Barrel install

[bigred94]

Got it guys!

Sanded it some and finally screwed in far enough to touch the brass. I'am going to attempt to set headspace by using a fl brass. Any pointers?

[LoneWolf]

Glad to hear it worked out! Was getting worried about this one.

Sent from my AT100 using Tapatalk 2

[Nandy]

Im glad too. I now remember reading that thread. Good stuff.

[stangfish]

Got it guys! Sanded it some.....

Great idea!

Use it like a go gauge. mark the barrel and the action in a straight line. Back of a few degrees and snug it up. Check the line and ad some shim(cellophane tape) to the base of the case and it should act like a no go.

[bigred94]

Well I thought I had it but when I put recoil lug and barrel nut on it will not let me check headspace. Guess barrel is not in far enough.

[bigred94]

Here's what I know

I have it now where the barrel will screw into action until it will not allow bolt to open
When you add the recoil lug and barrel nut it will not let the bolt grab a brass from chamber.

The barrel nut will screw all the way up the threads until it hits something and stop. Not sure if it is suppose to screw off muzzle end or not.

Had to sand some more on barrel to get nut to go all the way up.

Something is still not right

Any thoughts

[sinman]

Either not enough threads, threads are too large, barrel damaged by something. Is it a Mcgowen barrel?

[goinssr]

If you have the action clamped in an action wrench you may have it clamped too tight. Loosen it and see if the barrel will screw in.

[bigred94]

Bought two barrel nuts, one screwed on all the way the other didn't, so now i'am ready to set headspace finally! When using a peice of fl brass, do you use one that is max case length(2.015) or one that is trimed to length (2.005)?

[earl39]

If you are going to use brass then use fired brass re-sized in your die. Never use virgin brass as it tends to be on the small side and might even be below Sammi spec. Unless the neck is cut bad short you could use the untrimmed brass but the trimmed brass will remove any doubt that you may have as to not head-spacing correctly. After setting the head space measure your brass then add one piece of tape to the end until you have 2-4 thousandths added to the length. This is now your no-go. Insure the bolt will not close on this and you are ready to go.

[bigred94]

Ok thanks for the great help and info!

Can someone explain what would happen if you use the 2.015 brass to set the headspace vs the one trimed to 2.005 as this is the recommended one to use?

This is my first time to do this so just trying to make since of it all

[whit]

Headspacing is done off the shoulder of the brass. So the length of the neck shouldn't matter unless it is really long. Headspace gauges for bottleneck cartridges do not even have the neck portion. If you use fired but non resized brass you could end up with the headspace being too long and SAAMI spec. cartridges might be too short to fire or the case head could break off.

[Nor Cal Mikie]

If the fired brass has been full length resized and the OAL is too long (because the case necks need trimming) you take the chance of the case mouth being crimped on the bullet at the end of the chamber. (Bad JU JU!!) Trim them back to minimum trim length. That's a good starting point so you'll know how far the case grows when resizing.

[bigred94]

Thanks guys. Starting to make since now. I will take a fired brass fl resized with my rcbs dies then trimmed to 2.005(as to book specs) then set headspace.

[whit]

Check your bolt cycling with a few sized cases after setting the headspace. I have had to back off the barrel because the bolt would close too hard.

[bigred94]

Ok just set headspace (I think). Have a question. On the fl trimmed case it's tight but will close. On a factory federal round it closes very easy. Can someone explain what's happening?

[Nandy]

My understanding is that some manufacturers cases are smaller than sami specs. So if you headspace using brass that is smaller than Sami specs when you put a shell that is up to sami it will chamber tight or not chamber at all. That is why I tell everyone to head space using a gauge which will be up to sami. That is the only way to make sure all rounds will work. If you are reloading and have zero plan to use commercial ammo then headspacing with the same brand brass you will be using is not such a big deal.
Good luck.