Turkish arms manufacturers, mostly known for making shotguns, started to explore the bolt action rifles market developing and releasing new rifles. One of the latest Turkish made bolt-action rifles is the Monza rifle made by a company called Istanbul Silah. The rifle was introduced at ProHunt 2018 arms exhibition held in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Monza rifle is fed from four round magazines. The magazine release button is located in front of the trigger guard. The company brought to the exhibition the first version of the rifle which is chambered in .308 Winchester. The .30-06 Springfield and 6.5mm Creedmoor versions will be introduced later.

There are a couple of unusual design solutions in this rifle. First is the safety selector location. It is located in front of the bolt handle and will require the shooter to take his hand off of the grip to manipulate the safety. Normally, these type of safeties are located behind the bolt handle allowing convenient thumb actuation with the shooter’s hand remaining on the grip.

Next unusual feature is the square shape of the rear tang of the receiver. The company has probably opted for that shape to save some manufacturing time and make the rifle cost less. Theoretically, such rear tang may also increase the rigidity of the rifle due to the added receiver-to-stock contact area. The drawback of this solution is the boxy shape of the stock which has to be so to accommodate the square rear tang.

These are just some unusual design solutions which have nothing to do with the shooting capabilities of the rifle or its quality. In fact, according to Kalashnikov Gun Magazine, despite the mentioned odd features, the rifle is well made in terms of the quality of machining and finish.

Other features of the Monza rifle include the two-lug bolt with a 60-degree bolt throw, adjustable trigger, free floated barrel and the drilled and tapped receiver for mounting a top Picatinny rail or scope rings. The .308 version of the rifle will be offered with 22″ or 24″ barrels. The overall weight of the rifle varies from 7 lbs 11 oz to 8 lbs 6 oz (3.5-3.8 kilograms).

Probably this trend of Turkish companies getting into the bolt action rifles market will result in affordable rifles appearing on the store shelves that will fill the same niche in the bolt action rifle segment as Turkish shotguns do in the shotgun market.

Images by Kalashnikov Gun Magazine