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You are correct James K. Which is why I started my post the way I did.
However in rifles with excessive headspace your brass life is very short and it's unlikely that most men can fire a rifle enough to shoot out a throat with factory ammo unless they are quite wealthy. Also with that much shooting it usually becomes obvious to the rifles owner that the chamber is loose by examination of the fired brass.
But your point is valid.
Before such work is done the headspace should be checked and measured in the old barrel.
In fact, it can be set tighter if the old one is on the loose side of mil-spec.
I have done that many times myself.
If for example you have a set of specs that is + or - .006" and your headspace is .005" I can easily set it to .002" and that gives the new barrel a slightly shorter and tighter chamber, but still within spec. (so can any good smith) Such a new barrel can be more accurate and will also give much better brass life to the reloader.
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