Rossimp,
As much as I respect Wooters work and have enjoyed his writing, looking at primers and brass is not an accurate means of determining pressure. Other means are now available to writers which are accepted as reasonably accurate. IIRC, Linebaugh's penetration tests were conducted in wet newspaper which is a questionable test medium.
416 Rem Mag runs 62k psi to make 2400fps, 12% less case capacity of the Taylor can't be good.
When Wooters wrote the article, looking at primers and brass were pretty standard indicators of pressure at the time. As you mentioned, we now know that isn't necessarily the case so I'm not sure what you're getting at. I've never had any indication of high pressure with mine. As others said, SAAMI spec ammo is/was available for standard loads.
What is questionable about wet newspaper as a test medium? So long as all else is equal, results can be compared. John didn't use wet newspaper to try and simulate flesh, although we did place cattle bones several inches behind the first layers at times to see the results. Funny thing is, wet newspaper does give an indication of bullet performance and penetration capabilities.
My Taylor is built on a CZ BRNO Mauser. I shot it for years with the steel butt plate on the original stock before I finally had Randy Selby finish it with a nice piece of wood and a two position model 70 type safety. I've made brass out of everything from 7mm Rem Mag to .458 Win Mag brass. I've shot mostly cast bullets through it. It's good for 500 yard steel silhouettes on a regular basis. It's a handy little rifle and fun to shoot.
