a "camping system" used to translate linear motion. Wouldn't a "camming system" work better than a camping system?
@@TheRealColBosch ,
It's a spelling error that Ian didn't catch or correct.
This is very ingenious. Surprised no one tried this before.
ALREADY DESIGNED A .25 acp CARBINE THAT USES THIS SYSTEM. Thought that I was clever.
With how precise machining can be these days and with all the different kinds of machining centers there are you can put out really high quality and tight toleranced anything pretty easily now.
This looks to be the same as the Fortner system used in Anschutz (and maybe other) biathlon rifles, as well as a couple of target rifles of various kinds. I don't know which of those came first though.
Peter fortner invented it in the 80's to help his friend gain an advantage over Russian biathlon competitors - he licensed the design to Heym a while later, mine is from the 90's.
I’ve handled one of this on an hunting exhibition a few moths ago, they’re very smooth and extremely well build rifles.
Sometime in the future I could see myself buying one of these but until then I’m enjoying my Swiss k31
Anyone else come here after savage revealed their "new" impulse rifle?
This showed up in my list only days after ordering one. Looks quite similar to the Hex-Lock system.
Here here. At least we can get a brand new American copy of this design for a relatively affordable price.
This made my morning. An unusual locking system from Ian, and a video on kit from Britishmuzzleloaders. Better than 2 cups of coffee!
britishmuzzleloaders? cool, i'm there.
But is there primary extraction? From the bolt handle levering on the reciever
Hm well since the bolt handle is more connected to the inner moving bolt bit than the outer where it extracts, you can definitely get a bit of a runup with the bolt handle before it starts moving the bolt back, so you could probably jar a stuck case free. It wouldn't have the problem that you get when the handle is directly attached to the bolt face and you have to just pull the case free directly.
I don't know, but judging from the prices Heym charges for their rifles, my guess is that the user is expected to shoot very high quality ammunition out of this very high quality rifle and therefore never to be in the position to need extra leverage for extraction.
Advertisers and especially writers make far too much on the concept of “primary extraction,” as the subject seems to be virtually a creation of gun writers. Consider that you won’t see the subject or the theory come up in firearms literature until the 1990’s or do. This period covers the 1910-1970 period of insane work with wildcats, some grossly over pressure, but using what is considered “unsafe” actions. I’m in now way advocating unsafe firearms or firearm practices, but really!
But is there primary extraction? yes
I was under the impression that primary extraction was most useful in muddy trench warfare situations where failure to extract might have fatal consiquences?
That is such an elegant system--simple, user-friendly, and undoubtedly reliable. Somewhere on the far side of the River Styx, the shade of Sir Charles Ross turns to the shade of Frederick Ritter von Mannlicher and exclaims, "Why didn't one of us think of that?"
Looks like we found who Savage copied...
This is an absolutely gorgeous rifle
I think the Maral (from browning), the merkel helix and Blaser R8 would all have an intersting straight pull system. some having a (kinda) spring loaded bolt that close itself yet isn't hard to pull open, other having (i seems) a shorter pull than the bolt travel.
If you come across any of these can you make vids one it please? I think it's woth it as they seems to have pretty intersting mechanism to look at.
Great video. I've recently been seeing lots of hype about the Savage Impulse similar system. The adage remains true: nothing really is new anymore in firearms.
*sees picture* oh a bolt gun with some pic rail. *reads title* the actual f--!?!
As has been suggested by some of the comments, the system could be simplified by reducing the number of ball-bearings, the final iteration being by having just two rollers, one on either side of the bolt, with a wedge-shaped plunger forcing them outwards. This system was, in fact, used by SIG in the SG530-1 assault rifle (5.56x45) in the late sixties. The rifle was gas-operated with the rollers being forced out into locking recesses in the receiver by the wedge-shaped nose of the rear part of the bolt on locking. On firing the the rear part of the bolt was forced back by a gas piston and the rollers withdrawn from the locking recesses. It may be significant to note that this rifle was only produced in very small numbers and that SIG switched to a conventional rotating bolt in the 540 series rifles which followed the SG530.
That's a new one. Leave it to us to develop a wildcat action, I guess.
@drdavid Yes, and I'm German.
And that was the first time little Timmy realized that those nasty foreigners were in his computer.
In the late 1960s, I had a Hodaka motorcycle that used exactly this mechanism in the transmission. It had four sets of ball bearings, and the sliding internal spacer would expand the balls out to select any gear. Very cool to see it again
The Germans have made more different bolt actions than the rest of the world combined. Not sure how strong it is but definitely different.
incredibly strong, there's a Finnish website where they stuff a 3006 case with a massively over proof load and fire the rifle inside a bunker using a pice of string. some scorching, the circlip is toast but the rifle is fine.
@@SuburbanBushwacker My engineering background says the balls were in compression instead of shear forces then.
The old Hodaka Ace 100 dirt bike used ball/plunger mechanism to shift gears.
There were five sets of balls inside 5 gears on the main transmission shaft and moving the plunger moved only one set of balls at a time to lock only one of a pair of gears at a time to the input shaft. Really really good at allowing power-on clutchless upshifting !
It‘s for Hunting and the Company is still open... 😬
They produce on demand AFAIK. And the SR 30 is reasonably priced in the standard version as well.
Glad you made this video, looks to me like this is the exact bolt lock up design that savage stole for the impulse rifle they recently released with minimal changes. I will say since I found a recent fascination with straight pulls, the Strasser RS 14 and Blaser R8 rifles are some of the most popular on the other side of the pond and they don't use a rotating bolt.
that rifle is elegant, very elegant
I would recommend you to get your Hands on a Blaser R 93. It's also a german straight-pull sporting rifle and it is really successful here. I own two of those myself. They also have a really interesting and unique locking system. I would like to see a R93 on your table.
Why not an R8? Is the R93 still in production?
@@davidross1839 As far as I know the R93 is not produced anymore. Therefore, it is perfect for Forgotten Weapons ;-) The R8 is a great Rifle, too. But the R8's mother is the R93.
I've been watching Ian too much. I read ball bearing lock and this exact design was what first popped into my head.
This technology definitely has a place in the modern market. I hope other bolt action manufacturers copy this in the future.
Held one in my hands just today. Really nice and firm action.
i think this a phenomenal hunting rifle because its pretty safe and fast if you must give a follow shot. pretty a smart and easy cool mechanism
It's the same way that newer CNC machines change tools. It's a good way to lock together two rotating parts. The cyntriphical forces make your connection stronger and not weaker.
What an interesting method for locking the bolt. I don't think I've ever seen anything like this.
A very similar system is employed in the trigger mechanism in some old Diana air rifles.
A very well designed rifle but probably cost prohibitive in today's manufacturing where products are made as cheaply as possible.
Also a very nice looking rifle.
Thank you for the video.