Rifle bolt-action used in the assassination of Charlie Kirk reveals the planning of the shooter

The pistol recovered by the authorities in the assassination of Charlie Kirk was a lock rifle – a common hunting weapon evaluated for its reliability but limited to a single shot before recharging.

Unlike a semi-automatic, the shooter must manually operate the handle of the bolt to go around the weapon: lift it and pull it backwards the worn cartridge, while pushing it forward, a new lap of the magazine. The lowering of the bolt locks the circle and seals the room, which makes the rifle ready to pull again – a simple and durable design which kept it popular among the hunters and target shooters.

Live updates: manhunt for Charlie Kirk Shooter continues

“This process limits the fire rate, you can only take one blow at a time,” said Lieutenant-Colonel retired from Lieutenant Marine Hal Kempfer in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Kempfer noted that with a lock rifle, the worn cartridge often remains in the room rather than being ejected, which means that the shooters do not leave behind the shell boxes or the “brass” that investigators can use for criminalic.

“This is only one of those things where you, if you have thought about it, you know that you cannot leave any forensic evidence so that the investigators can work,” he said.

Charlie Kirk Suspecting Assassination evokes manhunt as investigators collect the rifle in the wooded area

An FBI agent looks at himself near the University of Utah Valley where evidence was collected while the authorities investigate the shooter of political activist Charlie Kirk on September 11, 2025 in Orem, Utah. (Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images)

The authorities said Thursday that they had recovered the rifle used to assassinate Kirk in the woods near the stage, where the investigators think that the shooter abandoned him while fleeing to escape the police.

Complete coverage of Charlie Kirk

“They will do a lot of work on the criminalic of this weapon because these firearms tend to have a story,” he said, adding that investigators will try to trace where he was sold and how he changed hands.

“It is possible that the shooter used a straw buyer or another method to hide their identity – but this is the kind of legs that the investigators will now have to do to follow the shooter,” said Kempfer.

The Special Agent of the FBI in charge Robert Bohls speaks at a press conference to give an update on the search for the man who killed the political activist Charlie Kirk on September 11, 2025 in Orem, Utah. (Michael Ciaglo / Getty Images)

Kempfer, who was an intelligence officer in the United States Marine Corps, said the fatal shot was “not particularly difficult” but that he was planning.

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“You would not have to be an expert sniper or something like that, the hunters take this time all the time,” he said, adding that the distance, the clear time and the high position all worked to the advantage of the shooter.