Can't say I know the advantages and disadvages but with SMLE's cock on closing is one reason (along with a ten round magazine) the British soldiers could lay down quick, continuous fire the way they were trained. They could open the bolt and eject the fired case quickly...close it fast and shoot again without removing their hand from its shooting position and no loss of sight picture.

 

The cock on closing requires quite a bit of sear engagement to prevent the gun from firing during the bolt cycling, which makes it harder to get a really crisp trigger pull.

 

Still, the Swede 98s and 38s have the sweetest triggers you'l ever find in military rifles.

 

This is one I've always wondered about. When I was in high school I had a small collection of military rifles. The cock on closing Arisaka was the fastest to manipulate. I could come close to it's speed with a 1903 Springfield by holding the bolt handle stationary and rotating the rifle. Basically making it into a straight pull bolt action.

 

Most of my bolt guns are cock on close.

As pointed out, you're not working to cock the gun during the bolt-opening phase which means you can more easily extract sticky cases. As pointed out, that's not much of an issue these days,if it is you've probably got bigger problems than trying to get the bolt open.

 

With a 'cock on opening' mechanism if you have a misfire, you simply raise the bolt handle and push it back down in order to try to re-fire the cartridge.
As I recall, most 'cock on closing' actions require the shooter to first pull the bolt back a certain distance before pushing it forward and downward again in order to get the cocking to occur.

 

They do, you have to pull back at least as far as the firing pin travels.

 

When I first started shooting in high-power competition in about 1980 I used an '03A3. There also is a '17 Enfield in the collection and after a year or two I carried it along to a local match on a whim. The M1917 Enfield cocks on closing.

I shot the match. The Enfield was an accurate rifle with my handloads and quite effective in the prone slow-fire stage. But, compared to the slick '03A3 that '17 Enfield bolt felt so awkward. The bolt felt about a mile long when cycling in the rapid fire stages and the cock-on-closing feature felt so "wrong."

 

When I first started shooting in high-power competition in about 1980 I used an '03A3. There also is a '17 Enfield in the collection and after a year or two I carried it along to a local match on a whim. The M1917 Enfield cocks on closing.

I shot the match. The Enfield was an accurate rifle with my handloads and quite effective in the prone slow-fire stage. But, compared to the slick '03A3 that '17 Enfield bolt felt so awkward. The bolt felt about a mile long when cycling in the rapid fire stages and the cock-on-closing feature felt so "wrong."

Many owners of the 1917's who converted them to sporting rifles converted them to 'cock on opening.' I do not recall the details of how one did the conversion, but it was quite common.

 

Numrich Arms used to sell the conversion kits. They may even still have some floating around their warehouse.

 

Yeah, I remember those. Used to think I wanted to modify the '17 here when I was young, but never got around to it.

I've had the '17 since I was still a teen and I'm 63 now. It was under a $100 on a used gun rack in a Fort Worth, Texas gun shop. I want to say $85. To my surprise research in recent years finds it to be an unmolested, not-arsenal rebuilt, not bubba'ed Eddystone Enfield having a 9-18 barrel date and a serial number that falls in the same date range. Sports a good measure of original blue finish, original inspectors marks and no rebuild marks.

I don't imagine anyone was bothering to restore these to original back in the mid 1970s.

 

Very cool. I'm a little younger than you, but I remember being in a gun shop in Pensacola that had two racks with about 10 03A3s in each. Sign said "your pick - $50".

 

Despite me frequenting the Colt forum above any other forum, I am at heart a rifle guy. The whole 'cock on opening vs cock on closing" thing is hooey to me. Either one is fine once you get used to it. Same with the two stage triggers. No big deal. Too many things said in magazines or now online that get parroted by others that take on a life of their own and then become gospel. I put the whole 'removable bushing vs pressed in button" debate on the SAA in the same vein. Currently am sporterizing a 94 FN Mauser into 250-3000, have to bend the bolt to clear a scope next, but the cock on closing thing is of ZERO concern to me.