1pocket
Member
i have not found much information here on this topic or much of anywhere else for that matter so thought to pose this question.
recently i removed a very tired 308 win barrel off my howa 1500 to replace with another brand new fixed shoulder factory barrel i had in my safe of the same caliber. what i have found is the barrel fits perfectly as expected but the headspace is tight and needs to be increased by .005
i do not not want to mess with the bolt and decided to shim the barrel increasing headspace by .005 using one 18-8 ss steel arbor shim with 1'' id (perfect for od barrel thread diameter) and 1.5'' od. the receiver od at point of barrel action contact is 1.34''. i plan to shave down the excess shim for a better smoother fit.
in doing so i have now perfect headspace after tightening the barrel to 35-40 psi (i never tighten beyond that as i have found it excessive and unnecessary).
my question here since i have never shimmed a barrel before on a bolt action of this caliber and have yet to fire the newly changed rifle have i made a grievous mistake which will potentially give me trouble?
typically aftermarket barrels come with a barrel nut allowing fine adjustment for headspace. how is this setup using a barrel nut to adjust barrel depth into action any different than shimming a fixed shouldered barrel?
recently i removed a very tired 308 win barrel off my howa 1500 to replace with another brand new fixed shoulder factory barrel i had in my safe of the same caliber. what i have found is the barrel fits perfectly as expected but the headspace is tight and needs to be increased by .005
i do not not want to mess with the bolt and decided to shim the barrel increasing headspace by .005 using one 18-8 ss steel arbor shim with 1'' id (perfect for od barrel thread diameter) and 1.5'' od. the receiver od at point of barrel action contact is 1.34''. i plan to shave down the excess shim for a better smoother fit.
in doing so i have now perfect headspace after tightening the barrel to 35-40 psi (i never tighten beyond that as i have found it excessive and unnecessary).
my question here since i have never shimmed a barrel before on a bolt action of this caliber and have yet to fire the newly changed rifle have i made a grievous mistake which will potentially give me trouble?
typically aftermarket barrels come with a barrel nut allowing fine adjustment for headspace. how is this setup using a barrel nut to adjust barrel depth into action any different than shimming a fixed shouldered barrel?
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