Bolt Action Rifle

The Bolt Action Rifle is a weapon featured in Red Dead Redemption

Description

The Bolt Action Rifle is a very versatile weapon due to its combination of high power, accuracy, good fire rate and very fast reload time. While the five round magazine may be small, reloading the weapon with clips is so fast that it's hardly a con.

Acquisition

Single Player

Red Dead Redemption

The Bolt-Action Rifle can be purchased from the Gunsmith in Escalera for $750, or $375 with enough fame/honor.
It has also been found in the mission "The Gates of El Presidio". It's located on the roof of the middle building as it is used by the Mexican Army.

Undead Nightmare

The player can obtain it simply by saving Cochinay from a zombie invasion.

Multiplayer

The Bolt Action Rifle is unlocked into the player's regular inventory upon reaching level 40.
- The "Bolt Action Assassin" weapon challenges are unlocked at the same level. Completion of these challenges turns the weapon golden for the player.
In Free Roam, the Bolt Action Rifle can be found in Tumbleweed inside the saloon.
It can be dropped occasionally in Warthington Ranch, after killing a gang member.
It is also dropped by some banditos in Rancho Polvo.
Kill another player that has the weapon equipped, then walk over them.

Tactics and Strategies

One clean shot to the torso will kill most NPCs, and the rifle is also capable of taking out a grizzly with a single, well-placed shot to the head. Accuracy is very important when using this weapon; if played on Expert Targeting and the target is in motion, it is a good idea to lead the target a little bit and wait until they are centered in the reticule before firing. If the target is stationary, just aim and blast away: even at very long ranges the bullets will, nine times out of ten, go exactly where you are aiming. In fact, in the mission "Great Men are Not Always Wise", it is possible to get one-hit kills on the bandits even from across town.

The Bolt Action Rifle is very effective in PvP; it is capable of killing with one-hit if the shot is accurate.

Trivia

The Bolt Action Rifle is based on the real world Springfield Model 1892 Krag-Jørgensen Rifle.

In the game this rifle reloads extremely rapidly from clips; in real life the Krag's biggest weakness was that it had to be reloaded one round at a time and was extremely slow compared to clip-loading contemporaries such as the Mauser and Lee-Enfield.
The player should be careful when hunting with this weapon; at a close enough range, it will obliterate the corpse of small animals (armadillo, skunk) and most birds, leaving nothing to skin/pluck.
It is the fourth most powerful weapon in the game, with the third being the Rolling Block Rifle, the second being the Carcano Rifle and the first is the Buffalo Rifle. With the Liars and Cheats DLC, it becomes the fifth, with the Explosive Rifle being first.
The American Army using the rifle in the game is anachronistic. At the time of Red Dead Redemption, the army had adopted the M1903 Springfield as their service rifle.
The Mexican Army has been seen to use this weapon as well, notably at the start of Civilization, at Any Price, Mexican soldiers armed with Bolt-Action Rifles can be seen.