Go gauge for shouldered prefit?

[quandary]

I've wondered this before too... It will tell you if the barrel is in spec or not, but there will be nothing you can "do" about it. Other than replacement if it isn't in spec

I would think you should be able to take the barrel to a gun smith with the appropriate lathes that can bump the shoulder, adjust the threading etc to fit the barrel to the action.

 

[FEENIX]

Here’s another way to look at the subject. Let’s say you wanted a gunsmith to build your rifle. Would you expect the smith to use gauges, or just fudge it and hand you the rifle?

Let’s say you built this rifle and it wasn’t to your liking and you wanted to sell it. On the ad you fully disclose you didn’t use gauges when building the rifle. How many people do you think you’d turn away from the sale?

Erik,

What are you making sense of again? Stop it!

Ed

 

[akdad]

I believe in the OPs case all he is doing is confirming the barrel fits. Since neither the barrel manufacturer or the action manufacturer had both together it’s up to person fitting to confirm it’s safe.
In all likelihood it’s going to be fine and seem like a waste of time. It’s not a waste it’s the desired outcome. The reason I check is because while I believe they will fit it’s up to me to verify they indeed do.
I’ve bought headspace guages and then sold them if I didn’t feel I would ever use again and that often works ok.

 

[kfreeze]

Why not send the action in and get the people that you are paying to do the work to check it? You are paying the same price as it costs from a person that does it manually and custom fits everything and then checks it. Make the company do their job that you are paying for.

 

[FEENIX]

I believe in the OPs case all he is doing is confirming the barrel fits. Since neither the barrel manufacturer or the action manufacturer had both together it’s up to person fitting to confirm it’s safe.
In all likelihood it’s going to be fine and seem like a waste of time. It’s not a waste it’s the desired outcome. The reason I check is because while I believe they will fit it’s up to me to verify they indeed do.
I’ve bought headspace guages and then sold them if I didn’t feel I would ever use again and that often works ok.

It never hurts to verify. You and I have an advantage here. We are a short drive away from Dave. This reminds me of one of my DIY projects where I cannot find the time to headspace. I took it to him on my lunch break, and he got it done quickly and back to work on time without taking leave.

 

[SCVOJTA]

I'd do the tape method and if that checked OK, go shoot a lighter load with virgin brass and then compare measurements.

 

[Rob01]

I have 7 shouldered prefit barrels in 5 calibers that I screw on 3 different actions and never put a gauge in any of them. I trust the people who made them though so if buying a shouldered barrel from someone you don't know it wouldn't hurt to check it.

 

[Hydra6]

Why not send the action in and get the people that you are paying to do the work to check it? You are paying the same price as it costs from a person that does it manually and custom fits everything and then checks it. Make the company do their job that you are paying for.

That defeats the purpose of "pre-fit" barrels. And prefits are significantly cheaper than gunsmith+blank

 

[Rob01]

Why not send the action in and get the people that you are paying to do the work to check it? You are paying the same price as it costs from a person that does it manually and custom fits everything and then checks it. Make the company do their job that you are paying for.

You are not paying the same, you are not having to ship your action, you are able to keep shooting the rifle while the new barrel is coming in and there is no gunsmith wait. I have done it both ways over the past 30 years and no way I would go back to sending actions to smiths now that I can get shouldered prefits.

 

[PorterSGuns23]

Curious what the hive mind thinks about checking headspace when installing a shouldered prefit?

I've rebarreled Savage actions with barrel nuts 5 or 6 times, and always use a go gauge to set the headspace, then applied a piece of painters tape to the go gauge to function as a no-go, and have had 100% success achieving a consistent minimum headspace.

I now have a Pure Precision Summit Ti and a Preferred Barrel Blanks shouldered prefit on the way, and wondered if it's really necessary to shell out another $50 bucks on a go-gauge for installation.

I'm debating just using a piece of virgin ADG brass, and applying tape layers until it "no-gos" to determine how much brass growth I'll get on first firing. If it's sub 0.010" I figure I'm good to go with the brass I have. It would be nice to know where I sit in "SAAMI space", but the odds of ever feeding the rifle factory ammo or someone else's reloads is pretty minimal.

Since it's a shouldered prefit, I can't adjust the headspace like I could on a barrel nut rifle anyway, so I figure what's the point of messing with go/no. Determine if it's safe to fire the brass I have, and run with it.

What say the peanut gallery?

P.S. If anyone has a 7mm PRC go gauge handy, and the Hornady Comparator with the #13-41 (or #11-37) insert, could you measure the base to shoulder dimension and report it here? That would be very helpful as a reference, so I'd have a better idea where my virgin brass is currently sitting...

Contact 4d Reamer rentals. Last I heard they still rent headspace gauges. Or just buy the gauges and sell them when you are done. The Hokey Pokey method works but for this you might as well just bite that bullet.

 

[Hydra6]

You are not paying the same, you are not having to ship your action, you are able to keep shooting the rifle while the new barrel is coming in and there is no gunsmith wait. I have done it both ways over the past 30 years and no way I would go back to sending actions to smiths now that I can get shouldered prefits.

I will add that I only buy actions (or rifles) that take prefits now. Impact for competition and Tikka for hunting plus RimX for competition 22.

I use barrel nut prefits for my "old" Defiance and Stiller actions.

 

[ntsqd]

If it’s a Remington style action with a recoil lug couldn’t you adjust the head space by adjusting the thickness of the recoil lug?

You can if you have access to a surface grinder.

 

[FEENIX]

If it’s a Remington style action with a recoil lug couldn’t you adjust the head space by adjusting the thickness of the recoil lug?

Yes, but why? If you have to do that, it was not done correctly - it was out of spec. If you are willing to accept the discrepancy, then that is on you.

 

[kfreeze]

That defeats the purpose of "pre-fit" barrels. And prefits are significantly cheaper than gunsmith+blank

Unless you go through 5 barrels a year or more, are they really any cheaper when you figure in buying gauges, barrel vices and action wrenches? My local guy does barrel threading, chamber, and crown for $250+ blank. And everything is cut for the best fit.