Not a reload... but needs some expertise

I didn't say he should replace the bolt head and carry on.
Neither did I, nor did I ever mention that. Get your reading comprehension fixed.

I said that is how you would measure the headspace, the results would be relatively certain.

Most of time it seems like you don't know much more than your average Joe, but express wild assumptions and troll bullshit with impressive bravado.

Replacing the broken bolt head and measuring headspace will tell you FUCKING NOTHING about what the headspace was when the action failed. Why can't you grasp that? Whatever you think you will learn with that is a waste of time because it's irrelevant to the failure investigation.

I've either done or lead dozens of returned product failure investigations. How about you?

You're Dunning-Kruger at its finest.
 
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I bought a Bighorn TL3, chambered it up, back then bolt heads were coated with some BS substance. I complained, they sent a new bolt head, claim to fame was tolerances, plug and play.
The point went over your head too, I see.

In the case of this rifle failure, there is no way to say for certain that the headspace was OK with the original bolt just because it's OK with a replacement bolt.

No one will accept that assumption in any warranty claim or liability tort

Dunning-Kruger
 
Shootin stuff.
Here you go
 

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The rifle was at round 82 of 83 for the day.
Total round count: 500
After firing the last round, the bolt had what started to feel like a heavy bolt lift. But would not unlock. After a minute or two of working the bolt back and forth, the lugs sheered off and came free.

With regards to the ammo, the seating depth was all over the place. I observed around 40-thou of variance. This meant that some were jamming when fed. I pulled these out and deconstructed them. The rest were were shot to fire form the brass.

So I guess for educational purposes and not to stir the pot, if 298 out of 500 rounds (the rest have either not been shot of were deconstructed due to jamming into the lands) fired fine, then I’m not understanding how this is an excessive hs issue. I have also put 200 hand loads through this with no issue and minimal resizing. Again, not trying to Piss in anyone’s wheaties... just looking for knowledge.

The barrel is a prefit. I used Manson headspace gauges to set head space.
Re. your headspace question- the headspace that matters is the difference between your chamber and the ammo. The headspace measured by gauges is only a comparison to a standard; presumably the ammo was also made to that standard, but sometimes it’s not.

So if you reloaded some rounds with “minimal resizing”, I.e. no more than a few thousandths shoulder bump, then your headspace was good for those rounds, but that doesn’t say anything about that “factory” ammo. Keep in mind that the headspace might vary widely on that ammo; if the OAL varied as much as you say, maybe the size was inconsistent too. I’d want to check a bunch of those loaded rounds.

As to the bolt, it looks to me like a brittle fracture, but better pictures of the fracture surface would help a lot. It’s definitely not a shear failure from soft material. I’ve also spent the last 20 years diagnosing broken metal parts, and can comfortably say that nobody here can really tell you for sure without hands-on inspection and some testing.

Edit - you posted those last pics while I was typing. Good pics, thanks. There are no signs of beach marks that I can see, so not a fatigue failure (no surprise with such a low round count). Looks like a brittle fracture to me, but high impact loading can result in similar failures and it may be that the material strength was just lower than it should be.

I do see where it looks like the bolt lugs were still attached around the rim of the bolt face, which matches your description of having to wiggle them loose. This is speculation but I wonder if the bolt head wasn’t fully tempered properly (not long enough), leaving it too hard in the thicker areas.
 
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Primer and case head don't really look like typical bolt shearing pressure. The bolt shear looks like it was done in not many cycles (one?) and looks like pretty hard material but I'm with 308Pirate in that that's not the whole story. Lots of parts are hard on purpose. Doesn't look like a fatigue crack that propagated over time, though.
I agree with most of what you said, but shear is the wrong term. Shear is a wiping separation, like if the bolt lugs were wiped off leaving a mostly round bolt head intact. Shear failure generally implies a softer material, and leads to the wrong conclusion if used for something like this. The word “shear” gets way overused but it is not just a general term for failure. Fracture is more accurate for a failure like this.
 
Neither did I, nor did I ever mention that. Get your reading comprehension fixed.



