Bullet Feeding?

[DanH]

I took my PTR apart tonight for a good cleaning and was closely inspecting the bullet feed ramp or lack there of. This may be a noob question, but I was curious why the feed design of the bullet entering the chamber is so crude?

When I chamber a round, every once in a while I will extract it just to look at the round and often find that the tip of the bullet is dinged (Especially with lead tipped bullets), a long scratch along the bullet as it exited the magazine and scraped its way into the chamber and the brass sometimes looks slightly scratched and dented.

I would imagine that the more dings and scratches on the bullet before being fired aren't exactly going to help accuracy, so Im really curious as to why these guns were given such a crude feeding design? Or being that its a battle rifle, thats the nature of the beast?

Is there a diagram or something that shows exactly how the bullet travels into the chamber? Looking at the base of the barrel on the inside, it appears as though the bullet could easily get stuck if it weren't exactly lined up in the center of the barrel for entry...

But it continues to feed bullets every single time with no issues to speak of so someone smarter than me did there homework when they designed this fine weapon.

[hunter_la5]

Iso Im really curious as to why these guns were given such a crude feeding design? Or being that its a battle rifle, thats the nature of the beast?

I imagine that's your answer right there - this is a battle rifle, not a precision sniper weapon

[DanH]

I imagine that's your answer right there - this is a battle rifle, not a precision sniper weapon

Then how is the PSG-1 different?

[rustypirate]

The PSG1 is manufactured to much higher tollerances.

The receiver is modified and stiffened, the barrel is different as well as the cocking tube and handguard attachment.

I am not even going to go into the trigger modifications.

Basically the round tilt upwards slightly as they are stripped from the mag and the bullet roughly aligns with the chamber. By the time the round is stripped completely loose from the mag lips the bullet is already part way down the chamber and the rest of the cartridge follows along. The height of the magazine is fairly critical, which is why there is a lip or protrusion on the trunion that matches with a notch on the front of the magazines. This sets the front of the mag at precisely the right height to feed reliably.

Any one here who had had mag well dimension problems with the older Century rifles can attest to the feed issues when the mag is either riding too high, or too low.

[DanH]

The PSG1 is manufactured to much higher tollerances.

The receiver is modified and stiffened, the barrel is different as well as the cocking tube and handguard attachment.

I am not even going to go into the trigger modifications.

Basically the round tilt upwards slightly as they are stripped from the mag and the bullet roughly aligns with the chamber. By the time the round is stripped completely loose from the mag lips the bullet is already part way down the chamber and the rest of the cartridge follows along. The height of the magazine is fairly critical, which is why there is a lip or protrusion on the trunion that matches with a notch on the front of the magazines. This sets the front of the mag at precisely the right height to feed reliably.

Any one here who had had mag well dimension problems with the older Century rifles can attest to the feed issues when the mag is either riding too high, or too low.

I appreciate that info, thank you

[rustypirate]

No problem......



that is what they keep me around here for.

[rustypirate]

Well, that and my sharp wit.