A few questions about my new model 10TR and about barrel break in

[J.Baker]

The breech of your barrel never touches the face of your bolt head when you set the headspace - there will always be a small gap there with any factory or pre-fit aftermarket barrel that's been chambered to the proper depth. Any variance in length of the bolt body or bolt head in critical areas will affect the size of that gap.

So lets say your new assembly is 0.100" longer than your original one (exaggerated for effect). With the barrel still at the old headspace the face of the bolt head would hit the breech of the barrel before the bolt handle was lined up with the notch in the action to allow it to close and more than likely the cocking piece pin wouldn't be lined up with the sear.

Conversely...

Lets say the new assembly is 0.100" shorter than your original one (again, exaggerated for effect). When you inserted the bolt into the action and pushed it forward you wouldn't be able to rotate it closed because the full length of the bolt head lugs wouldn't have cleared the raceway yet. If the bolt did still manage to rotate and go into battery your headspace would now be 0.100" longer than it was before which more than likely would result in a case separation.

You all need to stop thinking like every single part you'll ever get from Savage will be 100% uniform and consistent - that's not the case, it never has been and it never will be. You have multiple parts that each have their own tolerance of +/- 0.010 to 0.025" each, and when you add up each parts individual tolerance the overall tolerance for the total assembly can be +/- 0.050" to 0.75" easy. Then factor in that the action itself has tolerances that will also affect this and it should become blatantly clear that you just can't mix and match parts without a care in the world expecting them to all just magically work together perfectly.

If you're building an engine you still check bearing clearances and ring gaps, crank and camshaft end play, etc. even though all the parts are CNC machined and are designed for that specific engine and are supposedly 100% interchangeable, so what makes you think you don't need to take the same care when swapping out parts on your Savage? You get lazy and build a bad engine it blows up and leaves you stranded - you get lazy and build a bad rifle it will blow up and probably take parts of you with it.

[1.618]

Sounds to me like the bottom line (if I may be so blunt) is:

If you're going to go swapping out parts that could possibly affect HS, what's cheaper? A set of go/no-go gages? Or a new stock (or maybe a finger or your eye)? Or at the very least, a (possibly permanent) flinch?

If it were me, I think I would always check headspace before firing...kind of like always making sure the rifle is unloaded before monkeying with it.

[1.618]

I am waiting to hear of an incident to where someone found an issue with head space that they would not have found by chambering a cartridge.

If there was too much headspace (i.e., if the breech face was too far back, making the chamber too long), wouldn't the cartridge chamber just fine?

And then when the firing pin struck the primer, couldn't it drive the cartridge forward far enough before the cartridge headspaced on the shoulder so that when the case expanded and stuck to the sides of the chamber, there could be a gap between the case head and the breech face that would be too long for the case to "stretch to fit"...possibly causing a head separation and leakage of the Magic Smoke?

Or would the extractor be enough to hold the cartridge from moving forward too far?

Not trying to argue here; just trying to make sure I understand headspace accurately.

[RP12]

You are right with your question, but we are talking about the effects of a to long or to short bolt body, and if it affects head space.

[1.618]

OK, thanks. I guess I'm just not familiar enough with the Savage bolt and action yet to comment except in a general way. (Still waiting for my Savage rifle to arrive.) Sorry, Lure M In, if I dragged the thread OT.

[RP12]

Well I checked with the expert (Fred at SSS) and he says the bolt body has nothing to do with head space.

[KRP]

Well I checked with the expert (Fred at SSS) and he says the bolt body has nothing to do with head space.

It's been said before, on more than one occasion, and argued with every time. With as much DIY as goes on around here you would think people would take the time to understand headspace and what affects it, but for the most part they don't.

[LureM In]

Well I didnt get any notifications of this thread and misse a bunch lol...

Well anyway, I havent been able to shoot the guns yet. I just got done getting about 10 different match ammo brands/weights to see what it likes. I was debating modifying the accustock to save some money and make it look/fit better but I probably will just put them for sale and buy a new one.

Do you keep your stock bottom metal when going to a aftermarket stock?

I sent my bolt of to PPR to have the bolt fluted and made a deal with him, Very cool guy and a one man operation. Turn around time was 2 weeks instead of a " I cant tell you a time" from SSS which I thought was pretty lame.

Hopefully will get to the range this week and see what she does. Going to use an old but have been good millet LRS, Really want to get a night force for one of them, If the bank accnt allows. I am thinking of doing this to one of the rifles ( picture below) I just did this last week to my savage 17hmr.

[foxx]

That looks cool.

Bottom metal, trigger guard, etc. is not normally sold with the stock. It can be, of course. It may be worth more than the stock, though. I'd say keep it, you'll probably need it for whatever else you get. Can always sell later in the classifieds here.