Headspace. To gauge or not to gauge, that is the question.

[Cz315]

A general question.

In my [limited] experience with SKS I just shot them without worrying too much about headspace. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose. So far it worked out fine, knock on wood. Now, the two I have are decent looking ones with all matching numbers, maybe that's why.

What's your expert opinion, should one always check for headspace issues with milsurp (SKS in particular) just out of abundance of caution, or is it a potential problem with beaters, mismatched ones, etc? I have a no-go gauge for Mosins, but those are simple and inexpensive. I don't mind paying for it, but if I can avoid it - I'd gladly put the $ toward the new toys...

[Larry D.]

I've never headspaced a rifle in my life.

[echo1]

I use a Romy go/no-go gage on builds where the bolt isn't from the receiver. PAX

[xtriggerman]

 The Tilting bolt on the SKS is the last gun you need a headspace gauge for.  Remove the firing pin and extractor. Make sure the chamber is clean. Grab a varied number 4 or 5 new cartridges. Remove the FCG from the receiver. Using only the striped bolt, put a new cartridge in battery and with a feeler gauge set, measure how much space is between the recoil shoulder and recoil edge of the bolt while only the bolt is in battery on a fresh cartridge. You should have about .004 to .008 at the most between the bolt and recoil shoulder in the receiver. Better if at the tighter side of .004 - .006 but heavy use can put these out past .008. Depending on chamber diameter, once you get much past .010 Case bulge will become more prevalent along with backing out primers. Confirm your head space with your different manufactured cartridges. Personally, Gauges have there place obviously, But knowing precisely how far back your cartridge is jumping at light off is the next level of intel on whats going on in front of your bolt. Love the SKS, FAL tilting bolt design....

[Cz315]

Thank you all! Lots of great info!

[echo1]

I love feeler gauges. PAX