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Thanks for the warning, 9ThreeXFifty7! It is a factor I'm acutely aware of in dealing with Ross rifles in general. It's easy enough to tell whether the bolt is assembled correctly and the locking lugs are camming into the recesses, but all it takes is one moment of absentmindednessfor disaster to strike.

I'm a little leery of straight pull rifles in general, although I have never heard anything negative about the Swiss M-31 and the Steyr Mannlicher rifles. A while back there was a story on the internet about a Lee Navy 6mm rifle blowing up and killing the shooter, but an eye-witness report led me to conclude that the shooter was using cases with insufficient neck clearance, which could wreck the strongest of actions.

A number of low-numbered Springfields and Model 95 Winchesters in caliber .30-'06 were wrecked by shooters attempting to fire 8X57 Mauser ammunition (presumably WWI bring-backs) in them. Some of the chambers were loose enough to allow the action to close and the round to fire, but, of course, there was insufficient neck clearance to release the bullet.

It's always a good idea to check fired cases to determine that a bullet will easily slide into the expanded neck. If not, neck turning or reaming is called for.

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