Muzzleloading rifle with pivotal bolt action

An improvement in a muzzleloading rifle having a stock, a receiver, a forwardly extending barrel, a removable breech plug in the rearward end of the barrel and forwardly of the receiver, and a trigger mechanism, the improvement comprising,

• an elongated bolt assembly including a bolt slide, a bolt segment, and a bolt handle,
• the bolt slide having a rearward end pivotally secured within the receiver and adapted to be pivoted from an aligned position with and within the receiver to an angular position outwardly through a slot in the side of the receiver,
• a transverse cross lug mounted in a locking position within the receiver and having one end pivotally secured to the bolt slide so that when the bolt slide is pivoted outwardly from the receiver, the cross lug will be unlocked from the receiver to allow the bolt slide to be moved to a rearward position in the slot of the receiver,
• the bolt segment being operatively connected to an elongated striker pin in the bolt to pull the striker pin rearwardly against a compression spring,
• the trigger mechanism operatively releasably engaging and holding the striker pin against forward movement when the bolt slide is moved forwardly and thence pivoted laterally to resume the aligned position with the receiver.