Savage type barrel nut on CZ action / swich barrels

[Romeyo]

Hi Folks!

I'm planning on rebarreling a older CZ rifle ( 550s parent model, from 1987... as old as I am ^^) with a lothar walther barrel in 6,5-08/.260Rem.
Most of the work I'm going to do myself, including shaping the blank, cutting threads, tuning headspace and so on...
I'm studying precision engineering which is somhow familiar to gunsmithing and got my own lathe.

The rifle is currently chambered in .243 Win so swichtching to any caliber within the .308 family should be quite quite easy, shoulnd't it?

I thought of doing the barrel attachment similar to how it's done on Savages.

So I'm basically going to thread the first inch or more of the barrel, screw it in until it screws against the inner action's face, screw on the barrel nut an screw the nut against the outer action's face.

Finetuning of headspace could be done by turning of thou's of the chambers/barrels face or by reaming the chamber deeper. Of course I would prefer the first technique because of not needing a chamber reamer then.
Are Forster's headspace gauges any good or do you have any other recommendations? Is it also worth the afford spending more attention on tuning tuning headspace than simply checking if headspace is "within go and no-go" ? I started wondering since I saw those gauges are aviable in 1/1000" increments.


Is there anyting I have not thought of, or anybody that thinks that's not a good idea, for whatever reason?


Would an savage action have an (serious) advantage over what I've planned? Apart from their ability to change bolt heads for even more flexible caliber switching...


thanks in advance!

regards

PS: Feel free to correct any grammar or spelling mistakes since english isn't my mother tongue ;-)

 

[Pinzgauer]

Well I thought your question was good and merited an answer...at least in six weeks...

I do not know the answer to your question, but considering the lack of reply you are probably asking about a creative solution to a problem that other gunsmiths solve differently.

It is hard to get a good craftsman to share about his craft, afterall why give away knowlege that he could get paid for? Give it a try and see.

Mike B

 

[Romeyo]

Hello Mike!

Thank you for your motivating words

And yeah, seemes to be pretty tough to find anwers relating to "advanced gunsmithing" questions...

But i'm gonna do it!... i'm just saving money right now to get all the components together... but still wondering which headspace gauges to use for best results... But it likely doesn't matter at all als long as the reloaded ammo meets the chambers specs...


romeyo

 

[geargrinder]

You might want to contact pacnor. They make prefit barrels for Savages. They also make prefit barrels for Remingtons that headspace with a barrel nut. They've made the barrel nut to use a Savage nut wrench.

 

[Pinzgauer]

Have you seen the Savage Model 10 precision? Really nice carbine in 223 or 308 with the Savage AccuStock.

MB

 

[Romeyo]

Thanks for the suggestions guys! The point is, I really want to do as much of the work as possible by myself. I'm about to finish studying precision engineering and i'm really interested in gunsmithing and firearm technology. Of course I could get a prefinished barrel for almost every system... but that would be rather boring, you know ^^

I'm also about getting a Savage system (target or varminter) I'm going to use as heart of a custom tube gun style rifle... I then maybe end up paying all my attention to that project rather than to the CZ for a while ^^

I don't mind which project finishing first, als long as there's work and a rifle that needs care, machining and beeing tuned so i don't get bored ^^

romeyo

 

[Horsemen]

Head space when, a go/no go gage cant be found. Can be done with a sized case, I will use clear tape .0015 " on the back of the rear of the case. Screw down the barrel and tighten..add another layer of tape,(no go). Remove the tapes (go). fired round to check actual head space. The last time I used this method I got .0015 on my Savage.

Regards Mike

 

[hammertyme]

Here is my answer: DON'T do it until or unless you have someone watching and checking your first few times that knows what they are doing.

I know nothing about the CZ bolt face. Savage is a NO BRAINER as every barrel has a finite thread count and the breach of the barrel is flush without a bolt extractor cutout. The hex and the new spanner nuts also have a finite measurement depending on application. Simple math or cheat like me the first time and measure the thread count and the nut of a pre-existing setup like Savage.

I am not prepared to go any further because one of our barrel makers out there still can't get the thread count correct. A shipment of barrels went out and the thread shank did not have enough threads so with nut they could not thread the barrel deep enough to correctly hadspace. I also have three barrels from that maker that have too many threads requiring me to go from an oversized .250 lug to .375 to cover up the threads.

What I am saying is, you are playing with high explosives and I for one never chambered the first few times without a friend looking over my shoulder. I still have two eyes and ten fingers and I really am allergic to pain. This comes from a machinist who made a living doing precision work.

Don't do it is just my opinion.

Neal

 

[Horsemen]

I'm not familiar with a CZ bolt head. But I am with a Savage. The Savage system uses a FLOATING bolt head. Most others do not. The floating bolt head will compensate for barrel to receiver miss alignment. Which is what happens when the nut is tightened.Miss alignment can be caused by many things. Most common causes are receiver not true to the barrel bore. and loose fit of the barrel to receiver. Unless you are really experienced with your machining equipment, I wouldn't try it. Unless the bolt floats.

Regards Mike.