When were your “clickers” first diagnosed?

[dellet]

It's not always over pressure, can be an undersized chamber. I guess in truest sense it was over pressure for Lapua brass matched to a Cooper 6.5x284 cut chamber. I know of 3 different Cooper 6.5x284's that had bad clickers after 1 firing. Clicker might be under-estimating the force to open bolt. Moderate/light loads as well. A small base die worked to keep it manageable. Different reamer and problem solved.

Actually a link was below titled "Chamber issue causing clickers"
https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/chamber-issue-causing-clickers.4051143/

There are plenty of ways to cause the problem, whether it’s a tight chamber, brass fired in another chamber that holds that memory, a neck that’s too long and jams into the bore(found that one fire forming without a bullet), abnormalities in a chamber like a ring or heavy scratch that brass flows into. All of them require pressure, some less than others.

But yes, it is possible to be under max book pressure and still have an extraction problem. That’s when over pressure for that combination needs to be explored and corrected or reduce the max pressure for the combination.

 

[dellet]

Generally, benchrest shooters' chambers are cut with custom designed reamers. The key to keeping away from clickers is not to have the back of the chamber be too small compared to an unfired case. Years ago, I knew a guy who built beautiful rifles for himself. He confided in me that he had once ordered a reamer that was slightly smaller at the back,thinking that it might improve accuracy, it didn't but it did cause a clicker problem. Factory chambers are so large in the body that if you are FL sizing you are unlikely to have a clicker. Where people get into trouble is specifying their reamer just a little too small at the back.

This seems to be the normal pattern of development. Refine the product, increase performance, reduce tolerances to the point of failure then back off.

Modern engines with computer driven cam and valve timing need specific weight oils to operate correctly. They are so refined and over engineered that simply using the wrong weight oil can be problematic. Normal wear and tear increasing clearances, while dropping oil pressure using 0 weight oils has probably made 300,000 mile engines a thing of the past. It used to be unheard of for a Honda to need an engine at 150,000. Now it’s pretty common.

 

[Webster]

“Clickers” seems to be the newest plague keeping shooters from a perfect score. I think I even read a post where a follow up shot on a beer can was missed because the 22 LR bolt clicked causing the shot to be missed at 5 yards.

A quick search of the forum shows almost no mention of “clicker” before 2000. Did Covid or more likely the vaccine cause a “clicker” epidemic? Was it a hidden side effect of too much time reading forums during the lock down?

Yes l, I understand what it is and that it’s real, but most of the posts around 2000 that mention “clicker” also include “what is a”.

Was it a conspiracy between die makers and sponsored shooters to drive people away from neck sizing only and promote full length bushing dies gathering dust on the shelves?

It just seems unlikely that a problem that has been around as long as bottle neck cartridges was only diagnosed and named a few years ago without financial gains in mind. Maybe it’s just a popular thing to suffer from among shooters, kind of like having a trans kid in other circles?

Just a random question to think about as winter sets in. I know that a certain amount of new “clickers” and a few “clunkers” will set in when I get more active again in the spring. Hopefully my rifle is better immunized than my body.

Enjoy the day

Tony Boyers book published in 2010 talks about clickers. It only takes one person mentioning clickers to get 500 replies on this website.