Replacing the broken bolt head and measuring headspace will tell you FUCKING NOTHING about what the headspace was when the action failed. Why can't you grasp that? Whatever you think you will learn with that is a waste of time because it's irrelevant to the failure investigation.

I've either done or lead dozens of returned product failure investigations. How about you?

You're Dunning-Kruger at its finest.
I’m not arguing with either one of you, but the OP has fired cases that tell him what the chamber dimensions were. He can compare those to unfired cases to determine actual headspace, and to the gauge to compare headspace to spec. He’s already done some of that (although I suggest checking a bunch more of those loaded rounds). He doesn’t need a new bolt or even the intact original bolt to know as much as can be known at this point. What is unknown is headspace of that particular round.

His pics show that a fired case is only .002” longer than the go gauge, so it appears the barrel was headspaced correctly. The rest is up to the ammo, but some of the people here seem to be stuck on headspace relative to the gauge, which isn’t important here.
 
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The point went over your head too, I see.

In the case of this rifle failure, there is no way to say for certain that the headspace was OK with the original bolt just because it's OK with a replacement bolt.

No one will accept that assumption in any warranty claim or liability tort

Dunning-Kruger
I am not going to call any makers of swappable bolt heads on their tolerances, but one would have to think ,001" is huge today, esp on a custom action.
 
I agree with most of what you said, but shear is the wrong term. Shear is a wiping separation, like if the bolt lugs were wiped off leaving a mostly round bolt head intact. Shear failure generally implies a softer material, and leads to the wrong conclusion if used for something like this. The word “shear” gets way overused but it is not just a general term for failure. Fracture is more accurate for a failure like this.

It's a compression shear failure. Mix of negative tensile and positive transverse shear stresses, no? Fracture propagation is the means by which brittle materials fail, but the reason why all materials fail is tension, compression, and/or shear.

1612807069876.png


Looking at the pieces of lugs it looks like the extractor side broke first (shiny rub marks), maybe held on for a few cycles, then shortly after the left lug said "fuck you, I'm out!". Wasn't down for the bolt thrust socialism.

OP, check your bolt handle to look for marks on the back side of it to see if it ended up being what saved your eye hole.
 
It's a compression shear failure. Mix of negative tensile and positive transverse shear stresses, no? Fracture propagation is the means by which brittle materials fail, but the reason why all materials fail is tension, compression, and/or shear.

View attachment 7550235

Looking at the pieces of lugs it looks like the extractor side broke first (shiny rub marks), maybe held on for a few cycles, then shortly after the left lug said "fuck you, I'm out!". Wasn't down for the bolt thrust socialism.

OP, check your bolt handle to look for marks on the back side of it to see if it ended up being what saved your eye hole.
No, the failure was not shear. What your diagram shows isn’t shear either. Shear involves slip planes sliding against each other instead of pulling apart; shear failure is perpendicular to tension failure. Tension and shear happen at right angles to each other, and a clean break without the failure surfaces sliding against each other is generally not a shear failure.

This looks like a brittle fracture with the failure plane in tension, with a small ductile portion at the rim around the bolt face. (With the caveat of high impact failure I mentioned above.) The shiny surfaces appear to be from the OP working the bolt around to get it loose, not part of the original failure. There were both shear and tension forces involved in the loading of the bolt head, but it was not a shear failure.
 
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I’m not arguing with either one of you, but the OP has fired cases that tell him what the chamber dimensions were. He can compare those to unfired cases to determine actual headspace, and to the gauge to compare headspace to spec. He’s already done some of that (although I suggest checking a bunch more of those loaded rounds). He doesn’t need a new bolt or even the intact original bolt to know as much as can be known at this point. What is unknown is headspace of that particular round.

His pics show that a fired case is only .002” longer than the go gauge, so it appears the barrel was headspaced correctly. The rest is up to the ammo, but some of the people here seem to be stuck on headspace relative to the gauge, which isn’t important here.
I thought all his fired cases were in pieces. If not, you're right. A damned close approximation can be made because of brass springback.
 
