I was just looking at the new extractor design on my 223 bbl and noticed something disturbing (To me anyway).
The thickness under the roll pin at the bottom of the lug is only .035". That's pretty dang thin considering the force that can be applied here by a falling bbl, with this point being so close to the pivot point. The roll pin is hard, the bbl lug rather soft. Hmmm....
Looking at my three ejector bbls, I notice that there is some spring tension that softens the blow at this point before the roll pin bottoms out on the hole in the lug as the ejector trips (This is absent with the extractor bbl). Also, the hole in the ejector-equipped bbl lugs is .260, making the area at the bottom of the lug at the hole somewhat stronger than the .312 hole in the extractor-equipped lug. I'm wondering why they made this hole so large, since it would work fine with a smaller hole if it was moved about .030" higher on the lug. This would make the bottom of the lug more sturdy.
Bottom line is, I wouldn't be too aggressive in opening the action on the new extractor-equipped barrels (If yours is machined similar to mine). I'm pretty sure that the area under the roll pin will deform downward in time with rough handling.
Just my opinion of course. Maybe my bbl lug is machined thinner than others(?)
