Short Headspace

[Doug Casner]

I thought a long time ago if you cant do it yourself or have a buddy that knows what hes doing. Your screwed. Had a buddy like that, hes gone now. Im screwed. Doug

 

[6MMsteve]

Time to read the room here.

The OP has a factory stock rifle action, and he supplied the barrel, which I am assuming to be an after-market 308. He states he tried to do the barrel replacement in the past and quit due to vise issues.

He supplied parts and go/no go.

He wanted a SAAMI set up, and gave parts to do the same.

Instead he got a BUBBA.

He doesn't need to adjust dies, or measure bullets, or fire cartridges to reach his (apparent) objective...a SAAMI set up, safe, functional and within norms. He just needs a vise and some help putting together his "nut and barrel" set-up using the go/no go.

So, I agree with his stated intent: Buy a good vise, get some tutalage on using it to properly de-nut and re-nut (I couldn't resist) his Savage and he should be good to go.

He needs advice on a good vise. Any takers?

A good 6 inch vice will work fine, anything that will move will do,,Harbor freight will do the job all day

 

[CharlieNC]

A good 6 inch vice will work fine, anything that will move will do,,Harbor freight will do the job all day

If this still uses a nut it should be relatively easy to remove vs the factory gorilla torqued barrel, esp if blued.

 

[bsekf]

If you are not using a certified go/no go set you are creating a wildcat. In your case you might get a case head separation because the headspace is too long >.005. But don't worry your cases will fireform to your chamber and you will have to dedicate them to that rifle/barrel. However, you may not be able to use store bought ammo. All Thompson Center contenders and Encores have a unique hs because of the barrel frame gap.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I took the gun with the Go and NoGo gauges back to the gunsmith, and told him I need the headspace set with the gauges I provided. I then said I wanted my action back I dropped off weeks ago. This action I wanted him to take off the burned out 243 barrel and ream it out to the 6mm Remington reamer that I provided. I'm going to find another competed gunsmith but it just seems like they are hard to come by.

Has your barrel's headspace been corrected yet?

 

[wyshadow]

Has your barrel's headspace been corrected yet?

I dropped the gun off yesterday so I should know if it's been done correctly in about 3 weeks

 

[DShortt]

Good Lord. 3 week wait to correct a mistake. That's ridiculous. You should be a top priority.

Did you speak with the shop owner about this?

 

[wyshadow]

Did you speak with the shop owner about this?

Only one person that works there and that's the owner.
I'm not getting my hopes up he's going to fix his mistake quick. Not sure if he's going to take 3 weeks but I'm giving him until next Thursday. If it's not done correctly, I'm asking for my money back and will give him a terrible google review and will tell everyone here his business. Just don't want anyone to go through this joker's hoops.
I try to be as nice as I can to everyone but if my limit is reached, you'll wish you never met me.

 

[DShortt]

Only one person that works there and that's the owner

Wow. Well I won't beat a dead horse.

 

[wyshadow]

Ok. All is good now. I must have lit a fire under his ass because he finally did what I asked him to do. I have the savage back and the headspace is set right.

 

[Dgd6mm]

Good deal, glad to hear it.

 

[DW T or C]

I wonder if he was aware, or was made aware, of the conversation happening here concerning his ways?

 

[DShortt]

Ok. All is good now. I must have lit a fire under his ass because he finally did what I asked him to do. I have the savage back and the headspace is set right.

Hopefully you received a sincere apology and he's learned something as well. Should have never happened. I'd still take my future work elsewhere.

 

[Will Henry]

If you provided the gauges, he should damn sure have used the GO gauge to set the headspace. Specs matter. WH

 

[wyshadow]

I wonder if he was aware, or was made aware, of the conversation happening here concerning his ways?

I don't think so because as I was checking the headspace with the gauges, he explained the reason why he used Federal Gold Match bullets for headspacing is to get as tight tolerance as you can get. He said he does this with all his AR builds because if you set the HS as loose as the gauges, the bullet will explode out of the chamber and into your face. He warned if this happened with this gun, he wasn't responsible.
I didn't want to argue with him and thought he was full of crap.

 

[DShortt]

I don't think so because as I was checking the headspace with the gauges, he explained the reason why he used Federal Gold Match bullets for headspacing is to get as tight tolerance as you can get. He said he does this with all his AR builds because if you set the HS as loose as the gauges, the bullet will explode out of the chamber and into your face. He warned if this happened with this gun, he wasn't responsible.
I didn't want to argue with him and thought he was full of crap.

I don't think he's full of crap. I KNOW he's full of crap.

 

[Downhill]

I guess if you plan on running factory ammo I can see the problem. But on my 6 BR's, I have sized a Lapua case with my die, filled it with JB Weld and set my chambers to this dimension, "zero headspace". Might be doing it wrong but shoot itty bitty groups and Don't have any case issues.

 

[Riesel]

I don't think so because as I was checking the headspace with the gauges, he explained the reason why he used Federal Gold Match bullets for headspacing is to get as tight tolerance as you can get. He said he does this with all his AR builds because if you set the HS as loose as the gauges, the bullet will explode out of the chamber and into your face. He warned if this happened with this gun, he wasn't responsible.
I didn't want to argue with him and thought he was full of crap.

And this guy calls himself a "Gunsmith?" Put me in the flabbergasted column