Savage headspace ?

[cujo7240]

I just installed a Shilen S7 varmint contour barrel (308) on my Savage model 11 this last weekend. I used a go-gauge to set my headspace before torquing the barrel nut and the bolt closed w/o any problem. I then put a small piece of masking tape on the bottom of the go-gauge and was not able to close the bolt, then remove the tape and again tried the go-gauge and the bolt closed fine.
I went to range to perform the barrel break in procedure and I was shooting some 150gn American Eagle 308WIN factory rounds and I noticed that the bolt closed a little more snugly than it did before my barrel swap with this ammo. When I later started shooting some of my handloads that I had full length resized and trimmed to length, I noticed that they chambered much more easily and felt like what I thought they should feel like.
Do you guys feel my headspace is too tight knowing what I've told you? Do you think that Savage just was a little liberal with there headspacing to accommodate various manufacturers ammo?

 

[ctbreitwieser]

If it closes on a GO and wont close on a NO GO, then your good. When I shoot my .358 Hoosier loads with freshly reformed brass, I have to really crank down on the handle to close it, but once I fire and reload them, they slide right in. Not sure if thats the same issue youre having, but I built mine on Marlin which is just like the savage, so it may be something similar.

 

[J E Custom]

Re: Savage head space ?

I just installed a Shilen S7 varmint contour barrel (308) on my Savage model 11 this last weekend. I used a go-gauge to set my head space before torquing the barrel nut and the bolt closed w/o any problem. I then put a small piece of masking tape on the bottom of the go-gauge and was not able to close the bolt, then remove the tape and again tried the go-gauge and the bolt closed fine.
I went to range to perform the barrel break in procedure and I was shooting some 150gn American Eagle 308WIN factory rounds and I noticed that the bolt closed a little more snugly than it did before my barrel swap with this ammo. When I later started shooting some of my handloads that I had full length resized and trimmed to length, I noticed that they chambered much more easily and felt like what I thought they should feel like.
Do you guys feel my headspace is too tight knowing what I've told you? Do you think that Savage just was a little liberal with there headspacing to accommodate various manufacturers ammo?

I like very little head space if any at all because I reload and can adjust the dies to make them
chamber with just a slight feel. This helps with accuracy and brass life not to work the brass more
than needed.

If a person is going to shoot all types of factory ammo, proper head space is normally covered by
the Go Gauge.

If your loads are near max you may have to size a little more unless extraction it not a problem.

Sounds like you did well setting the head space if one layer of tape made closing the bolt hard.
(With Savages you must compress the flex washer between the bolt body and the floating bolt
bolt head to end up with proper head space when fired.

In My opinion you are fine.

J E CUSTOM

 

[westcliffe01]

American Eagle is some of the lowest quality domestic ammo you are likely to find, so I am not at all surprised that you would experience a few "tolerance" issues with it. I got some 223 ammo from them when I got my Galil/Golani and after I tried it, I literally gave it away. Nothing better than 6MOA, even out of my consistent 1/2MOA bolt gun.

I went to range to perform the barrel break in procedure and I was shooting some 150gn American Eagle 308WIN factory rounds and I noticed that the bolt closed a little more snugly than it did before my barrel swap with this ammo.

 

[Machinist]

You also have to remember the chamber reamers for those two barrels are different. I would imagine the shilen barrel to have a tighter chamber seeing as how I am not an expert by any means take anything I say with a grain of salt . As long as the bolt closes smoothly and opens without the aid of a 2x4 I wouldn't worry to much.

 

[cujo7240]

American Eagle is some of the lowest quality domestic ammo you are likely to find, so I am not at all surprised that you would experience a few "tolerance" issues with it.

I feel the same way about the American Eagle ammo, that is why I used it for the barrel break in procedure and when I was done with that I started using my hand loads to test the accuracy. Even though the AE ammo was a little tougher to chamber as compared to my hand loads, they all extracted w/o issues. Thanks for all the replies.