montana Wrote:No, I don't check my bolt action rifles that are factory built since they are tested before being sold.. I did learn the differences between throat sizes back in the late 80's when my factory Remington 300 Weatherby blew out the brass on the cases neck from extreme pressure with my custom loads that ran fine in my factory Weatherby rifle. The loads were not anywhere near the high end from my manual but it was my fault for not working my loads up with that particular rifle..Live and learn! Weatherby uses a longer throat than what Remington uses, much like the difference between the NATO 5.56 chambering and the commercial 223, so many disregard as unimportant.. My custom bolt rifles were chambered by my gunsmith using incremental gauges. All three short chambered 5.56 barrels function fine, meaning chambering, firing and extracting without a hitch, yet they won't pass the min 223 go gauge of 1.4636. Two of my AR short chambered 5.56 rifle barrels popped primers out, not pierce them..Pierced primers are usually a sign of excessive firing pin protrusion. One was on a semi auto with a Bushmaster barrel from the early 90's, the second was an Olympic Arms barrel on my class 3 that popped a primmer and lodge in the disconnect channel, which scared the dickens out of my nephew when it ran the full mag after he released the trigger. The third barrel is a 20" stainless fluted Sabor defense barrel that shoots extremely poorly. I blamed the ammunition for a long time for popped primers until I realized the barrels with this problem had short chambers. Amazing what a person can discover with a few gauges and know how. All of my 6.5 Grendel AR rifles are built by me and have passed my go-no go gauges..
Montana,
That is interesting. I guess I am still wondering why and how, if the bolt goes fully into battery on a normal cartridge would primers pop out. They obviously can't while in battery so the case must still be pressurized during extraction. Or the pressure was so high that it expanded the primer pocket and the primers fell out on extraction.
I am thinking if your rifles passed a GO Gauge (1.464") then they were all within SAAMI. As we know, SAAMI min for 223 is shorter than a GO Gauge at 1.4636". Your guns were at least .0004" within SAAMI's acceptable range? Maybe it was a tight neck or throat then - preventing proper bullet release and building up pressure like a grenade. Reamers wear in diameter as well as longitudinally and Go Gauges do not check for this.
I have to say that I don't care who chambered my guns or what type they are; every new gun and barrel gets fired from the hip, or from the [concrete] bench with me crouching down below it.