Thread: believe it or not?

While that could be considered a myth its a fair way from conventional wisdom.

Originally Posted by gimp

Okay here's an example.


.17HMR sucks in the wind, .22 mag is better because of the heavier bullets. Discuss.

Wasn't there a graph chart or what ever you call them posted recently that showed the hmr was better in the wind?

Sent from my work bench

I think that's his point.

Agreed... in fact I think there are performance gains to be made from pretty much ANY off-the-shelf thing simply because it is off the shelf and therefore probably some compromises have been made

Originally Posted by Proudkiwi

I think there are improvements to be made to pretty much any off the shelf firearm.

Originally Posted by gimp

From a .270 R700, factory Federal on the left, reasonable pressure handload with WLR primer on the right.

Yep, this is fairly common on R700 actions. It's not the size of the firing pin hole tho. The pressure is actually punching the firing pin tip backwards after ignition. Push pressure too far and the primer will 'blank' and rupture. (Nasty things follow....)
Cure for this is to fit stronger mainspring (some drawbacks with this option) or a reduced diameter firing pin tip size (I.e. Like what you will find on my Stiller custom actions ), or simply reduce loads a bit until primer stops pushing f.p. tip back.

This is one reason why guys start with a custom action like a stiller or Barnard for a new rifle build if they wanted to run slightly higher pressures with reduced risk of blowing primers. ( note I did not say NO risk.......).

Some times its a design feature , here's a pic of a 308 case thats been fired in a Accuracy International AW rifle , and it shows slight extrusion /flow of the primer into the firing pin hole in the bolt .
Its designed to have a bit of extra clearance to tolerate dirt etc in the action , as in this type of rifle , it HAS to go bang when the trigger is pulled , so its a design feature built into the rifle .
Some 1st time users of the AW series , thought on first seeing this on the cases , that something was wrong , with either the ammo or rifle , thats until they find out , ITs normal for AWs .