Lock Time?

[Idaho_Hick]

I have repeatedly heard about the fast lock time of the remington m700 action, and the slow lock time of my old '03, but have never seen concrete numbers.  In one of the posts below, I saw that one person thought the savage rifles had the fastest lock time, something I had never heard before.  I had always thought remington had the fastest.   Does anyone have specific numbers for lock time of bolt rifles?  I would love to see them and am sure others would as well.  Barring that, does anyone know the relative ranking of bolt designs as regards lock time?

That is, which is faster, m70 or m77?
110 or A-bolt?
Mark V or Omega III?

Any particle of information would be appreciated.

[Brithunter]

Hi There,

    Well lock time is measured in milliseconds but which gun has the fastest lock time I do not know. I also find it not important as the Mauser 93,95 & 98 have slow lock times yet can give superb accuracy. Lock times seem to worry target shooters and I have seen adverts for certain action/rifle makers advertising their lock time but as it was only of passing interest to me I didn't take too much notice.

    The Springfield 03 is probably slower in lock time than say a Rem 700 but then again the 03 is probably more reliable in extreme conditions and was based on the Mauser so!

    May I ask why the worry about lock times?

[Idaho_Hick]

I am not worried at all.  I also believe that locktime is over-rated, yet it is one of those firearms trivia related items that I would like to know.  I would also like to be able to say,
   "Yes, your m700 does have a faster lock time than my m70, but only by 1.5 milliseconds, which I personally find very hard to differentiate.  Are you capable of detecting a 1.5 millisecond delay?"

or some similar wise acred retort.

[victorcharlie]

I am not worried at all.  I also believe that locktime is over-rated, yet it is one of those firearms trivia related items that I would like to know.

I agree.....there are other factors far more important than lock time.......

[Idaho_Hick]

Well, for whatever its worth, the following site listed some lock times.

http://yarchive.net/gun/rifle/lock_time.html

They claimed a lock time of 2.5 ms for the m700, 3 ms for the m70, and 3.4 ms for the m77- didn't say mk I or II.  They also listed some very impressive times for the anschutz line of target rifles.  The  times I posted were all for long actions.

But, remington and a few other sites list the m700 as having a lock time of 3 ms.

Another article by chuck hawkes claimed the savage m14 is now the fastest production rifle at 1.6 ms.

Various web sites claimed they could reduce lock time down to around 1.6 -1.8 ms with heavier springs and lighter firing pins, but failed to state what the original rife's lock time was.  

Anybody else finding anything?  Real numbers from a good source would be nice.  Remington is the only manufacturer I have found so far with a number for lock time on their website.

[victorcharlie]

From what I've read in the past, different manufactures use different techniques to determine lock time.  No consistency between them allows for what amounts to unsubstantiated claims.....  Is there an independent group that provides an unbiased set of figures?

Again, I don't think it really means a lot, but is really just sales hype.....

[1911crazy]

Here's some info about lock time;  

http://yarchive.net/gun/rifle/lock_time.html

I believe i read an article on the Wolf Spring website about lock time also and they recomended a stronger firing pin spring to reduce lock time.

[beemanbeme]

Oh, in the world of ultra-accuracy there are all sorts of after market items you can buy that is reported to reduce lock time and that will hopefully lead you to the promise land of the winners circle.  
In the real world of shooting and hunting, the importance of lock time falls somewhere between very little and none.