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Guage and Headspacing


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hey guys i just graduated from armoror school here at fort campbell.

they were telling us that we have to get our weapons guaged and headspaced every year to check barrel pressures or our weapons will explode and kill the operator and land me in prison turning big rocks to little rocks! this isnt a unit mantinance task. i have to send them to direct support to get that done so they didnt explain the process..... how do they do it? and this makes me worried about my AKs i shoot the shit out of them.....do i have to guage my AKs? i mean i really dont see terrorists doing this often so why should i?

 

thanks Jonathan Mallard

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hey guys i just graduated from armoror school here at fort campbell.

they were telling us that we have to get our weapons guaged and headspaced every year to check barrel pressures or our weapons will explode and kill the operator and land me in prison turning big rocks to little rocks! this isnt a unit mantinance task. i have to send them to direct support to get that done so they didnt explain the process..... how do they do it? and this makes me worried about my AKs i shoot the shit out of them.....do i have to guage my AKs? i mean i really dont see terrorists doing this often so why should i?

 

thanks Jonathan Mallard

 

I might be wrong but this is one of the reasons why I think a 12 gauge

makes a better shtf weapon. Correct me if I am wrong that a 12 gauge

shotgun does not need to have the chamber checked for head space issues.

I am not really sure that straight walled cartridges like 9mm, 40, .45 auto,

.45 long colt, .357, 45-70 need to be headspaced. I do know that 7.62x39,

.223, .308, 30.06, and most bottled neck cartridge chambers require

headspace checking every so often.

Edited by my762buzz
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  • 4 weeks later...

Okay it is like this, from what I remember. Have you ever noticed that some company's offer AR15/M16 kits in 5.56 and also .223. The reason for this is a full auto gun has a slightly more "open" tolerance to sustain full auto fire and thousands upon thousands of rounds. They "open" the throat of the chamber to accept the hot gases from the ignited powder. AR's are usually offered in chrome lined or chrome moly barrels. A chrome moly will have slightly better accuracy because of tighter.223 tolerances than a chrome lined that is usually 5.56 and made for full auto capable rifles. So if you buy an AR then you chose to either buy the chrome moly with a little better accuracy and long barrel life that no normal individual will "shoot out" or buy the chrome lined and lose a little accuracy, but they will be able to bury you with it. With Ak's and our S12's we automatically(in most cases)have chrome lined because in most countries AK's are used they are military full auto and we buy guns made from these parts for our "sporting" purposes.

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It's generaly not difficult. You can buy head space gauges for your AK, AR, M16, ect... Somethings like the CETME, you can check it with a set of feeler guages like you would use to work on your car when you set points gap ect... Adjusting head space can be a different story. Especially on somethink like an AK, or it can be simple like on a Savage bolt action depending on design.

I think it's wise to check head space on every fire arm you aquire prior to firing them the first time even if its brand new from the factory. You could buy a set of guages for your AK for the particular cartriage they are chambered for from some place like Brownells, (link) http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/cat...=10&si=True They are just a piece of metal shaped like a cart you insert and close the bolt on. One guage should not allow the bolt to close all the way, if it does, head space is off. On one of the other guages, if the bolt will not closed with it in the chamber, then head space is off in another direction.

 

Previously here I posted something about keeping spare complete bolt assemblies in the field in case something breaks on oneyou could just swap it out. It was promptly pointed out that doing this would change head space and would cause poor acuracy, and or cause it to blow up in my face unless it's an AR15 as they are an acception. I lucked out and bought a spare bolt assembly for an S-12 and a Saiga in 7.62 that head spaced the same as the original. I would not have known they did if I didn't use a set of guages to check them.

 

When you start to get to the point you have put a lot of rounds through something, it could be reassuring to be able to check head space. It doesn't take much time or $ to do.

Edited by cscharlie
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  • 3 weeks later...

I see you got the same "Do something wrong and you go here" speech and old guy points at pic of Levenworth on wall speach I got when I went thru Armorers school on Ft. Campbell.

Is it still 2 old guys 1 white and 1 black?

And did you get the one about "Most of you will go to the funny farm" - well that one is true as I saw quite a few guys go to the looney bin over being a armorer.

But don't fear as I did it for about 2 1/2 years without going to jail, losing anything or having any weapons blow up.

 

And the headspacing thing you basically take the weapons to your MSB and they do it and sign a sheet and you go home.

 

I never had one bad after all the rounds we fired in the time I was there.

 

Good luck with the job.

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