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Mere casual speculation without any actual attempt to use or serious thought given nor check of accuracy, numbers, or arithmetic…


Savage barrels have 20 threads per inch.

One complete turn of the barrel moves headspace 0.050 inches.

1/25th of a turn moves headspace about 0.002 inches.

Some think that industry headspace tolerance is normally 0.004 inches.

If we were to put 25 dots or marks engraved (punched) uniformly spaced around the barrel just beyond where the barrel nut goes, we would have a built in headspace gauge. (Just like a UniqueTek converted Dillon powder measure.)

We could turn the barrel in tight against any factory or handloaded cartridge we wanted to shoot, and then back off one dot for 0.002 inch headspace.

This would allow variation in cartridge sizing (headspace) without giving us excessive barrel headspace.

If 25 dots are too many for us to handle, 12 dots would produce 0.0042 inches or right at maximum tolerance. (The circumference of a Savage barrel is 3.3 inches.)

Any gunsmith with the most primitive lathe could easily put the dots on the barrel.

Aftermarket manufacturers of Savage ready-to-install barrels could put marks on barrel for us.

Takes longer to explain than to do.

If this will really work, am sure many smart people have already done it.



[Derived from August 2011 Precision Shooting article “You Too Can Have a Switch Barrel Rifle”, by Josh Benin, pages 13 – 25.]

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