Yeah not on the bolt handle.... but there is a crack in the receiver

No, the failure was not shear. What your diagram shows isn’t shear either. Shear involves slip planes sliding against each other instead of pulling apart; shear failure is perpendicular to tension failure. Tension and shear happen at right angles to each other, and a clean break without the failure surfaces sliding against each other is generally not a shear failure.

This looks like a brittle fracture with the failure plane in tension, with a small ductile portion at the rim around the bolt face. (With the caveat of high impact failure I mentioned above.) The shiny surfaces appear to be from the OP working the bolt around to get it loose, not part of the original failure. There were both shear and tension forces involved in the loading of the bolt head, but it was not a shear failure.
 

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Yeah, lucky to have your face. That's all that saved it after the lugs let go. I'd close this post down and contact the action mfg. personally.

If it's the ammo mfg that I found with google, IMO it may be on the warm side of things (that powder+that bullet+ that velocity) but that case doesn't look like a catastrophic failure pressure. Again, worth it to check with them how they test pressure on production ammo. I'm guessing the shoulder/neck let go after the lugs gave way. Unfortunately 6GT is not a SAAMI cartridge yet so you don't have that on your side, and you set the head space, and you hand loaded for it so IDK how the action mfg. will handle it but that's my opinion. Take it up with them... YMMV.
 
Dunning-Kruger intensifies
The new bolt would be exactly identical to the old bolt, there are never any variations between bolts. They are always exactly the same and perfect. Matter of fact, every single gun part that is currently being made by everyone has the exact same measurements. Fuck man, if we are going this route the OP might as well super glue the bolt back together and pull out the old dollar store yard stick to get an exact measurement.
 
The new bolt would be exactly identical to the old bolt, there are never any variations between bolts. They are always exactly the same and perfect. Matter of fact, every single gun part that is currently being made by everyone has the exact same measurements.

Hi,

That is the dumbest statement ever.
This is probably a thread you may want to sit out.

How do you KNOW the new bolt was in the same heat treatment batch?
How do you KNOW the new bolt was manufactured from the same alloy batch with same certifications?
How do you KNOW the new bolt was even done at the same heat treatment facility?
How do you even KNOW that "range" the manufacturer allows the heat treatment facility to harden to?


This thread has moved past talking measurements, lolol
This thread has actually moved past anyone in it except the OP....everything from this point should be between OP and manufacturers.

Sincerely,
Theis
 
The new bolt would be exactly identical to the old bolt, there are never any variations between bolts. They are always exactly the same and perfect. Matter of fact, every single gun part that is currently being made by everyone has the exact same measurements. Fuck man, if we are going this route the OP might as well super glue the bolt back together and pull out the old dollar store yard stick to get an exact measurement.

A measured piece of brass gives an approximation. All brass doesn't swell to fit the chamber. Brass springs back. I bet I could measure more difference in brass from the same chamber, than the difference between their bolt heads.
 
Hi,

That is the dumbest statement ever.
This is probably a thread you may want to sit out.

How do you KNOW the new bolt was in the same heat treatment batch?
How do you KNOW the new bolt was manufactured from the same alloy batch with same certifications?
How do you KNOW the new bolt was even done at the same heat treatment facility?
How do you even KNOW that "range" the manufacturer allows the heat treatment facility to harden to?


This thread has moved past talking measurements, lolol
This thread ahs actually moved past anyone in it except the OP....everything from this point should be between OP and manufacturers.

Sincerely,
Theis
I think he was wide open on the sarcasm there, calling me a dumb fuck.
 
I think he was wide open on the sarcasm there, calling me a dumb fuck.

Sarcasm bud, I thought I laid it on pretty thick. You cannot get a trustworthy measurement with a different bolt that was not in the failure.



Hi,

And my language skills get me again, if that is the case lolol.

Sorry I didn't catch that. Back to my regular scheduled language lessons.



Sincerely,
Theis
 
A measured piece of brass gives an approximation. All brass doesn't swell to fit the chamber. Brass springs back. I bet I could measure more difference in brass from the same chamber, than the difference between their bolt heads.
Alright man, this is pretty good logic. More often than not I won't bump shoulders until the brass has been fired twice as it hasn't even grown to fit the chamber on the first firing, especially fireforming to a new cartridge. At this point I don't think any measurements are worth while.
 
