Hello Folks,

Someone help me with my understanding of bolt-action terminology. I’m somewhat accustomed to gun writers referring to parts of the bolt action design as the “front ring” and “rear bridge.” Redundancy is not a virtue in technical writing, but the practice is understandable given that not all readers are intimately familiar with the workings of the various actions. I thought that there is only one ring, at the front, and only one bridge, at the rear. Today I read an article in which the author spoke of the “front bridge” on a bolt-action rifle ("Rifle" May 2009). My understanding is that Paul Mauser added the bridge to the prototype action as a place to locate the stripper-clip slot. So, am I correct, do ring and bridge suffice, without embellishment?