<P> Bolt - action firearms (or "bolt guns" colloquially) are most often rifles, but there are some bolt - action variants of shotguns and a few handguns as well . Examples of this system date as far back as the early 19th century, notably in the Dreyse needle gun . From the late 19th century, all the way through both World Wars, the bolt - action rifle was the standard infantry firearm for most of the world's military forces . In modern military and law enforcement use, the bolt action has been mostly replaced by semi-automatic and selective - fire firearms, though the bolt - action design remains dominant in dedicated sniper rifles due to inherently better precision, and are still very popular for civilian hunting and target shooting . </P> <P> Compared to other manually operated firearm actions such as lever - action and pump - action, bolt action offers an excellent balance of strength (allowing powerful cartridge chamberings), ruggedness, reliability and accuracy, all with lightweight and much lower cost than self - loading firearms . Bolt - action firearms can also be disassembled and re-assembled for maintenance and repair much faster, owing to their having fewer moving parts . The major disadvantage is a slightly lower rate of fire than other types of manual repeating firearms, and a far lower practical rate of fire than semi-automatic weapons, though this is not a very important factor in many types of hunting, target shooting and other precision - based shooting applications . </P> <P> The first bolt - action rifle was produced in 1824 by Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse, following work on breechloading rifles that dated to the 18th century . Von Dreyse would perfect his Nadelgewehr (Needle Rifle) by 1836, and it was adopted by the Prussian Army in 1841 . However, it was not the first bolt - action weapon to see combat, for it was not fielded until 1864 . The United States purchased 900 Greene rifles (an under - hammer, percussion - capped, single - shot bolt action that utilized paper cartridges and an ogivial - bore rifling system) in 1857, which saw service at the Battle of Antietam in 1862, during the American Civil War; however, this weapon was ultimately considered too complicated for issue to soldiers, and was supplanted by the Springfield Model 1861, a conventional muzzle - loading rifle . During the American Civil War, the bolt - action Palmer carbine was patented in 1863, and by 1865, 1000 were purchased for use as cavalry weapons . The French Army adopted its first bolt - action rifle, the Chassepot rifle, in 1866 and followed with the metallic - cartridge bolt - action Gras rifle in 1874 . </P> <P> European armies continued to develop bolt - action rifles through the latter half of the nineteenth century, first adopting tubular magazines as on the Kropatschek rifle and the Lebel rifle, a magazine system pioneered by the Winchester rifle of 1866 . The first bolt - action repeating rifle was the Vetterli rifle of 1867 and the first bolt - action repeating rifle to use centerfire cartridges was the weapon designed by the Viennese gunsmith Ferdinand Fruwirth in 1871 . Ultimately, the military turned to bolt - action rifles using a box magazine; the first of its kind was the M1885 Remington--Lee, but the first to be generally adopted was the British 1888 Lee--Metford . World War I marked the height of the bolt - action rifle's use, with all of the nations in that war fielding troops armed with various bolt - action designs . </P>

When was the first bolt action rifle invented