Ideal head space for .22 cal bolt gun

[COLT45SA]

I am about to have a tune-up on my early Ruger 77/22 and want the smith to install bolt shims and adjust the headspace if necessary. I'm not a competition shooter, but I shoot a lot of paper and looking to make the rifle as accurate as possible without spending a trainload of money. I currently own several brands and grades within each brand of ammo and will be testing to see which my gun prefers.

 

[GLShooter]

Rimfire Central would be the place I'd look.

 

[whatsupdoc]

I am far from a 22 expert but while the headspace is important the barrel and the
chamber are also important.

Different brands of ammo have different rim thickness so you really need
to decide on what ammo first, then adjust the headspace to match that ammo.

I asked Voodoo and they told me they headspace to .043.

 

[Walt Krafft]

More important than headspace is the throat dimensions. That is a rabbit hole of epic size. Jump in at your own risk.

 

[ggshoots]

I set a tight .043 but you have to remember if wanting to shoot everything through that rifle some ammo may be very tight. I usually chamber for Lapua Center X and then Midas works as well. Sk will be right behind but a little tight. That is with a modified 52D chamber reamer. You may have to polish out the chamber to be able to run a lot of other ammo such as CCI, Aguila etc.

If you are setting up a hunting rifle run a little deeper throat as mentioned and looser chamber so you don't have problems with a tight chamber and not being able to function in the field. If you cant get that ammo to fly in and out while running the bolt in the shop you are going to have problems in the field.

 

[xtcshooter]

I adjust to just close on a 22 rimfire GO Gauge, 0.043", however, I have also set as tight as 0.042". The NO GO is 0.046".

Art

 

[Greenyonline2]

As previously advised I would go to Rimfire Central to the Ruger 77/22 sub forum. Gains can be had by using shims supplied by Trigger Shim. However your rifle might not take any (like mine). If you close the tolerance too much it can increase the effort required to close the bolt.
DIY method:
To find headspace on my 77/22 (and on my Remington 58x series rifles) I bought a PTG Go Gauge .043. Make sure your breach and chamber are clean.
Insert the GoGauge
Put on top of it a piece of green Plastigauge (available at your automotive store)
Close the bolt, then open it
The Plastigauge will have crushed
Measure it with the crush gauge supplied on the package
Add that to the .043 and you have your headspace
It is accurate to within .0005
Professional method:
If you want the most from your 77/22 check out https://ct-precision.com/
He (Randy) is on RFC sometimes and many have used his service with excellent results.