Boyd Allen
Active member
The one detail that you might want to consider is that the chamber swells up and snaps back when a high pressure load is fired, so the brass and the steel move together, but the brass does not snap back all the way to where it started. The steel does. Also, the solid portion of the case head is largely or entirely unsupported by the chamber. When it swells in diameter, it takes the case wall immediately forward of it with it, and gives it great support at that new dimension. A long time ago, I remember an article by an experienced gunsmith that said that he was not able to load a model 70 (1" tenon") to as high of a pressure as a model 700 (1 1/16" tenon), using the point where the bolt got sticky as a guide for the upper pressure limit of the rifle (hunting loads).
Added later: I forgot that this was for a large belted magnum. I do not think that this is an issue with calibers that have a smaller body diameter. Along this same line, Savage has increased the tenon diameter of many of their actions. I believe that this was done to give more meat around larger diameter cases.
Added later: I forgot that this was for a large belted magnum. I do not think that this is an issue with calibers that have a smaller body diameter. Along this same line, Savage has increased the tenon diameter of many of their actions. I believe that this was done to give more meat around larger diameter cases.
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