Thread: The lightening project

Originally Posted by Stocky

I wouldn't. Doing an analysis on hoop stress shows most rifles have a factor of safety well into 5x. A contender barrel is only 20.5mm and has 2 tig welds and 2 scope mount holes right over the chamber areas. Even looking at ar15 or ar10 barrel extensions gives an idea how much "extra" is in most actions. With careful consideration it can be done. Even with huge overpressure loads failures usually occur via barrel splitting vs actions failure. I usually use a kimber as a safe minimum dimensions and they are significantly smaller than a tikka.

The one thing we haven’t got in NZ , is a proof house to actually properly test some of those experiments. I had my experience with contenders, notably a 45/70 in a pistol with high pressure loads , where the barrel would break in during the shot and expell the hot shell into your forehead. Yes, the system did not fail but showed its limit on how fare it could go.
There is a reason why you won’t see one chambered in anything past a low pressure 45/70 or 444 marlin .
As soon as you go down to 223 type cases, you reduce the pressure area and the gun can handle more , no doubt about it.
Another thing to take into account, is the material, it seems that chrome moly is better at handling high pressure than stainless ( with the two properly heat treated of course), so maybe more chances for a stainless tikka receiver to fail where a chrome moly one would have made it ( specially in sub zero temperature where the stainless get more brittle . How do I know? I used to personally know the barrel maker for accuracy international. He explained to me why he expressly recommended not to use stainless barrel for Arctic warfare weapons. When two of his barrels fails in those conditions there was a quick change of direction. )
But hey, if the gunsmith and the user are confident in the product , and nothing wrong happens…. Then all is good. Maybe I am worrying too much.