Surely not, the threads still remain in the same place, and what about overturn.[/QUOTE]
I argued that (among other points) at the time, and got howled down. They could not get it through their heads that all you were doing was removing the load bearing surface and making the threads take the pressure of firing transferred through to the locking lugs. It does not matter what you do to the face of the bolt body, unless you remove enough for the head to go on another turn, it will always be in the same place once it is in the boltway.
That was one part of the hand fitting the No1 rifle needed to be set up.... selecting a bolt head that either provided the correct headspace, or was long enough to stone down the face to get the correct headspace. The No4 rifle used "sized" bolt heads to give a selection but as has been proven, these were more just an indicator rather than a true size range.
Of interest on this point, when the Aust Army re introduced the No1 MkIII* HT sniper rifle into service as an interim measure in the 1970's, the parts list included a selection of measured bolt heads to provide a quick and easy fix for headspace.
Attachment 69509