I never had the extraction issue that you are having with your blr but I've broke the action gears twice. Mine was .308 win. I could only get 3 reloads out of a case and they looked like they would separate. I was using a fairly light load and partial sizing. It wasn't a fault of the resizing die because I never had that problem with other .308's.
I wasn’t really having a problem. It was just user error. I have never heard of the action gears breaking. I do not like the sound of that at all!
Rock Chucker, for bench use try cocking the hammer first before working the lever. Most of the initial resistance is cocking the hammer.
That’s a very good idea. My problem is I was racking the lever like a girl, lol. If I just rack the slide I’ve learned everything is fine.
