Did Oswald dry-fire his rifle in New Orleans using live ammo?

[Tom Graves]

It is possible that the rounds were cycled through the action without the trigger ever being pulled.

Are there any advantages to practicing the manipulation of the bolt that way?

[Gerry Down]

Are there any advantages to practicing the manipulation of the bolt that way?

I'm not sure. Maybe if you only had a small amount of bullets and you didn't want to waste any by firing bullets while practicing the working if the bolt action.

[Tom Graves]

I'm not sure. Maybe if you only had a small amount of bullets and you didn't want to waste any by firing bullets while practicing the working if the bolt action.

Why not practice working the bolt action without a round in the chamber?

To see how hard it is to chamber a round and then eject the "spent shell" by ejecting said complete round?

[Gerry Down]

Why not practice working the bolt action without a round in the chamber?

To see how hard it is to chamber a round and then eject the "spent shell" by ejecting said complete round?

If you didn't use a round, then there would be nothing to jam the movement of the bolt action. I'd imagine the purpose of practicing the bolt action would be to prevent jams in a live rapid fire situation. So you'd need to use bullets of some sort.

[Mitch Todd]

Are there any advantages to practicing the manipulation of the bolt that way?

That kind of practice will accustom you to how to effectively and quickly run the bolt. Especially if you aren't already familiar with the rifle. Different bolt action systems have a different feel to them. For instance, the Carcano action is cock-on-open design with a very aggressive primary extraction cam profile. Working the bolt on one feels very different than what you get using a cock-on-close design like an early Mauser or a Lee-Enfield.

[Tom Graves]

That kind of practice will accustom you to how to effectively and quickly run the bolt. Especially if you aren't already familiar with the rifle. Different bolt action systems have a different feel to them. For instance, the Carcano action is cock-on-open design with a very aggressive primary extraction cam profile. Working the bolt on one feels very different than what you get using a cock-on-close design like an early Mauser or a Lee-Enfield.

Perhaps you didn't understand my question.

What's the advantage, if any, of practicing that with a live round in the clip -- in the chamber -- on the floor versus having nothing in the clip -- chamber -- on the floor?

[Mitch Todd]

Perhaps you didn't understand my question.

What's the advantage, if any, of practicing that with a live round in the clip -- in the chamber -- on the floor versus having nothing in the clip -- chamber -- on the floor?

If start with rounds in the magazine, you will learn that if you don't pull the bolt back far enough, it won't feed the next round correctly.