Replies

I'm curious about the SASS.... is it possible to seat out bullets for accuracy ("almost" engaging lands) and STILL have them fit into the magazine of the SASS? Also, what's the twist rate of the barrel? I'm going to "guess" that it's a 1:10". :-)

Good guess, it's 1:10.

I'm not sure what the maximum cartridge length could be, but it still has to feed through the magazine with enough space left for dimensional tolerances. I'm sure custom rifle makers make clients sign a waiver that they're buying something with minimum dimensions all around, and accept sole responsibility for what they put in the chamber.

I notice that Smith Enterprises offers the M14 SASS with a 1:10 twist, chambered for the M118LR Special Ball round. Without having dimensional drawings in front of me, all I can guess is some dimensions are held about .0005 smaller, with smaller allowable deviation. They still have to guard against potential damage from max-dimension ball ammo used in it.

If push comes to shove, I'll ask some 240G gunner if I can feed my baby on a bit of his ball ammo.

I figured it was 1:10. That's very common and stabilizes bullets from "about" 130gr up to "about" 180gr, but you have to send them down the bore VERY fast (i.e. - MAX load!) at the heavier weights in order to stabilize! I'm not so sure I would subject an SASS to that sort of potential abuse! I know I wouldn't if it were mine! :-)

The reason I asked about free-bore, and cartridges fitting into the magazine is because of a common technique. It involves using a "marker" to determine the exact seating depth of a bullet to where the ogive JUST makes contact with the lands of the barrel outside the chamber. It's a way of minimizing free-bore and it gives the projectile VERY little chance of going off concentric before engaging with the lands and grooves. The big problem with this technique and "most" semi auto, box magazine fed rifles is that completed, custom seated ammo RARELY fits into the magazine! So you're left with very, VERY accurate ammo that won't fit into the magazine because the max overall cartridge length has been FAR exceeded!

I've read that semi autos can be built which lack enough freebore in order to custom seat ammo, and still allow the completed cartridge to fit into a magazine, but I can't recall having seen a stock rifle made this way. From what I've read, it's like this (from the factory) in order to digest a wide range of ammo. Having a cartridge slightly too long could "possibly" cause firing out of battery, and NOBODY wants to go through that! :-)

Our FAL is the same way...we can't seat bullets out far enough and still load the completed cartridges into the magazines. They sure were accurate though!...one at a time! :-)