headspacing savage 110

[porthos]

what is the "quick and dirty" way to set headspace on a savage 110?i know it can be done with shims. new brass or full length resized?? i do not have any new ammo. what thickness shims should i use??

[lefty o]

brass and ammo really isnt an acceptable way to establish headspace on a barrel, as you have no idea where in the range of tolerance the brass/ammo is. a go guage will set you back about $25.

[nekshot]

run the barrel back against dummy round, tighten up and see how many layers of masking tape on bottom of cartridge it takes for the bolt to go snug on last part of movement down. 3 layers should be close, and this is a shade tree smith approach but I am answering your question as asked!

[Char-Gar]

You use a proper headspace guage. If you don't want to buy one, they can be rented. You place the guage in the chamber, close the bolt, turn the barrel hard against the guage and tighten the nut. That is the way Savage did it at the factory.

[Clark]

I have always used new ammo or new brass as headspace gauges. But when dealing with my brother and his lathe, but brass, talking, and hand waving did not work. I had to buy a go gauge. So now I have gauges for 223, 22-250, 308, 6mmRem, and 30-06.
I am still faking it with 6mmBR and 7mmRM.

Sometimes I put a layer of masking tape on the case head and trim it with a knife. I measure the thickness of the tape. Sometimes I put on two or three layers of tape so I know where I am when chambering.

[floydboy]

With the barrel screwed out some put a fired FL sized case in the chamber and close the bolt. If you use a case it needs to be sized with your sizing die. If you leave the extractor on the bolt head make sure the case rim is under it. Screw the barrel snug against the case. Here is the tricky part. As you tighten the barrel nut it's hard not to tighten the barrel a little also. This means your decreasing headspace. With a real guage you will end up with the gauge squeezed so hard against the bolt you can't open it or it's very hard to open. I open the bolt when tightening the nut to keep this from happening. With a brass case you'll just squish it and really won't know if it's too short. I usually play around with this several times to get it right. I like my chambers tight but safe. If you don't have a gauge and are using a case the rule of thumb to test your chamber size is put one piece of trimmed transparent tape on the bottom of your case and the bolt should close. Put two pieces on and it should not close or be hard to close. If your real finicky you can remove you extractor, ejector and firing pin to get a better feel of the tightness when you close the bolt on the gauge or case. I don't go to this much trouble. If using a fired case you may be limited to shooting only your own reloaded ammo in that gun. Depends on if your sizing die is close to the same size as a go gauge. It's not rocket science but I have always found to get it exactly where I want is always a struggle. Like I said when tightening that nut the barrel wants to tighten a little also so you have to back off the barrel just a little so when it moves with the nut it ends up right where you want it. Google setting headspace with a sized case. You'll get plenty of info. The Savages Shooters site has info also.

[44man]

I use masking tape. Should chamber with one or two layers but not three. Quick and dirty. Use FL sized brass so the shoulder does not interfere.

[KLR]

If you use an empty case, fill it with epoxy so that it's not so easy to set the shoulder back while you're working with it.

[Menner]

for $30 you order a go gauge from midway. I set the barrel on the gauge with just a slight tension on close then hand tighten barrel nut and check bolt closing, if it is right I take a piece of masking tape lay down the length of the action and barrel cut tape away from the nut this will give you a read on the barrel or action moving during tightening. Once you have the nut tight and the bolt closes to your liking place a piece of Scotch Tape on the back of the gauge trim off the excess and the bolt should stop just short of closing.
This is how I do it
Tony

[izzyjoe]

There's more than one way to skin a cat! But it's best to use a gauge, but the other will get the job done as well.

[cowboy]

Just did a barrel change on my ancient 110 Flatback. USE GAUGES. Do not scrimp on effort- likewise, do yourself the favor of disassembling the bolt to remove the ejector and extractor , reassemble without those parts and THEN check headspace. If you have a situation where the bolt ( without extractor and ejector) will not close on a NoGo gauge, but does on a Go Gauge, you are done- no adjustment will help. For my own edification, I checked with the ejector and extractor installed- yielded excessive headspace, proven by closing easily on a NoGo gauge when the ejector and extractor where REMOVED.
Jus' sayin'