Retrieved: 12/06/2013

1) Some guns have no extractors at all. Though most commonly seen on inexpensive break-action shotguns, some autoloading pistols dispensed with the ejector, the most famous being the French Le Francais. For the long guns, a notch in the breech let you flick the empty out with your fingernail. For the pistols, residual gas pressure blew the empty out. A downside was that you had to poke a live cartridge out with a pencil or other implement to clear the gun without firing it.

2) Some revolvers required the shooter to unscrew a short rod, which was then used to poke cases out of the cylinder.

3) Other revolvers (single action Colts, for example) used a spring-loaded ramrod to drive cartridges out of the cylinder

4) Later revolvers used a lift plate or star. This method is also common for shotguns, double rifles, and some falling or rolling block rifles. The lift plate can be spring loaded or actuated by the breech opening mechanism, which makes the lift plate very powerful. The large area provides a good grip on the case head for positive extraction. The post-'64 Winchester Model 70's sliding extractor falls into this category, even though it's on the bolt instead of the receiver.

5) Most modern designs have converged on a hook of some sort. There are three basic variants: the basic hook, the double hook (commonly found on shotguns) and the non-rotating claw as used on the '98 Mauser and derivatives. The claw was once considered the epitome of bolt action extractor design, but it has fallen out of favor in recent decades, theoretically due to providing less case head support to modern high pressure cartridges.

TRX
August 27, 2013

Doing some more reading, I've come to believe the giant non-rotating claw pioneered by the '98 Mauser is more for the purpose of "controlled feed" than yanking a crusty, damaged case out of the breech.

I don't have a Mauser to look at, but I have lots of feelthy peekchurs, Kuhnhausen's Mauser book, and an Arisaka and a P-17 to look at. The bottom edge of the bolt strips the cartridge from the magazine; the rim rises into the recessed bolt face behind the extractor, and the bolt has a secure grip on the cartridge when it clears the magazine.

The "controlled feed" thing is a really big deal to the Mauser cognoscenti, but the lack of it didn't seem to cause any problem with other rifles. At least, they don't seem to stovepipe or fall out of the breech of SMLEs or Mosins...