ugh, the force is exerted in "pounds per square inch"-- when the size of the bolt face is increased then its "square inches"(area) goes up so the force goes up--its a fairly simple calculation but thats why I posted the Wikipedia link to show the actual factual data of the force exerted on the bolt face/lugs for different bolt face sizes/cartridges
the chamber pressure is not 62000 pounds, its 62000 pounds PER SQUARE INCHES-- so if you had a bolt face of 2 square inches the force would be 124000 pounds, but with a bolt face of only 1 square inch then the force is only 62000 pounds
I'm coming late to the party, and this sort of summarises all the things said here that I don't understand.
Chamber pressure is one thing. Pressure on the bolt face is another. How do you take a gas pressure, which is what the cartridge psi rating is, and make it equivalent to a surface pressure.
The psi rating of the cartridge is not the force against the bolt face. Cartridge pressure and force on the bolt are not related that way.
If the force is transferred to the lugs, the bolt face area is not important, it's the lug area of contact that matters.
When you have larger lugs, or more of them, it spreads the force out more [ less contact pressure, not less chamber pressure ], which is why heavy recoil calibers have bigger lug area, and why Weatherby bolts have so many lugs.
This force on the lugs that is spread out more is all taken up by the action, but at the points of contact of the lugs, the pressure is less per unit area with larger lugs, so as not to overwhelm the tensile stress of the steel.
To refer to Kirby, "The larger the case head size, the lower the breaking point in chamber pressure will be for any receiver" cannot be real, because then our 24 inch battleship guns would have to run at 100 psi.
A .223 has a much higher ratio of lug area to bolt face than a .338 Lapua. That is why it can handle higher chamber pressure before overcoming the tensile stress of the steel.
It does not make the .223 receiver stronger than a .338 Lapua receiver, or the force on a .223 bolt more than on a .338 Lapua.