What is headspacing?
I am purchasing a breechblock with a firing pin as a spare for my Chinese Mak 90. The ad says the following:
"Note: This breechblock is a perfectly acceptable
replacement in Chinese semi-auto rifles. It is dimensionally identical to
the semi-auto breechblock. Since the breechblock is involved in
headspacing, headspacing should be checked by a competent
gunsmith after changing a breechblock."
Anyone know what this means? Thanks.
Bruce
"Note: This breechblock is a perfectly acceptable
replacement in Chinese semi-auto rifles. It is dimensionally identical to
the semi-auto breechblock. Since the breechblock is involved in
headspacing, headspacing should be checked by a competent
gunsmith after changing a breechblock."
Anyone know what this means? Thanks.
Bruce
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I am just now getting into shooting a lot, and I keep hearing about headspacing. What exactly is it? How do I measure it? I am a recently married college student, and I don't have a whole lot of money. Can I fix poor headspacing myself? If so, how?
any help would be awesome.
john kerry, out to prove he's got nothing to prove.0 -
Headspace is the distance between what stops the shell from moving forward (in your case a point on the shoulder) and what keeps the shell from moving back (in your case the breachblock). Changing the block can alter the headspace due to the dimentinal tolerances of the parts. They know this and that excessive headspace can be dangerous, which is why they want you to have it checked
*Bottleneck cases headspace on the shoulder. Cases like the 9mm and 45ACP headspace on the case mouth. Cases like the 38Spl and 30-30 headspace on the rim. Belted cases like the 375H&H and 300Win Mag normaly headspace on the belt, but can be reloaded to headspace on the shoulder.
Some guys like a mag full of lead, I still prefer one round to the head.0 -
Tailgunner1954: Thank you for replying. Where is the shoulder located on a 7.62 X 39mm casing? Also, if there were excessive headspace what bad things could happen to a firearm or the person firing it??
Thanks
Bruce0 -
"...what bad things could happen...[?]"
Ka-Boom!
Worst case scenario is a ruptured case leading to a catastrophic failure; nothing to mess with.
The shoulder is the angled portion of the case below the neck.
A good and fair gunsmith will charge only a nominal fee to check the headspace. It does require a set of headspace gauges and disassembly of the bolt. You can do it easily enough yourself, if you wish.
redcedars0 -
Thanks for the question and the answers as I had the same questions. 0 -
Well, if I ever do actually have to use the part I will definitely have it checked by a gunsmith. Thank you all for your comments. I don't wish to drag this on but as far as I know (I may be wrong) anyone can call themselves a gunsmith. Anyone know how to tell a gunsmith from a guy who just calls himself a gunsmith?
Bruce0 -
Bruce, that is a good question.
Many who call themselves gunsmiths are really armorers. To my way of thinking, a gunsmith is capable of refinishing wood and metal, making parts from scratch, etc. An armorer is more like a mechanic, diagnosing problems, changing out parts, tuning, etc. And many who call themselves gunsmiths aren't even good armorers.
Look around. Check out the shops. Talk to other shooters. Take your time, and I'm sure you'll soon see the difference. Really, any decent armorer can do the headspace check; like I said, you could do it yourself if you were willing to devote a little time and money to study the subject and buy the gauges.
redcedars0 -
redcedars: OK, I will look around and try to find out who is a good gunsmith here. Thanks for the info.
Bruce0
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