Rebarrel headspace question

[280Ackley]

A gunsmith friend and I installed a new barrel on a Savage 110 today. He insisted on removing the ejector from the bolt face before setting the headspace gauge. Is this really necessary? We did not use a no-go gauge. He did test fire the gun with a factory load and the spent case did not show any sign of excess headspace, but extraction was difficult and the case looked like the neck was to long for the chamber. I would like to order a no-go gauge and recheck the headspace before proceeding further, but would like to know if it is necessary to remove the ejector. Replacing it was a pain in the back side.

[fatdaddy]

I have changed alot of savage barrels and I dont remove the ejector, dont feel its needed. I also dont use a no-go any more, unless its a caliber I already have the gauge. I do use the scotch tape as a rule. I use a fired case resized by my die as a go gauge when possible. But my guns almost never shoot factory rounds, most never have. There will most likely be at least one loud protest to not using both, store bought, go and no-go gauges... But I promise your gun will shoot great and you wont go to hell. That being said, if you had trouble extracting the fired case, that would give me concern and I would check it out. The case neck stretching would be a major red flag. What caliber are you working with? Bill

[280Ackley]

Thanks, Working with A&B 25-06. This whole thing was a little different then what I watched on video. The threads on the receiver were very rough and made finding the right pressure much harder. Do any of you clean up your threads before hand?