Headspace- whats too big and what can be done?

Yer #### is gonna fall off! :evil:

My shorty that I bought last week mic'ed at 15 thou... 1.645" and I'm still with a ####. I think....

These are battle rifles. Get used to it.

ALL of my USGI M14 rifles were OVER 1.645" chambers or 15 thou over the 1.630" GO gauge.

Wanna obtain a smaller chamber to prevent #### loss? Buy yourself a Criterion barrel and have a gunsmith install it and cut the chamber really tight to have the bolt close on the 1.630" GO gauge. Now you don't have to buy a USGI bolt (save them for ME :D ) and you have a great barrel.

Hey, I might just drive my VStrom 650 up to Epps in Orillia this afternoon and buy that M1A Criterion barrel that they got for $ 359

So almost all of the Norc M14's we mic'ed (the fired brass) at the Fredericton, NB clinic were 15 thou. No big deal.

Cheers,
Barney
 
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offgrid said:
Had a no-go in the rifle today (634) and put in a lead pellet which added another 12 giving the rifle a total headspace of 646 which seems to be a little over nato spec. Can anything be done to close the gap so to speak? Ive heard USGI bolts will do the trick but they seem to be the same cost as the rifle almost!

From what I have searched on t e forum Go for 308 is 1.630 (matchgrade) NoGO is 1.634 with NATO being NoGO 1.645

Thanks in advance for all replies!
Click to expand...
I had this issue and there is a certain CGNer out here who has the tools to add materail to it then re-harden it to spec's. It was a very timely process and costly too. This is why certain CGNer's all ways tell you to buy 2 because you can mix and match the parts and some time improve your situation dramticaly. Just like swaping piston's in your gas assembely some bolt's will improve your head space while other's might enlarge it.
As for this rifle that you are talking about I would probaly never reload for it and would just use it either for spare parts or for fun.
Just my 2 cent's.
 
15 thou at Hungry's clinic and 400 rounds later I still appear to have a ####, so no worries. Just shoot the sh-t out of it. 350 bucks will fix the "problem", but it will also buty a crap load of ammo....know what I'd do....bang,bang.....:)
 
Sher....now he tell's us!...Yuk Yuk!

Last year I bought a USGI bolt. Was tight getting it in...but using the plastigage and the go gauge, mine is now about 1.6315". I got so excited I bought springs and op-rod too - Well I lie a bit...there was this teensy little issue of incompatibility of the Nork op-rod to the new bolt.

All is good now though.
 
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