Yes, my OP was almost entirely tongue in cheek. I did wince at apparently intact milsurp rifles being blown up, but I understand Mr. Wieland's right to blow up his own guns if he wants to.
Actually, it was a useful bit of experimentation regarding the importance (or not) of the third lug in retaining the bolt as a rifle self-destructs. Because I have several pre-'98 Mausers in my accumulation, his results were a a comfort.
Still, there were only so many Swedish Mausers ever built and it seems heartless to go blowing them up.
And even the P14/M17s that were made in a quantity of three or four million are getting a lot harder to find complete in original form. The industry that has been built on remachining those actions and using them for custom rifles in magnum chamberings, as well as a horde of Bubba's whose first thoughts were "Those sight ears have to go!", has made any intact P14 or M17 a prize.
Oh well, those were his own rifles, it was all in the name of science, etc. But it was published as entertainment as well as intellectual elucidation and I, for one, would have been better entertained and equally enlightened if Terry had at least removed the stock before blowing up that M96 and maybe swapped for a less intact M17 action instead of blowing up one with ears intact. So, as the target of the firearms periodical publishing industry - a Gun Reader - I have to give that article an A or A- for knowledgeable inquiry and a C- for entertainment.
No big deal, not a rousing condemnation, just a comment in passing.
By the way: Yes! That was a great issue of Rifle magazine.