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In fairness, I didn't tell the O.P to measure or do anything. Someone literally asked, "how would you check headspace after the fact." I answered. "Put A new bolt head in." Then the stupid fucker, whom asked, went off on one of his tangents, making accusations, and calling names. Pretty much nothing that related to any of my comments.

What do you want to bet, the maker of the action is going to want the BA, stick a new bolt head on, and check the headspace?
 
Yeah not on the bolt handle.... but there is a crack in the receiver
Ok that changes things a bit, since it’s pretty unlikely you ended up with a bad bolt and a bad receiver all in one package. That looks more like you’ve had some pretty high pressure loads running through it (for example when guys try to meet ball powder velocity with Varget), and collapsing the bolt lugs led to loading the receiver through the bolt handle.

Given that info, I’m wondering if those might be real pressure signs on that case in the first pic; as said above they can be caused by headspace but also can be caused by high pressure. I don’t put much faith in primer appearance but that may have steered a lot of this conversation in the wrong direction.

Sending it back to the manufacturer was the right call. I don’t think I’d shoot any more of that “factory” ammo when you get it back either.
 
Excessive headspace signs probably happened when the lugs gave up and head space was set via a violent setback to the bolt handle.

I've seen a couple of guns blown up by guys doing ignorant and/or stupid stuff. Fast rifle powder in a magnum on accident, left rubber plugs in the barrel after C-kote, etc... When it happens the case-- the mechanical fuse, if you will-- gets obliterated. Primer pocket opens up to unrecognizable diameter, primer turns into confetti, a portion of the case head blows away, the case headstamp is illegible, etc...

Not seeing much of any of that here. Some primer blow-by, some cratering, and some scuffage on the head stamp where the broken sections of lugs used to be. The shoulder separating, the cratered primer, the blow-by, the case head scuffing, and the crack in the receiver are all explained by a sudden let-go of the bolt lugs, then a hard stop when the handle hit the receiver.

I am under the impression this is a new action? I could be wrong. If it's well used with a lifetime of spicy reloads all bets are off. Fatigue failure is a thing and pushing 72ksi in SRP brass "with no pressure signs" for stuff designed for 55-60ksi has the very real possibility of manifesting like this over thousands of cycles.
 
Thanks all for the help. This is a great community. All of you that chimed in kept me busy while I was in a fit of rage. You also helped me look to possibilities that I had overlooked. Both the action company and ammo maker are working with me and seem to be in good spirits.

sorry if I started an internal war on some verbiage of certain things.... that’s to be expected I guess. I’ll let you know how thing pan out
 
Hope you get it all sorted out Doug.

I feel like we are constantly in some state of war in most threads on the Hide. I also think that is the main reason why I love this place so much. There are a lot of really smart people contributing here and a lot of those people are absolute shit at putting their thoughts into full sentences that actually make sense, myself included.
 
His pics show that a fired case is only .002” longer than the go gauge, so it appears the barrel was headspaced correctly. The rest is up to the ammo, but some of the people here seem to be stuck on headspace relative to the gauge, which isn’t important here.

2k longer than a no-go gauge, which I think puts it on the edge of being in or out of spec. We will never know for certain now that the barrel has been removed.

I'd be interested to hear what the manufacturer says...
 
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All these years, and I've only ever had 1 issue. It was from overcharging, and it was while working up loads for my .25-06 AI 40º, and it was my own fault... I forgot to calibrate my Chargemaster 1500 before loading that day, and it overfilled one, and blew a primer and hammered the bolt face. Luckily, the rifle was fine, and the only damage was the 1 piece of brass. I had my gunsmith pull it apart and magna-flux everything and make sure there were no microscopic stress cracks. All was good. But after that, Iearned my lesson, and always remember to calibrate my scale before each loading session.

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I have a serious question. I am trying to understand something and learn from smart people. At the beginning of this thread, there was much discussion about "headspace" causing the lugs to break off. So I'm thinking, the cartridge headspace (base to datum) is too short, the charge goes boom, and ... somehow ... this creates extra force on the bolt face? Enough to break the lugs? Y'all said "headspace", not "too much powder". The bullet is the same. The pressure curve should be about the same. The excess headspace cannot be too severe, the firing pin wouldn't trip the primer. A properly made bolt head is going to proof-test at maybe 150% of SAAMI. Where does the more-than-50%-extra energy come from?
 
