Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Savage rebarrel question

Finally got the barrel nut loose, many thanks to spence1875 for the use of his action wrench. Put the new barrel on, the only deviation from the instructions I had was I didn't remove the plunger when setting the headspace. The pin holding it in wouldn't budge. I also used a fired case from my Mini-30 instead of a headspace guage.

Think I'll be OK? The new barrel is 7.62X39, if that helps.

Thanks, Jim

IMO a brand new FL sized case would be a lot better than one fired in a sloppy chambered autoloader.

New cases are short in headspace ... better a fired case that's been FL resized ... better again the headspace gages.

I dont remove the plunger to headspace ... find I dont need to.
Cheers...
Con

My god man, get a headspace gauge, two even - GO and NO GO. Brass is soft, inconsistent in size and not precision enough to run headspace set up with. Headspace has to be set on the datum line of the shoulder for rimless cartridges, brass isn't made for that task.

You don't need to remove the extractor or the ejector. The ejector retaining pin is splined, it comes out in one direction with a 1/16" punch after the ejector spring is compressed, if it is removed a new pin is recommended.

You will want a torque wrench to reset the barrel nut (30-40 lbs ft) and maybe a bit of never-seize to keep the threads from galling. The Savage action is made to easily swap barrels - I do it in 15 minutes, but you gotta use the right tools - barrel nut wrench, barrel vise, an action wrench, set of headspace gauges and a torque wrench, for your safety if nothing else.

Thanks for the advise, will get some headspace gauges coming.

You only really need a Go gauge. And I would agree an new unfired case would be better than a fired case in another gun. You will replicate any excessive headspace that exists in the other gun, and will be excessively bumping the shoulder of all cases when you FL resize. The only issue with using the new unsized case is that not all cases may fit in your gun.

Got the headspace gauges today, had it up & shooting this afternoon. Initial groups were impressive, worst was the steel case FMJ, 1 1/4", PMC came in @3/4". Barrel is .95 @ muzzle, SS, 17" long. Really wanted to shoot more, but the sleet coming in sideways killed my resolve.