Anything wrong with tight headspace?

Oldschool280

Oldschool280

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Jan 22, 2016
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i just set up a 35 whelen to run my brass through my sizer and use in my rifle , I have no interest in factory ammo and do not ever plan on using it . Other than extending brass life are there any consequences to keeping the headspace tight?
 
Oldschool280 said:
i just set up a 35 whelen to run my brass through my sizer and use in my rifle , I have no interest in factory ammo and do not ever plan on using it . Other than extending brass life are there any consequences to keeping the headspace tight?
Click to expand...
More consistent accuracy. The better it fits the chamber with less growth each fireing, the more consistent your ammunition will be. Also as stated, brass life.

If I was loading for a cartridge that is not necessarily going to be used for really long range, and possibly could be used for dangerous game, I would give it a touch more headspace, go up to semi auto spec (.005" vs .002" headspace) just to ensure reliability and smooth fast feeding.
 
If there is tension when closing the bolt I would assume that there would be some distortion of the case (to one degree or another) as the bolt locks. IMO, the bolt should always close without any resistance. However, a barely perceptible amount of resistance to closing would probably not be an issue.
Just my 2 cents
 
There is no real advantage to tight headspace. Once the cases are fireformed, they are formed. As long as you don't over size them the brass will not grow more or less nor will it last longer due to tight headspace. You also need to ensure pristine cleanliness or your gun won't function. There is a good reason why dangerous game and military rifles have the headspace they do. The 35 Whelen is not a target round so why build it like it is a BR rifle. If you can't chamber factory ammo then to me the gun is setup wrong. SAMMI specs exist for a reason, the 35 Whelen is no longer a Wildcat.
 
Tight headspace, as in pressure when closing the bolt like Varmint Hunter said, is something I would avoid for sure. It can leave false pressure signs on case head, inconsistency in loads, and if allowed to get too tight can make a gun very hard to cycle. When shot on bigger cartridges, I have heard from people that know more than me that it can cause other more serious issues as well. Best to have at least a couple thou headspace gap for sure.
 
All sound advice here to this point about headspace. Real headspace is a distance to a point on the neck from the bolt face. This number is set as a spec from Sammi. This ensures that a chamber is a set size from one to another of the same cartridge. Now factory ammo and reloading dies can be made to fit each and every time. Now that we start talking about reloading and brass fit it's really a setback number from the headspace.. 003 is a very safe place to be. So if you have a rifle with a minimum headspace chamber and have . 003 setback it's going to fit like a maximum headspace chamber if you use the same . 003 setback. So really the only difference between a long chamber or short chamber that is in spec is how close your factory brass/ammo fits. Because once you fire form your brass it will fit the same. One benefit to having a longer chamber that is in spec is reloading dies will work better. Some dies won't come down far enough to setback unless you grind off the bottom of the die or modify the shell holder. I've been building custom rifles for 30 yrs and 20 of those yrs I insisted that I had to have a zero spec chamber. Dead nuts on. I however don't do it that way anymore. I make all mine Max. Almost every die works now. And they size more in the body areas too. The 3 thou setback number I use is not a set in stone number. I use it because it gives me repeatable results. Unless your from the small neck size camp you know you don't want the brass to hit up against the shoulder. All brass will have some spring back to it. So if you use 3 thou and get all 3thou you are good. If spring back gets you a little your still at 2 thou and off the bolt face. Properly annealed and you will be hitting the same number almost every time. So sorry for the big ramble but this is day 16 in the hospital for me here and this site is keeping my mind off the hurt I'm taking in here. Big story short here is don't get all caught up on tight chambers. It's only as tight as the clearance of your brass. I make you a tight neck dia chamber and you turn your neck to thin it's now a loose fit. It's all relative.
Shep
 
25WSM said:
All sound advice here to this point about headspace. Real headspace is a distance to a point on the neck from the bolt face. This number is set as a spec from Sammi. This ensures that a chamber is a set size from one to another of the same cartridge. Now factory ammo and reloading dies can be made to fit each and every time. Now that we start talking about reloading and brass fit it's really a setback number from the headspace.. 003 is a very safe place to be. So if you have a rifle with a minimum headspace chamber and have . 003 setback it's going to fit like a maximum headspace chamber if you use the same . 003 setback. So really the only difference between a long chamber or short chamber that is in spec is how close your factory brass/ammo fits. Because once you fire form your brass it will fit the same. One benefit to having a longer chamber that is in spec is reloading dies will work better. Some dies won't come down far enough to setback unless you grind off the bottom of the die or modify the shell holder. I've been building custom rifles for 30 yrs and 20 of those yrs I insisted that I had to have a zero spec chamber. Dead nuts on. I however don't do it that way anymore. I make all mine Max. Almost every die works now. And they size more in the body areas too. The 3 thou setback number I use is not a set in stone number. I use it because it gives me repeatable results. Unless your from the small neck size camp you know you don't want the brass to hit up against the shoulder. All brass will have some spring back to it. So if you use 3 thou and get all 3thou you are good. If spring back gets you a little your still at 2 thou and off the bolt face. Properly annealed and you will be hitting the same number almost every time. So sorry for the big ramble but this is day 16 in the hospital for me here and this site is keeping my mind off the hurt I'm taking in here. Big story short here is don't get all caught up on tight chambers. It's only as tight as the clearance of your brass. I make you a tight neck dia chamber and you turn your neck to thin it's now a loose fit. It's all relative.
Shep
Click to expand...
Pretty much agree except the head space on a bottle neck case is the datum point from the case head to a point on the shoulder, not on the neck. (usually measured at the . 420" diameter of the shoulder on the larger cases)
I suspect your reference to " neck" was just a misprint.
 
Last edited:
25WSM said:
Yes it's the datum point and I did mean shoulder not neck. I was going that route because trying to explain where the datum point actually is on the shoulder is not easy. Thanks for the correction.
Shep
Click to expand...
I figured you knew but just didn't want others to be misguided
 
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