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I have a serious question. I am trying to understand something and learn from smart people. At the beginning of this thread, there was much discussion about "headspace" causing the lugs to break off. So I'm thinking, the cartridge headspace (base to datum) is too short, the charge goes boom, and ... somehow ... this creates extra force on the bolt face? Enough to break the lugs? Y'all said "headspace", not "too much powder". The bullet is the same. The pressure curve should be about the same. The excess headspace cannot be too severe, the firing pin wouldn't trip the primer. A properly made bolt head is going to proof-test at maybe 150% of SAAMI. Where does the more-than-50%-extra energy come from?
Speaking for myself only - I was suggesting that headspace may have been the reason for the “pressure signs” on the case in the picture (in response to people jumping straight to claiming high pressure), not saying that it broke the bolt. The thought being that we don’t know that high pressure was involved based on those signs because they could also mean excess headspace instead, and the bolt may have failed as a result of metallurgy issues instead. Sorry if I contributed to any confusion there.

However I’m second guessing that thought now, with the new evidence presented of the receiver also cracking.

To your point though- excess headspace does contribute to the impact forces of the case against the bolt face; evidence of this is shown by “false pressure signs” such as brass flow into ejector holes and extractor cuts in loads without high pressure. The impact force may or may not be significant relative to the strength of the bolt, but impact does create higher and sharper forces than normal cartridge ignition.
Note that this is just offered as a detail to consider though; I’m not claiming this is what damaged the OP’s rifle, as I don’t see any evidence to point directly to that cause.
 
Tight head space ---> Case doesn't fit

Loose head space ---> Case does fit.

Loose head space is always the safety issue, not tight. It causes primers to back out or rupture, cases to stretch out, impact on the bolt/lugs... In extreme cases usually the worst thing that happens is case head separations (like the OP's case, except the separation happens roughly 1/4" from the bottom of the case, not at the neck/shoulder junction. This is bad because the high pressure gas escapes the case and goes backwards. Damages bolts, firing pins, springs, eyes, etc...

What the OP's case shows is some signs of excessive head space. A potential "why" for it is because after the lugs broke away, the bolt face moved rearward (increasing head space) until the bolt handle stopped the bolt from moving in the receiver.
 
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What the OP's case shows is some signs of excessive head space. A potential "why" for it is because after the lugs broke away, the bolt face moved rearward (increasing head space) until the bolt handle stopped the bolt from moving in the receiver.

I don’t think that explanation is accurate and it doesn’t account for the visible evidence:

- It might account for the separated case shoulder, but not the ejector hole mark in the case head. A mark like that is caused (if not by high pressure) by the case head impacting the bolt face, which can only happen if a gap is present before pressure builds up. Your theory would require the bolt to have broken and set back before the case built up pressure, and then the case to impact it after the bolt failed.

- The failure surfaces of the bolt lugs indicate they were still attached at the forward edge of the bolt rim after the failure, and the OP’s account matches the visible evidence there.

- If the bolt had actually set back while the case was under pressure, it wouldn’t have caused the ejector hole mark but it should have caused marks in the case head matching the fracture lines. I don’t see those in the picture.

Given all the evidence the OP has provided since the discussion started, I think the simplest answer is the most likely explanation- that the action suffered a steady diet of over-pressure loads which led to this failure. It’s possible metallurgical issues were involved as well in the bolt lug failure.
 
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A no go is made to have .005 headspace. So you set your rifle up with .007 of headspace. I do not own a no go. I have chambered barrels for customers before and the customer supplied go and no go gauges. Which did I grab? The no go of course. So on realizing my mistake I had to set the barrel back .005. Now if a customer brings me gauges along with a reamer I put the no go in a different drawer. OK so you set your gun up with excessive headspace. It does not explain to me your gun blowing up. As others said the case head does not show excessive pressure. The cartridge separating should have just gassed out through your relief port or blown down into your mag or mag box. Not blown the lugs off. Furthermore at worst you should have had a head separation not the front coming off. In my opinion the lugs sheared at firing. You need to steer towards the action manufacturer. After reading more of your post the bolt was against the barrel. Tells me the barrel maker reamed it too deep. You could not set the barrel back more but you still had too much headspace.
 
