Remington 581

[Red Cent]

I have one. I have added the second action screw. I have pillar bedded the screws. I have bedded a couple of inches of barrel in front of the receiver.

I am aware that this is a pressed fit and pinned barrel.

Here is where ignorance steps into the matter.

I want to decrease the headspace. A 22lr rim has a nominal thickness of .040. I want to get the headspace to .043.

I am aware the headspace will be determined by the bolt/lugs. I am also aware of the possibility of shimming.

Someone take it from there.

 

[Old Dog Man]

Reducing headspace on 581

You could make a shim that fits between the forward part (non-rotating) of the bolt and the rear section (bolt handle) part. That would decrease the headspace, you can use a feeler guage between the two bolt halves to see how much you can reduce it and have the bolt still close. Setting the barrel back, you would have to drill new pin holes in the reciever and barrel to repin them. If you go that route and have a mill you could repin them. Shimming works and is eiser to do. Why are you wanting to reduce the headspace, are you having misfires? Or is it something you just want to do? Al

 

[Old Dog Man]

581 Headspace

Forgot to tell you the shim will look like a washer when finished. Al

 

[Red Cent]

Some here want to start a "mini" F class competition. I bought this rifle 30 years ago and it is in very good condition. My research shows that they come from the factory a little loose on headspace.

Since the 22lr has a nominal rim thickness of .040 . I want to achieve a .043. Research shows they run from .037 to .042.

First, how do you measure the HS and, second, how do you shim?

 

[NCsmitty]

I want to decrease the headspace. A 22lr rim has a nominal thickness of .040. I want to get the headspace to .043.

I'm curious how you consider going from .040" to .043" as reducing headspace. If you increase the distance between the bolt face and the inner face of the rim chamber by .003", you are essentially increasing the headspace.

If you want more depth to the rim chamber, then a modified reamer will do that, and the simple method to increase the bolt face to the inner rim chamber distance is to shim the barrel tang to receiver face, out with a .003" shim in between.

Is this what you're thinking?


NCsmitty

 

[Old Dog Man]

22 Headspace

I think what he's saying NC is the rim on a 22 shell is .040" and he want's to go to .043" to have a .003" headspace between the shell and the bolt face (I think). Which he can do by shimming between the 2 part bolt. Al

 

[Red Cent]

Looks like my response ain't written too well. I am looking to reduce headspace since most 581s are loose.

Articles on the internet state that the 22lr rim thickness runs from 37 to 42 with a nominal thickness of 40. I would guess the Eley and other match ammo runs the 40.

I have not shot the 581 for a long time. They suggest that I measure the rim thickness on a round, fire it and measure again. Profound.

My 10-22 was easy to take the headspace from .048 down to .043. Have never done a bolt.

I do not want to redo the pinning of the barrel. Tempted to drop the money on a 40X if I cannot make the 581 into the proverbial tack driver.

 

[Old Dog Man]

581 project

When you put a feeler guage in between the 2 part bolt, you are pushing the front part forward decreasing the headspace. I have done this on several old Rem. bolts and it works just fine. Just fixwd a 514 Target a couple of months ago. You couldn't tell the shim was there but it fired every time afterwards. My 581 has been fired many-many rounds and only missfires on bad shells. If you want to recut the crown that may help also. Mine has 2 screws in action, glassbedded actoin, floated barrel and barrel recrowned, shoots ragged hole at 50yrds, mine is clip fed. Al

 

[Fleet]

I just did this on an old Marlin 80DL. Take a look at these:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#round-shims/=gnjcij

Order the correct OD and thickness, work with a Dremel on the ID, and it worked perfectly. The problem the Marlin had was there was so much space between a chambered cartridge and the bolt face, it wouldn't fire at all.

 

[Red Cent]

Thanks fellas. You too, Fleet. Will report later.

 

[Old Dog Man]

Shimming bolt

Those peel shims should work great, I had S.S. shims on hand and cut it with scissors, then trimmed on bench grinder to fit. Al