The importance of proper headspace..?

[1Merlin]

I just received a drop in barrel for my CZ 457 from a name manufacturer. Took it to the range this morning and tried it with 10 different (quality target) ammunitions. Shot well with everything it should have shot well with and very well - ~.25s - with a (mediocre) lot of CX and a lot of SK plus. Shot extremely well with an older lot of Fed. UltraMatch.

So my question is should I be concerned that the barrel has excessive headspace and closes easily on my no go gauge. Should I cut the barrel shoulder back to properly headspace the rifle? The lands engrave the (SK Plus and CX) bullet and I really am pretty satisfied with the performance. If I do "fix" the headspace am I likely to see and increase in accuracy?

I am hoping to avoid the "If it ain't broke fix it till it is" syndrome if possible. But.....?

 

[Hi-NV Shooter]

I just received a drop in barrel for my CZ 457 from a name manufacturer. Took it to the range this morning and tried it with 10 different (quality target) ammunitions. Shot well with everything it should have shot well with and very well - ~.25s - with a (mediocre) lot of CX and a lot of SK plus. Shot extremely well with an older lot of Fed. UltraMatch.

So my question is should I be concerned that the barrel has excessive headspace and closes easily on my no go gauge. Should I cut the barrel shoulder back to properly headspace the rifle? The lands engrave the (SK Plus and CX) bullet and I really am pretty satisfied with the performance. If I do "fix" the headspace am I likely to see and increase in accuracy?

I am hoping to avoid the "If it ain't broke fix it till it is" syndrome if possible. But.....?

How did the base of the fired case look? were they flat or slightly ballooned out? if flat I don't think you need to worry. if they are ballooned (fatter) looking and not flat you might have a problem down the road.

Lee

 

[Tony K Harper]

I just received a drop in barrel for my CZ 457 from a name manufacturer. Took it to the range this morning and tried it with 10 different (quality target) ammunitions. Shot well with everything it should have shot well with and very well - ~.25s - with a (mediocre) lot of CX and a lot of SK plus. Shot extremely well with an older lot of Fed. UltraMatch.

So my question is should I be concerned that the barrel has excessive headspace and closes easily on my no go gauge. Should I cut the barrel shoulder back to properly headspace the rifle? The lands engrave the (SK Plus and CX) bullet and I really am pretty satisfied with the performance. If I do "fix" the headspace am I likely to see and increase in accuracy?

I am hoping to avoid the "If it ain't broke fix it till it is" syndrome if possible. But.....?

Proper headspace is important. But first you have to define proper headspace. Lapua ammo generally has a thicker rim than Eley. Eley usually around .038-.039. Lapua usually .395 -41.5. Loose headspace normally doesn't cause accuracy problems. I've ran accuracy test adjusting headspace out .05 at a time and never saw accuracy drop off until I started getting fail to fires. But tight headspace will kill you.

For years many used .042 as the standard but today .43 or .044 is more popular.

If your rifle is shooting all the types of ammo you plan to use I would leave it as it is. Later on if you start getting fail to fires then I would consider changing it.

TKH

 

[RAVAGE88]

What Tony said.

It could be that your barrel was set up with a field gauge, which is not uncommon for some manufacturers.

MB

 

[1Merlin]

Didn't even look at the fired brass - at all. I had zero FtFs and did not think of the importance of checking the brass. Will be doing that at my next visit to the range though...

By the way... The no go gauge is .046.

I've had great luck with Lapua in the past and if I can I will continue with Lapua - and SK....