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Can anyone recommend a gunsmith who can repair an 1895 30-06 mfg. in 1927 with excessive headspace? Turnbull won’t do it without a complete restoration for $5000.
This is why some loading manuals, such as Ken Water’s, recommend “down-loading” .30-06 to .30-40 Krag pressure levels in ’95s–the ’95’s rear lock-up allowed the action & cases to stretch excessively. There’s no quick-fix–the barrel will have to be set back, if headspace is really unsafe. But is it? How badly do fired cases stretch? As long as you’re not getting incipient head separations, & use lower pressure reloads, the gun may be safe to continue using.
Setting back the brl., which would also necessitate moving the forearm screw block, is something Turnbull’s shop could easily do, but I think what he’s telling you is that he’s too busy with more important jobs to mess with this kind of relatively minor repair work.
Headspace is .008” out of tolerance. Cases are splitting above the rim. I’m willing to pay a fair price to a gunsmith that will do a professional job. I hate to see a beautiful Winchester be sold for parts.
Steve Pike said
Headspace is .008” out of tolerance. Cases are splitting above the rim.
Wow–someone shot the hell out of it, or used excessive handloads. Good many smiths can handle this work, but here’s one I know can do a 1st class job, IF you’re prepared to wait & pay: https://johntaylormachine.com/ Specializes in difficult conversions. As I said previously, there’s going to be more work involved than you might expect.
If you contact Taylor, ask him about if sleeving the chamber (which I know he’s done before), would correct the headspace problem; if so, it’s preferable to setting the barrel back.
Thank you for the advice. John Taylor did a great job very quickly for a very fair price. I would recommend him highly.
[email protected] said
Thank you for the advice. John Taylor did a great job very quickly for a very fair price. I would recommend him highly.
How did he correct this problem? Sleeve the chamber or set-back the brl?
I’m not an expert so this may be a dumb question. And I have no experience with this issue in a lever action. Only bolt actions. Can the OAL of the case measured from the base to the point where the neck angle starts (not the end of the case) be lengthened or not pushed back during resizing? Most full length sizing dies are set up for SAMMI lengths so the round will chamber in all guns. Don’t push the neck/angle back any farther than necessary to chamber the case. Most precision shooters bump cases about .002″ if they bump at all. Again they use bolt actions.
Chuck said
Most full length sizing dies are set up for SAMMI lengths so the round will chamber in all guns. Don’t push the neck/angle back any farther than necessary to chamber the case.
That’s what I do–just enough sizing of the neck to hold the bullet firmly, although most FL dies when adjusted that way will also squeeze the upper part of the case body slightly, as you can see by the rub mark left on the brass. I suppose dies from different makers will vary somewhat in how they work the brass. Then of course some chambers for the same cartridge will be tighter or looser, so there’s a good deal of room for individual variation on what it takes to make a round chamber easily without excessive resizing.
Loading for falling-block SSs like the 1885 is simpler, because the rising of the breech-block seats the case. The Stevens 44-1/2 action does this best of all because of the angle at which it rises. And then the rimmed cases most of these actions were built for minimize headspace concerns.
Steve Pike said
Headspace is .008” out of tolerance. Cases are splitting above the rim. I’m willing to pay a fair price to a gunsmith that will do a professional job. I hate to see a beautiful Winchester be sold for parts.
Steve, ask your gunsmith about forming the cases .008″ longer to push the neck against the chamber. This measurement is from the base to the datum line where the neck angle starts. Not the overall length from the base all the way to the end of the cartridge. A dollar bill is .004″ thick.
I am assuming that the head space is controlled by the neck angle going up against the chamber.
All you need is a comparator tool with the bushing holder and the bushing for the neck angle of the cartridge you are using. My guess is that it is 30 degrees? You also need to make a case gauge. Take a piece of fired brass, preferably from your gun, and thread the end so the brass can thread onto the tool. It is best to size the brass to fit your chamber but do not size the neck OD. You need it to be loose do the next step.
If you want to go further get a bushing for your bullet diameter and now you can adjust the lead/jump of the bullet too. I believe that this is a .308″ bullet.
All measurements while using the comparator are done with the neck angle against the chamber. Make sure you write down the length of your brass from the neck angle to the base. You will use this for future loadings. If you custom fit this way your loads probably won’t fit another gun. The only thing is to make sure the rounds will feed out of the magazine. You may have to seat your bullet a little more if they are too long.
When adjusting your full length sizing die for loading you have to use the comparator tool with the case and bushing to make sure all of your formed brass are the same length from the base to the datum line on the case where the neck angle starts. NOT from the base to the end of the bullet. Don’t worry if some rounds don’t measure the same from the bullet tip to the base. This is not the critical measurement. Before you spend a lot of money on your barrel talk to a gunsmith about this.
Chuck said Before you spend a lot of money on your barrel talk to a gunsmith about this.
Too late–he already did! (Though he said it wasn’t a lot.)
clarence said
Too late–he already did! (Though he said it wasn’t a lot.)
Whatever he spent it was a waste of money if he can reload. Watch what you can stand of this but definitely watch some of it at the start then around 24 minutes and 32 minutes. He explains how you can make your case fit the headspace of your gun.
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