From: toby@u.washington.edu (Toby Bradshaw)
Subject: Re: The Stolle Action (was: Re: Accurizing a Remmington 700?)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

In article <361dpf$67su@whale.st.usm.edu>,
Donald R. Newcomb <dnewcomb@whale.st.usm.edu> wrote:

#Could someone please describe a Stolle action for me. There was a photo
#of a Stolle actioned rifle on the cover of PS a while back. It looked
#like an enclosed action with a bolt with helical flutes cut along its
#entire length. I have never seen one or even a good description of one.

The Stolle series of actions, originally built by the late
Ralph Stolle and now by George Kelbly, was designed to provide
a lightweight action with a large bedding surface.  The bulk of
the flat-bottomed receiver is aluminum, with a steel insert at
the receiver face where the barrel is threaded in, and a hardened
steel pin on the rear of the receiver where the bolt cams.  The
bolt is two-lug, closely fit to the raceway, with no ejector
and a post-68 Win-type extractor.  It has helical flutes for
weight reduction.  The trigger (Rem 700 and variants) is carried
in a removable bracket so that it may be removed from a glue-in
without having holes in the stock for trigger pins.  There is
a male dovetail on the top of the receiver for Kelbly's rings,
saving the hassle of attaching scope bases and having several
fewer screws to work loose.  The Panda, about 8" long, is
typically used for LV and sporter.  It weighs about 30 oz.  Stolles
are available in any combination of bolt and port.  Right handed
shooters usually prefer right bolt/left port.  Boltfaces for
the Panda are made for .222, PPC, and BR cased head sizes.  The
BR (0.473) will pull a PPC case (0.440) out, though.  The
Stolle Teddy is somewhat longer than the Panda, but has no real
advantage I can see if the rifle is a glue-in.  The Polar
is the unlimited-size Stolle, and is or was avaliable in all-steel.
The Kodiak has a magazine cut and a recoil lug, made for hunter
class BR.

The Stolle is probably the most popular action for new rifles in
benchrest.  The quality is outstanding, it's light and strong,
fast to shoot, and available in many bolt/port configurations
at no extra cost.  The last time I bought one they were $650
and had about a 6 month backlog.  Don't look at one up close
if you have your checkbook handy :)

-Toby Bradshaw
toby@u.washington.edu