Headspace???

trooperchin

February 14, 2003 09:26

Ok, my noobness is showing but what is headspace?
Thanks in the advance for the help.

Go Army Beat Navy
IF you wanna have fun jine the cavalry

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  kingjoey

  February 14, 2003 09:57

  The free space between the bolt face and the breech end of the barrel. As the bolt or chamber on a gun wears, the bolt won't fit as tightly as it should and will let the cartridge set back in the chamber a bit. A little bit is acceptable, but too much headspace will allow a portion of the brass to be unsupported and can cause a case failure (look in dictionary under "Kaboom!"). Headspace is measured to ensure the safety and wear of a firearm. HTH

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  JustC

  February 14, 2003 11:46

  The slight gap that is permitted between the bolt face and the case head to facilitate closure of the bolt. Headspace is actually the distance between the boltface and the part of the chamber that acts as the cartridge stop.
  
  I'm a man,....but I can change,.....If I have to,......I guess.

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  jonk

  February 14, 2003 11:52

  Right. So for example, on a rimmed round, it is the distance between the bolt face and the chamber face; on a rimless it is the distance between the bolt face and teh shoulder. Headspace stops the foward movement of the cartridge. Measuring headspace measures how much there is when a round would be chambered; with a bottlenecked cartridge it doesnt' really matter IF you handload as you can more or less wildcat your loads to fit your gun. On rimmed guns it is more problematic. I have only 1 gun way out of headspace, and Enfield No1 mk3. I only fire cast bullets from it and neck size the brass.
  
  "...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conf

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  trooperchin

  February 14, 2003 13:00

  OK, so how would i measure the headspace of a yugo sks? And this is mostly a problem with mil-surplus guns right?
  
  
  Go Army Beat Navy
  IF you wanna have fun jine the cavalry

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  Mobuck

  February 14, 2003 13:31

  Generally headspace is either ok or not ok. The tolerances are pretty narrow. The gauges used to check for excess headspace are available from several supply places. The bolt should close on the go gauge but not on the no-go gauge. The problem with excess headspace can be minimized by careful handloading (on bolt action arms at least).
  
  Mobuck

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