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A no go is made to have .005 headspace. So you set your rifle up with .007 of headspace. I do not own a no go. I have chambered barrels for customers before and the customer supplied go and no go gauges. Which did I grab? The no go of course. So on realizing my mistake I had to set the barrel back .005. Now if a customer brings me gauges along with a reamer I put the no go in a different drawer. OK so you set your gun up with excessive headspace. It does not explain to me your gun blowing up. As others said the case head does not show excessive pressure. The cartridge separating should have just gassed out through your relief port or blown down into your mag or mag box. Not blown the lugs off. Furthermore at worst you should have had a head separation not the front coming off. In my opinion the lugs sheared at firing. You need to steer towards the action manufacturer. After reading more of your post the bolt was against the barrel. Tells me the barrel maker reamed it too deep. You could not set the barrel back more but you still had too much headspace.
I probably should’ve included this pic from the onset, but I honestly was in shock. I believe the scrapes show continued contact from round 1. I believe the gouges came from the incident. Again, I’m not a metallurgist, physicist, engineer, or machinist. That could be another possibility.
 

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I probably should’ve included this pic from the onset, but I honestly was in shock. I believe the scrapes show continued contact from round 1. I believe the gouges came from the incident. Again, I’m not a metallurgist, physicist, engineer, or machinist. That could be another possibility.
I am an uneducated idiot myself, but i would say those marks occurred trying to free the bolt after the come apart. Separated parts created a gap between the bolt head and separated lugs. Now, working the bolt to free it scratched things up.
 
.007” headspace is not going to cause the lugs to shear off. There are plenty of factory/military rifles out there with that much headspace or more and not a single problem. The op said his factory rounds had a lot of coal variance which tells me the rounds suffered from poor QC which could cause the perfect storm of too hot of a load plus too close to the lands plus pos bolt And there you are.
 
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A properly made bolt head is going to proof-test at maybe 150% of SAAMI.

Hi,

First - we do not have Proof House requirements here in the USA.
Second - proof rounds are typically 125% of CIP standards.
For example 308Win the CIP proof round is 75,275 psi with Piezo pressure.
SAAMI says max pressure for 308Win is 62k.

Sincerely,
Theis
 
Speaking for myself only - I was suggesting that headspace may have been the reason for the “pressure signs” on the case in the picture (in response to people jumping straight to claiming high pressure), not saying that it broke the bolt. The thought being that we don’t know that high pressure was involved based on those signs because they could also mean excess headspace instead, and the bolt may have failed as a result of metallurgy issues instead. Sorry if I contributed to any confusion there.

However I’m second guessing that thought now, with the new evidence presented of the receiver also cracking.

To your point though- excess headspace does contribute to the impact forces of the case against the bolt face; evidence of this is shown by “false pressure signs” such as brass flow into ejector holes and extractor cuts in loads without high pressure. The impact force may or may not be significant relative to the strength of the bolt, but impact does create higher and sharper forces than normal cartridge ignition.
Note that this is just offered as a detail to consider though; I’m not claiming this is what damaged the OP’s rifle, as I don’t see any evidence to point directly to that cause.
sooooo ... "excess headspace does contribute to the impact forces of the case against the bolt face". I'm going to pose a scenario in order to ask a question. Suppose: the bolt is intact with proper headspace. OP inserts a round with insufficient headspace, say .020 too short. I chose that number because if it was more than 30 thou too short, would the firing pin energize the primer? If it was 10 thou short, the case head would not get much "running start". So 20 thou. Firing pin drops, case slides forward against the extractor, primer fires, pressure builds in the case (because they are closer, side walls first) then the case expands along the case axis shoving the case base to impact the bolt face and starting to push the bullet into the barrel.

