.22LR Headspacing

Feisar

I've a Bergara B14R on the way and of course I had to get ahead of myself and went and got bolt shims for adjusting the headspace. The bolt strips and has the ability to take the shims:



Been reading a ball of stuff, eg:

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=409542&fbclid=IwAR3JIQkU0TJ3MKHo1hKvD-2h1SZZMHoZz-1VDgkfBsACtF2zUOvrdw3dVkg#/topics/409542?page=3

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/22lr-headspace.4008616/?fbclid=IwAR3wRanAVNKd1oQTnvKX1yByRHXGGldZLIWRKYfdET9jIVpSND6eauWNpHk

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/eley-chambered-rifle.3934410/?fbclid=IwAR3xGwMhLkyG6OmzbglnPPxW6jC3ym9FEqKxqLtdgqoh5KKAmVO3YxPIuew

Has anyone any experience with tinkering with something like this? Not to bothered with setting it up for a specific ammo, eg, there appears to be a fair difference between Eley and Lapua. I'm also aware I could create a situation the rifle would fire on closing the bolt if the headspace is set overly tight.

Also will send over 1K down the barrel before I even think of tinkering with it and if I find something it really likes I'll leave well enough alone. For the moment it's an academic question.

tudderone

Buy a .22lr go no-go gauge and set the headspace with that. But i wouldn't mess with it as it came from the factory.

https://www.cdsgltd.co.uk/forster-headspace-gauge-22-rimfire-go-length-rimmed-and-belted.html

minktrapper

Out of curiosity how does changing the head space improve accuracy.

Feisar

minktrapper wrote: »

Out of curiosity how does changing the head space improve accuracy.

To be honest I don't know however I presume like having a Bentz chamber having everything nice and snug aids accuracy.

GooseB

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFdbmdi3sVo

This is a recent video of a fella messing with headspace on his CZ. Not a massive difference between the different settings, he was also basing his testing off two 5-shot groups which isn't enough if you ask me.

Wadi14

in that video he has replaced the cz barrel with an aftermarket Lilja match barrel if I remember right from when I had watched it online , the Lilja aftermarket barrels for the cz come with shims to adjust the headspace so that they can be used in any receiver as the tolerances may differ from gun to gun.

When we say match barrel on a magazine fed repeater we dont really get the tightest of chambers as there has to be space for the round to be fed from the magazine and then extracted.
Single shot target rifle- tightest chamber
Magazine fed repeater- slightly larger chamber
semi auto- as wide as a barn door lol

the head space in your new Begara will have been set at the factory, and will be fine for all grades of ammo, if you wanted to adjust it to suit just one ammo manufacturer you could. But it may only give slight changes as your still pushing the round down a factory barrel at the end of the day, and the walls of the chamber will still be larger all your doing is adjusting the depth of where the bullet sits in the chamber.

What type of shooting will you mainly be doing with the rifle, and what accuracy is required for that type of shooting ?

Feisar

To be honest I don't have an accuracy requirement other than really accurate. I want to use it as a training tool to up my game, those 53 grain VMax's aren't cheap. I'l probably try my hand at .22LR PRS but ultimately I'm getting it to practice, practice, practice. So I suppose accurate enough to I know if the bullets don't land where they are supposed to it's on me.

Wadi14

The factory rifle should be capable for every thing you want out of the box

Feisar

Wadi14 wrote: »

The factory rifle should be capable for every thing you want out of the box

Yer right, I'm suffering from a dose of notions:pac:

Wadi14

I know the feeling, put it down to the pandemic lol

tudderone

Feisar wrote: »

Yer right, I'm suffering from a dose of notions:pac:

Buy as many different brands, weights, velocities of .22 ammo as you can and test them. See what the rifle likes. That would be much more useful than messing around with headspace. I've seen 50+ years old .22 rifles that can still put the group into a tiny ragged hole, and they have never had their headspace touched since they left the factory.