bolt-action

[ bohlt-ak-shuhn ]

adjective

1. (of a rifle) equipped with a manually operated sliding bolt.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bolt-action¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Most of his kills came slowly, a single shot from his bolt-action M40 after hours of waiting.

From New York Times

“And on the third day,” one of the boys drawls, “God created the Remington bolt-action rifle, so that man could fight the dinosaurs. And the homosexuals.”

From New York Times

Weitzman thought he knew it on sight: It was a Mauser, he reported, a bolt-action rifle originally designed in Germany in the late 19th century and then replicated and churned out by the millions in more than a dozen countries.

From Slate

Police also found a Norino 7.62x25-millimeter pistol in a van in a Torrance strip mall where Tran killed himself the following day, and a Savage Arms .308 bolt-action rifle in his home.

From Los Angeles Times

The NCA said he was allegedly linked to a Howa bolt-action rifle and 200 rounds of ammunition seized at a house in Leeds in 2020.

From BBC