Headspacing in a .22 LR matters
Published: August 12th, 2009
Tam reminds us all that even though .22 Long Rifle is a weak cartridge, proper headspacing is still necessary. Case failure can be dangerous with any firearm / cartridge.
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No joke! Blowouts, even in rimfire, can cause serious problems. Most of the time no one will get hurt, but even the (fairly) low pressures in a long rifle case can wreak havoc on parts. As mentioned in the article the same goes for .380 and others considered weak cartridges. And that's just excessive headspace! The opposite can get you in trouble and cause blowouts too, if your headspace is too tight. Remember that anything that can crush the rim will fire it, even the bolt face if there's not enough room between it and the breech end of the barrel for the rim to rest. AR-7s in particular have a tendency to multiple or full-auto, even without overly tight headspace.
I'm surprised the gunsmith mentioned in the article didn't pick up on that before it left the shop. Particularly with Charter made AR-7s, all functionality should be checked before it leaves to ensure safety. Let's face it, Charter's guns weren't exactly the cream of the crop in the 80s and 90s. Maybe I'm just overly thorough, but these are the kind of things every gun in my shop gets checked for.
I remember her. She was the moderator on thefiringline.com and thehighroad.org after tfl folded in the late 1990, IIRC. I believe she started the Molon Labe fade.
The only gun forums I go to now is AR15.com and sometime M4carbine.com. Ar15.com for mostly the general discussion because it is enjoyable reading other people drama.
Anyway I have an AR7. It is not a good rifle. I bought it because it was used in a 007 movie and the design was kind of neat. I have at least one jam per magazine and yes it does go burst or full auto from time to time. I don't shoot it any more because I got tired of all the jams.