Checking Headspace on Surplus Rifles

[Kestrel]

I need to steer a friend in the right direction... I've read that it's always good to get the headspace checked on surplus rifles before you shoot them. Approximately how much do gunsmiths charge to check the headspace? It seems it would really add up, if he needed to have about 20 of them checked. (I told him I thought it could be dangerous to fire them without having them checked first.)

I'm assuming this would need to be done on the following?
- Persian Mausers
- Swedish Mausers
- M-N 91/30s
- M1 Garands
- 1903, 1903A3s
- SKSs
- Czech VZ-24s
- I think he has a couple of others he mentioned, but I can't remember what they are.

Do all of you with surplus rifles always get them checked? The gentleman that needs them all checked doesn't have any gauges himself. (He also doesn't seem to realize the danger, if one of the guns is too far out of spec.)

Thanks for any help.

 

[cracked butt]

I have twenty-some milsurps and haven't had a single one checked for headspace, and haven't found a genuine reason why to yet.
The worst that is going to happen is that you get a cashehead seperation. Not a big deal in a mauser 98 or springfield- these rifles handle errant gasses well. A mauser 96 will blow gasses down into the magazine. The base of a case will seal most of the gasses in the chamber and keep them moving forward in the right direction.


mauser 96s- A lot of these rifles will swallow a SAAMI field guage, but would still have perfectly acceptable headspace by A swedish armorer's standards.
http://www.rebooty.com/~dutchman/headspace.html Its pretty unlikely that a 96 would have unsafe headspace unless the previous owner hotrodded the rifle for hundreds of rounds.

Persian rifle- If the bolt serial number matches the receiver, don't even worry about it, many of these rifles were never fired except by the armorers.

VZ-24- of all of the rifles on the list, this is the one I'd worry about the most- many of these rifles had a lot of hard use.


If I een have a question about the condition of a rifle, I put two layers of masking tapeon the bottom of an unfired cartridge, trimming it away from thedges with an exacto knife. Strip off the bolt's extractor and firing pin and try to chamber it using the pressure of one finger. If you can't chamber it without forcing it, you should be ok.

If I'm still questioning a rifle, or the bolt felt a little too easy to close, I take it to the range, sandbag the rifle, cover it with several layers of carpet remnants or rugs and pull the trigger with a string. I do this for about 10 rounds or until I feel comfortable with the rifle. I check for case stretching by using the bent paperclip method plus looking for a shiny ring indicating case stretching beyond normal.


If the headspace is excessive, its still not a big deal- you don't want to pay a gunsmith to set a barrel back on a $200 rifle. Take an unfired case, load it with a minimum load for a bullet that you can jam into the lands (aslightly oversized cast bullet works good for this), lightly lube the case and fire it. The case will contact the bolt face and fireform itself to the chamber rather than sticking to the inside of the chamber and stretching only at the casehead. When you resize this brass, set your sizing die so that it only kisses the shoulder of the case.

Disclaimer: In order that I don't get completely torched while not wearing my nomex underwear, if you aren't really sure about what you are doing, take it to a gunsmith.

To me its not worth the expense.

 

[swingset]

Sandbag the action, fire it, inspect case and look for hard extraction.

If everything's good, enjoy the next 50 years of owning said rifle and forget about it.

 

[Jim Watson]

Agreed, checking headspace in surplus rifles to be shot with surplus ammo is overrated. And usually done wrong. Ackley and Hatcher figured that out years ago.

 

[rbernie]

I've only asked my FLG to check headspace on a MilSurp a couple of times when I was having issues that MIGHT have been related to headspace problems, but both times he did it for free while I stood there. Works for me....

 

[brickboy240]

I own about 20 surplus rifles...alot of the ones mentioned above. The only one I had a headspace problem with was a MkIII Enfield. From my expereince and those of other "milsurpers" I know, the Lee Enfields are the most likely to have excessive headspace problems, but since they have different sized bolt heads that can be bought for cheap, it is easily fixed.

Many times, people mistake backed-out primers on 8mm commercial brass as a headspece problem on many 98K Mausers and their variants. Actually, this is usually caused by underloaded US made factory ammo, not excessive headspace.

If you buy good condition milsurp rifles with matching numbers, headspace issues should not be a problem at all.

-Brickboy240

 

[JNewell]

headspace in surplus rifles to be shot with surplus ammo

Certainly true -- but does not allow for folks using differently-dimensioned and/or thinner commercial brass/ammo in generously-cut chambers (generous both in headspace and in terms of assumed cartridge diameter).

 

[jefnvk]

Call some gunsmiths up. I had two done for free, you may find someone in the area that will do it for free.

I would only worry about it if it were a bringback gun, baut that is just me. Certainly if the M1 and 03 came from CMP or DCM, you are good to go.

 

[Kestrel]

Thanks for all the info. I'll print this out for him, but actually it sounds a lot like what he already does. I guess I've been suckered by the disclaimers of gunwriters over the years always cautioning to have the headspace checked.

Oh - one of the posts here reminded me of a couple of others he has. They are Enfields. (I don't know what kind.)

Anyway, it sounds like he was right after all. Thanks again for all the help. (I learned something!)