I read the above and tried again to figure it out.
I was wondering how the gas could be it, as I have had (3) Mauser extractors blow out in the last year. The C ring just concentrates pressure on the extractors.
The sights are soldered on. They can't change that.
I can't be for headspace, because that must precede clocking the sights.
Then it came to me.
The barrel shoulder and large ring are so stiff, when they touch, the headspace does not change with more torque. All the twisting just increases the thread crush.
They want to set the headspace, and clock the sights on a jig.
They want inner C ring compliance + thread crush compliance so the barrels are on tight when the sights are straight up.
THAT is why they made an inner C ring, it is for interchangeable barrels with sights that clock.
I wondered how they got those barrels to clock, but I never counted ALL the variables before.
Thanks guys.