O.K. to shoot?

[flintlock28]

A relative dropped off His Sporterized M1917 Eddystone rifle for me to look at. The relative who borrowed it from Him, told Him it has "Headspace issues". I told Him I have Clymer go, no-go, and Field gauges, and would look it over, although i'm not real familiar with 1917 rifles.

I removed the extractor, stripped the bolt, and used the gauges. The No-go gauge did fully close, but the Field gauge would not allow the bolt to close....I'd say it would need about 1/8 of an inch more bolt movement to achieve full closure. In my mind, that means the headspace is on the long side, but the rifle is still o.k. to shoot

I posted this on some other website, and some people agreed with me that it's o.k., but will probably be a little rough on Brass. others acted as if Western civilization would come to an end on the first round fired, and I would be a complete fool to even think of firing this rifle.

My relative will probably fire no more than 2 boxes of ammo a year thru this rifle; for deer hunting, and to check His aim.

The rifle appears to be in nice shape with no pitting, and fully functional. I told my relative I would fully clean the bore, go over the rifle and take it to the range to fire, and inspect every casing, for any issues.

Am i logical in my believing this is o.k. to fire?

thanx

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