Thanks Jona for the reply. Thats what I was thinking but I don't know if there is a std. throat length the gunsmith will cut back to or do I give him a dummy round to measure and take it from there. If he cuts too much off does that mean I cant use longer projectiles? I had had the rifle checked for headspace etc. and the report that came back was the rifle is servicable, but in doing his checks he removed the scope and when he replaced it buggered the screws. if a gunsmith cant do up screws with out damaging them how good is his other work?.