You are saying that the mass of the case, accelerated by this pressure, delivered enough additional force - that is, more force than normal - to shear off the bolt lugs? Please explain how that works?
 
Hi,

First - we do not have Proof House requirements here in the USA.
Second - proof rounds are typically 125% of CIP standards.
For example 308Win the CIP proof round is 75,275 psi with Piezo pressure.
SAAMI says max pressure for 308Win is 62k.

Sincerely,
Theis
Okay, not 150%, 121 percent. However, that is avoiding the question. I was trying to understand the mechanics of how excess headspace causes bolt lugs to shear off. For the purpose of discussion, I assert that a cartridge that is too short (when measured from base to datum) will not generate pressure sufficient to cause this specific bolt head failure. I make this assertion so that smart guys like you can show me the error of my ways. I'm trying to learn something.

In the mid-1990s I made a little reloading mistake. I was loading 300 win mag with H1000 and 200 SMKs. I set my scale incorrectly and threw charges of 84 grains - 10 grains too hot. Because I was new to the game and didn't understand what was happening I fired three rounds - the rifle didn't blow up. After the third round I had to hammer the bolt open but the cases didn't fail and the bolt and receiver lugs were fine and they still are. Why is the situation above explained by excessive headspace? Is there some sort of shock factor? Is the kinetic energy of the moving case head that much greater? Does the initial movement then sudden stop cause powder detonation? How does it work?
 
Okay, not 150%, 121 percent.

Parliamentary point of order - you're mixing standards. A CIP proof cartridge is 125% of CIP standard pressure (which is 4150 bar, or 60,2k psi).

Also, in the event of a case head separation due to excessive headspace, not only is there the force of the (now broken) case to consider, but there is also the hot combustion gases that are allowed to flow around the separated case walls and back to the bolt face during the acceleration of the bullet.
 
sooooo ... "excess headspace does contribute to the impact forces of the case against the bolt face". I'm going to pose a scenario in order to ask a question. Suppose: the bolt is intact with proper headspace. OP inserts a round with insufficient headspace, say .020 too short. I chose that number because if it was more than 30 thou too short, would the firing pin energize the primer? If it was 10 thou short, the case head would not get much "running start". So 20 thou. Firing pin drops, case slides forward against the extractor, primer fires, pressure builds in the case (because they are closer, side walls first) then the case expands along the case axis shoving the case base to impact the bolt face and starting to push the bullet into the barrel.

You are saying that the mass of the case, accelerated by this pressure, delivered enough additional force - that is, more force than normal - to shear off the bolt lugs? Please explain how that works?

No. Please go back and read the last line of my post that you quoted. I'm not interested in debating anything with someone putting words in my mouth. I offered an explanation of what headspace does; please read the entire thing before trying to argue about it.
 
In the mid-1990s I made a little reloading mistake. I was loading 300 win mag with H1000 and 200 SMKs. I set my scale incorrectly and threw charges of 84 grains - 10 grains too hot.
A great reason to always strive for 100% case fill when selecting powder. Consistent and safe. The people who taught me reloading left out all of the important parts and taught me a bunch of junk that I had to forget.
 
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sooooo ... "excess headspace does contribute to the impact forces of the case against the bolt face". I'm going to pose a scenario in order to ask a question. Suppose: the bolt is intact with proper headspace. OP inserts a round with insufficient headspace, say .020 too short. I chose that number because if it was more than 30 thou too short, would the firing pin energize the primer? If it was 10 thou short, the case head would not get much "running start". So 20 thou. Firing pin drops, case slides forward against the extractor, primer fires, pressure builds in the case (because they are closer, side walls first) then the case expands along the case axis shoving the case base to impact the bolt face and starting to push the bullet into the barrel.

You are saying that the mass of the case, accelerated by this pressure, delivered enough additional force - that is, more force than normal - to shear off the bolt lugs? Please explain how that works?

Think of someone punching you in the back of your head, vs pushing the back of your head and which one do you think would hurt more.

Whether or not that's what happened, or whether or not it would be enough to bust off the lugs I don't know, but that's the gist of what you are asking be explained to you.

Edited to add: .007 headspace shouldn't even smoke brass like that, let alone an entire action.