Rebarreling several Sako M995s I couldn't help notice how thin the receiver ring wall thickness is compared to other actions.

My measurements are with thread depth subtracted.

M98 Mauser .161
Rem. M700 .156
Win M70 .174
Sako M995 top & sides .079 bottom .119

What make the Sako M995 so thin is that the top & sides are ground flat. Not to mention those two dove tail cuts making the receiver even thinner at those two points.

Just seems thin to me especially when this is in the huge 7.21 Lazzeroni firebird cartridge.

Makes for a light action. You only need enough material to hold the barrel. You want to see thin, look at a Ruger No 1 barrel tenon chambered for a 378 Wby cased cartridge.

Very interesting- where does this put the "thin" thing in regards to other discussions on this topic concerning other receivers, I wonder.

To wit, has anyone ever seen a small ring Mauser like a '96 blown up, or the small ring '98?

Just askin'.

That Sako does indeed look thin.

quote:

To wit, has anyone ever seen a small ring Mauser like a '96 blown up, or the small ring '98?

Just askin'.

Yep - I've seen a Swedish Mauser that was REALLY blown up. Big chunks blown out of the receiver ring,extractor gone, magazine etc blown out, side rails broken, stock (plastic) smashed to bits.

Mind you - the reason for the blow-up was a 6.5 X 55 case full of shotgun powder instead of H4831! I don't know WHAT actions might be capable of withstanding that sort of abuse.

I understand that the shooter suffered only very minor injuries, which says a lot for the basic soundness of the Mauser design.

The action ring simply holds the barrel in place. It does not serve as a pressure containment vessel. To the extent that it's thinness might result in excessive elasticity, that would come in the fore-aft dimension, not annularly. In other words, the weak point of a thin action ring would be in allowing the barrel and bolt face to separate slightly at peak pressure due to the thin receiver ring stretching. I'm not sure how thin a receiver ring would have to be for this to become a performance problem, but it appears that whatever dimension that is, it is something thinner than that of the TRG-s M995 Sako.

D Humbarger: How do you bed this action, meaning what do you use for a recoil lug? The factory system being simply a dovetail cut in the underside of the action for a corresponding "lump" of synthetic stock material to fit into seems like a weak point, although it seems to work okay with the factory stock. Do you use a Rem 700-type washer?

I suggested useing a remington style recoil lug but the customer wants to stay with the factory recoil lug system.

I guess that's okay if you stay with the factory stock. If using a custom stock it would seem almost impossible to replicate the bedding "lump" of stock material, but maybe you could mould it with bedding compound or some other kind of epoxy.