Who here or who here knows someone that has had a problem with the gas handling of a pre64? It is mentioned frequently, but I have yet to personally hear of any accidents. Then again admittedly my world is a small one.
If the design is such that it can happen, no doubt the possibility exits. However, I have yet to hear of any actual events that caused harm. Certainly it seems to me at least it would be an infrequent or rare occurrence and a nonexistent event using new or properly reloaded ammo.
Who here knows of any adverse events? Lawsuits? I mean it's not like only a few bullets have been sent down the barrels of pre64 Model 70s.
A quite well-known biologist up here almost lost the eyesight in his right eye when a pre-64 model 70 in 7X57 had a case rupture, right at the extractor cutout in the barrel.
He spent some time in the hospital, and a long time recovering. I know both him and the gunsmith who inspected the rifle, and we discussed the incident at the time, and several other occasions since.
The stock, a gorgeous piece of highly figured walnut, was wrecked, but the barrelled action was unscathed. The 'smith removed the barrel, and determined that the extractor cut was machined too deeply into the chamber. It worked just fine for a while, but eventually a case wall let go.
Evidently, the gas was so freely released that no damage was done to any of the metal parts at all. He had the rifle rebarrelled and restocked and continues to use it to this day.
Ted
