BSA Rifle Design Differences

Q: I’m familiar with the early BSA Royal
action, having owned one in .243 Win.
for a number of years. But the later
BSA Majestic action had some different
features. Can you tell me what changes
were made from the original design?

Arthur Reynolds

A: Basically, the receiver and rear end of the bolt were unchanged, but the Majestic’s bolt face was modified to have a counterbore and a horseshoe extractor replaced the Mauser claw and permitted the enclosure of the cartridge case head in the receiver during firing. In other words, the Royal was controlled- round feed and the Majestic was a push-feed action. I much preferred the Royal.