yobuck
04-17-2016, 10:47 AM
Understand this and you might get the idea of where I'm coming from.
When I was about 13 years old my dad bought a sporterized 30/06
built on an Enfield eddystone action in a pawn shop.
Never had the gun checked out, just took it out with some factory ammo and shot it.
I was standing about 10' to one side and behind where he was shooting.
On the third shot there was a puff of smoke from the gun and my father
with blood streaming down his face. He needed immediate hospital care
which was over an hour away. He was very fortunate in that he only lost
part of the vision in his right eye due to schrapnel. He was laid up for several weeks as a result
of his injury and very lucky at that. The stock was blown apart, the extractor and scope mount blown off
to who knows where, etc etc. The cause was determined to be excessive headspace.
That was the first time I had ever heard the term used and no doubt my father also.
Guns having proper headspace, can develop improper headspace as a result of just shooting the gun.
Lug setback especially with the larger cartridges is a possibility and especially with weak actions to begin with.
Weatherby's strong mark five action has 9 locking lugs. The one I use has been lapped to assure all the lugs are
functioning properly. Responsible gunsmiths know the importance of things like that. They would also say no when
you bring them a poor action to begin with. And one of them already did with regard to this post.
When I was about 13 years old my dad bought a sporterized 30/06
built on an Enfield eddystone action in a pawn shop.
Never had the gun checked out, just took it out with some factory ammo and shot it.
I was standing about 10' to one side and behind where he was shooting.
On the third shot there was a puff of smoke from the gun and my father
with blood streaming down his face. He needed immediate hospital care
which was over an hour away. He was very fortunate in that he only lost
part of the vision in his right eye due to schrapnel. He was laid up for several weeks as a result
of his injury and very lucky at that. The stock was blown apart, the extractor and scope mount blown off
to who knows where, etc etc. The cause was determined to be excessive headspace.
That was the first time I had ever heard the term used and no doubt my father also.
Guns having proper headspace, can develop improper headspace as a result of just shooting the gun.
Lug setback especially with the larger cartridges is a possibility and especially with weak actions to begin with.
Weatherby's strong mark five action has 9 locking lugs. The one I use has been lapped to assure all the lugs are
functioning properly. Responsible gunsmiths know the importance of things like that. They would also say no when
you bring them a poor action to begin with. And one of them already did with regard to this post.