What is the best kind of coin type headspace gauge to keep on
hand for checking out potential rifle purchases. Confused about Go, No Go and field. Also are all gauges mil spec?
Printable View
What is the best kind of coin type headspace gauge to keep on
hand for checking out potential rifle purchases. Confused about Go, No Go and field. Also are all gauges mil spec?
Brownells stock gauges that work fine. I would stock 1 of each(3) to be sure. Can't say if they are mil spec.
Go with the Arrowmark gauges. That's what I have. Nicely made and to Brit standards.
As with most Military and civilian headspace gauges there is a difference, and American civilian SAAMI gauges having tighter specifications than British military rifles.Quote:
Originally Posted by traindriver
The British and Commonwealth military settings for headspace are:
.064 Go or minimum
.074 NO-GO or maximum
Commercial American SAAMI headspace settings are:
.064 GO or minimum
.067 NO-GO or maximum
.071 FIELD Maximum
If you reload you may like tighter headspace settings BUT what is very important is "who" makes your cartridge cases, and "how" they are fire formed which has a great deal to do with extending case reloading life.
Right now the best made cases for the Enfield are Prvi Partizan, they have case walls .010 thicker than American made cases, these cases also have a larger base diameter and thicker rims than any presently made .303 case.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMGP6206-1.jpg
You can "cheat" the word headspace by fire forming your .303 British cases by using a rubber o-ring placed in front of the rim. The rubber o-ring will hold the case against the bolt face and prevent case stretching when the cases are fire formed.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...IMGP5096-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ame_0001-1.jpg
The only drawback to using the rubber o-ring method of fire forming your cases is the fact you can no longer have any fun arguing about which headspace gauges to to use. (American or British, because it doesn't really matter any more)
there's a few choices at enfieldresource.com