“For over a century, "headspace" has been what SAAMI's glossary says”
Bart B. I can not take you seriously, Sammy got started in 1926, the government was involved, they wanted, standards and coordinated technical data, and safety, they wanted to promote firearm safety. Back to over a century, from 1926 to 2012 is short of a century not “For over a century....” Back to the government, why should I take Sammy seriously if the government does not ( take them seriously)?
Take them (Sammy) seriously as in the government, our government publishes material, FM 23 65 C1, in the field manual Sammie was not consulted, Sammy did not make corrections, Sammy was not politically correct, the Government publication was not intimidated into thinking ‘they’ Sammy was the only source of information, to the government it was their gun, their soldier, their manual. It was the government’s responsibility to eliminate confusion. knowing ‘what is is’ does not trump ‘how to check it’. 120,000 BMG were installed in B17s, P47s had 8 each, Mustangs had 6 each. then there were B 25 and B26s. Millions upon millions have been manufactured with manuals, Sammie was not consulted.
Bart B. you did a search? Again, fantastic. I do not find it necessary to do a search, again, I check can measure the length of a chamber 3 different ways without a head space gage and I can modify a head space gage as in go-gage length to a field reject gage and everything in-between. Bart B., you talk about ‘it’ I do ‘it’, and, I accept that, it is OK with me.
Going to the range with new creations, 3 smiths, 120 years of experience in machine shops, 140 years of smiting, I was not there. One took a prairie dog type rifle he was going to take to the Wyoming and the Dakotas, the barrel was hand pocked by the manufacturer’s owner, when he returned from the range he selected another rifle, when expressing his disappointment in the barrel I ask him if the owner of the company sounded like LBJ, seems when selecting the barrel the owner missed the turn/twist rate by 3 inches.
Then the 50 BMG, chambered 4 different rounds, all failed to fire. Most would think there would not be enough room on top of the 50 BMG, with all that skill and experience, did not happen, they loaded up the 50 and finished their secession. The man with the 50 called me, in about 10 minutes he knew as much as I did, the best part? His rifle has a life time warranty, nothing for him to do but ship the parts and wait for them to be returned, he was surprised head space could be set twice on the same chamber, not all chambers, both of us are form first then fire, and not one time did he say “Sammy says”, and he did not say “Bench resters for years have done ‘it’ this way...”, most of that is hind sight. Again, there are those that can do it, there are those that talk about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:50_bmg_12.7x99.svg this link furnishes all the information a smith/reloader/machinist needs unless he is too hard wired wired with spouting chapter and verse without understanding the meaning of what they are are quoting.
F. Guffey