The Volquartsen bolt is great in design and DLC coating. I like it better than any of my stainless, nitrided, or PVD bolts. The drawback is price and the proprietary bolt handle. Remember you are getting the complete bolt, bolt buffer, bolt handle, guide rod and springs for that price. People who like to customize the look via the bolt handle are not able to do so.

VQ blem bolts are on clearance for $200 right now.

 

over the years I've acquired a half dozen of the Volquartsen bolts, including a couple of the Firefly bolts..and one KIDD bolt

I like the Volquartsen over the KIDD because of the design of the charging handle, the way the recoil spring is contained in the bolt and the cylindrical firing pin

but if I were buying a bolt today, I'd go KIDD for the money..

 

Imho, the screw into the bolt body handle on the VQ is not such a great idea. Especially if you dont have a VQ receiver. If/ when that handle mashes up against the receiver it will start to wallow out the screw hole. Now you have a sloppy feeling handle . Eventually you might want to remove that bolt , but ecause the threads on the handle/ bolt are malformed it wont unscrew. So you have to cut it off.
So my advice is , either buy a bolt with the same name as your receiver, thatway if it doesnt fit they have to deal with it, or buy a oem bolt that has been reworked by cpc.and a Kidd rod and handle.

 

what?? are you being serious, or are you just joking around? sometimes I can't tell...

well actually in a weird way, I agree, I much prefer the old style of Volquartsen bolts that used a simple spring loaded detent to retain the charging handle over the screw in type in use now

but how is the charging handle going to ever hit the receiver?...the only way this would even be possible is if you were to run the bolt back and forth without a barrel (fully seated), or a bolt stop pin/buffer in place..and if the charging handle itself ever did hit an aluminum receiver, I think the charging handle would fare better than the receiver itself would..the Volquartsen style screw in charging handle does however make the assembly/disassembly of the bolt into and out off the receiver much easier than the standard style of charging handle does...

I'm sure many makers of bolts would love it if you really needed to run their receivers as well..but thankfully that is not the case, as you can run many different brands of bolts, with many different brands of receivers without issue...how many people here are running a KIDD, or JWH, bolt in their Ruger, or Brownells, receivers?

 

Agreed, a lot of what-ifs there. I’ve used VQ bolts in 6-7 different non-VQ receivers, including two OEM receivers and the brass receiver I machined from scratch, fired 1000s of rounds through them, and not a single handle ever hit the receivers, and not a single handle has ever flown off of the bolt.

I continue to use the VQ bolts because, as mentioned, I like the round, titanium firing pin design, the recoil spring design, the easily removed handle (needed because of the improved, in my view, recoil spring design), the smooth, hard surface treatment, the crisp extractor machining, and the overall precision of the bolt.

I can see if someone is used to the original bolt design, he or she might not want to mess with success, and I know the Kidd bolts work just fine, as I have used them, as well, but having used both, I prefer the VQ.

Now, I don’t like the VQ trigger group, since it looks like something from George Jetson's ray gun, and the performance is not there for the price. Here, the Kidd stands above all others. Both the Kidd and the VQ barrels are made from Walther Lothar blanks, so I could go either way there, as far as performance; the Kidd barrels look better to me but the VQs are easier to install -- I had nine kinds of hell trying to get a Kidd barrel into a stainless Tactical Innovations receiver. There is no way freezing the barrel and heating the receiver was going to work. I appreciate tight tolerances on both, but I think those tolerances tend to stack up, and the stainless receiver also wouldn't expand like one made of aluminum.

I would also use a Kidd receiver over a VQ, for aesthetics, mostly, and the Kidd is just cheaper with apparently equal precision.

Putting my money where my mouth is, I just made this stubby little beast using a TI receiver, VQ bolt, and Kidd trigger and barrel. The stubby walnut stock is a Green Mountain (still waiting on the Sparrow can:

 

...Putting my money where my mouth is, I just made this stubby little beast using a TI receiver, VQ bolt, and Kidd trigger and barrel. The stubby walnut stock is a Green Mountain (still waiting on the Sparrow can:
View attachment 510451 View attachment 510452

That's an interesting build. I like it. How's it group at 25 & 50 yards?

Henry has a chopped down stock called a Mare's Leg that would look right at home on that little dude.

 

I haven't really shot many groups. My single range trip was to assess velocity of various ammunition from the 6" Kidd barrel, but some R-50 SC was cutting 1/2", or possibly smaller, 5-shot groups at 50 yards with very little effort on my part to ensure consistent hold. It certainly looked like it is going to be a winner. The intent, though, is to make this my one and only suppressed .22 LR, so we'll have to see how it does with a can hanging out there.

 

That's impressive and shoots much better than I was expecting! It will look very cool with a suppressor.

 

Back to the subject.
Well the charger hitting the back lip of the receiver cutout did happen to me on my VQ bolt( ok it was the lightweight one for ultra slow and quiet ammo.) and it really t’d me off. By the end the charger wobbled like a joy stick, would not unscrew, etc.
As I recall JWH made a copy, “ Competition model “ and then quickly switched back to the over the shoulder design.

 

Back to the subject.
Well the charger hitting the back lip of the receiver cutout did happen to me on my VQ bolt( ok it was the lightweight one for ultra slow and quiet ammo.) and it really t’d me off. By the end the charger wobbled like a joy stick, would not unscrew, etc.
As I recall JWH made a copy, “ Competition model “ and then quickly switched back to the over the shoulder design.

JWH was forced to change their Competitor bolt by Volquartsen..I got that info from Scott Volquartsen, seems they didn't like JWH encroaching on their intellectual property

did you have a bolt stop pin in place when you had issues with your Firefly bolt?

and back when I bought my Pike Arms bolt, it was finished in DLC..unfortunately, during Covid they switched from anodizing and DLC to using Cerakote on their products

 

As mentioned above the Volquartsen bolt and Kidd trigger. The Volquartsen is on their clearance page. Nothing else you have to buy to go with it. NOW Kidd is DLC coating their bolt as an option. Choices

 

I don't recall on all the 10/22s that I've owned, but the buffer in the receiver stops the charging handles on all the ones currently in the herd anywhere from 3/6" to 1/4" in front of the back of the bolt handle/ejection port cut out; an OEM, a VQ, and the new Tactical Innovations. Ironically, the charging handle comes closest to hitting in the VQ receiver, but it's still a full 3/16" away.

JME

 

If I were just going to replace a bolt on an existing rifle, a blemished VQ bolt. If I were spec'ing parts for a whole rifle, I would go all Kidd. The former because of the design of the bolt and cost is reasonable. The latter because of ease, no fear of tolerance stacking, one-stop-shop for company support, and any future resale value.

 

Can’t go wrong with either but I prefer VQ bolts. The comp bolt on their clearance page is a no brainer.

 

My Pike Arms match grade bolt is great. Have it in matte silver 😍 Polished and has no edges like Rugers for smooth cycling.

 

I have literally built dozens & dozens of 10/22's, a few 10/17's. Lots-a-different receivers & bolts. I can't recall one single incident of a charging handle making contact with the receiver on recoil. As far as bolt preference, I agree with Cracked & Teddy Bear regarding the Volquartsen and for the same reasons as they both stated.