Rifle Headspace

[stanley75]

I have some C&R bolt action rifles that won't close on a go and no-go gauge. How safe is it to shoot these rifles? And how hard is it to fix?

[law4fun]

What kind of rifles? MN headspace can usually be changed by changing out the bolt head till you get one that allows HS to check good. Mausers, I believe, are a different deal.
Let us know.
Jim

[bookertbab]

Originally posted by Stanley:
<STRONG>I have some C&R bolt action rifles that won't close on a go and no-go gauge. How safe is it to shoot these rifles? And how hard is it to fix?</STRONG>

Well first off you don't want it to close on a no-go guage. If it won't close on a go guage thats different, and a little unusual. If I were you I would take it to the range and see if it will chamber a round, if it will shoot it.

One thing, did you remove the extractor before you checked the HS? If not remove it and try again.

[sledgehammer]

Be sure the chamber is clean and free of any obstruction before you check headspace. It is very unusual that a bolt wouldn't close on a go gauge unless the rifle has been rebarreled.

[gunnut1]

OK, Randy and I have talked about this but I would like some more opinions.

I understand that you are supposed to remove the extractor. What if you don't know how to remove the extractor. I bring to your attention the SKS and the SVT Tokerav rifle.
I have headspace gages for both of these calibers. I was unable to remove the extractor from the SKS and couldn't figure out how to remove it from the Tokerav. What I did was simply put the headspace gage under the extractor. Is the a good thing to do? They both headspaced OK doing this way.

[W.E.G.]

Do this at the range (not your basement).

Insert a live round in your mystery gun. Note how the bolt closes (or won't close). If it won't close, I don't think you need to be told not to shoot it.

If the bolt DOES CLOSE, measure the overall length with a caliper. Add a layer of tape to the bottom of the round. Measure again. Repeat until the bolt won't close. Do the math.

Make a decision as to how much slop in the chamber you can live with.

Isn't that what it comes down to?

[hsp223]

This is not that rare in the Turk model 38's. Bolts were removed from the rifle for storage. When issued a bolt was grabed from a pile for each rifle. If your guns are mausers, be sure to remove the firing pin assembly and extractor. Both can be done without tools and it only takes a second or two. If your headspace is short then see if it will chamber a round, if it soes then shoot it, if it doesn't then see about a replacement bolt.

[bookertbab]

If your looking for opinions about removing the extractor I would say you should remove it. But I have heard of people using the method of sliding the HS guage under the extractor, and if your careful that will probably work.