Klem Wrote:All that is fine, I have the three types of chambers too; 223, Wylde and 5.56. I am still not sure how GO/NO GO gauges would have helped you determine most of those issues before firing. The corollary being, the OP would be in the same situation after buying those gauges. By all means spend money on Grendel gauges but you can get by without them.
As for never hearing firing first round from the hip before, you've learned something. I prefer my hips hurt than my face. The face is where all our major senses are. What would you prefer to lose, your eyes or balls? You can always wear some other sort of PPE and like you say, use a groin protector (thanks for the tip). I have also worn a motor cycle helmet for the first round of a new gun. Hey, if you have one already and it takes only seconds to put it on... Have a good laugh and I'll laugh with you, but - bottom line, Alec Baldwin trusted his armorer and he's not laughing.
Think it through - put a heavy calibre in a rest and sandbag it. Not that I have done this with anything heavier than 303 and 308 but for the sake of a little effort. Using a set of Go/NO Go gauges to predict safety, or trusting the skilled gunsmith is still a risk.
As long as we agree GO/NO GO gauges are a machining aid, and not necessarily a safety aid. You get far more information about the gun by loading a round and firing it safely. The throat, neck or barrel could be dangerously tight yet the chamber passes the gauges. The lugs could be ready to shear on first firing. The barrel extension could also fail. As you discovered, those gauges check only some of what is important and can give a false sense of security.
I have 4 types of chamber gauges for 5.56, since those are the rifles I work on the most. I have a throat gauge, function gauges, extension head space gauges and normal head space gauges "go, no go and field..I have other function type gauges for AR rifles. Incremental head space gauges are a machining aid and a go and field head space gauges are safety gauges. Knowing if a rifles head space is safe is the first safety check any person can and should do if replacing a barrel, since those gauges are easily available and easy to use. Every bolt should be head spaced to the barrel, this is common knowledge. Faxon manufacturing recommends checking every barrel- bolt head space for function and safety, even their own. Start about 4:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRxTQjil4Bc Any firearm could have a defect in metal and become dangerous. Shooting the first round is not necessarily going to be the moment defective metal will fail, so your first looking away waist shooting test is a false sense of security. Excessive or lack of head space will only aggravate any metal defect that may exist. This is why they proof load bolts and barrels.. Checking tolerances is part of the important safety and function testing. We're going to have to trust the manufacturers got the metallurgy right the first time, but this is one of many reasons why I stick with reputable manufacturers.
Alec Baldwin broke one of many safety rules when handling a firearm. He should have taken an NRA safety class instead of trying to destroy them.