How serious is a bit of excessive headspace in a 30-30? I've got a prewar m94 that backs out the primers about 0.010" to 0.018" with factory loads. I asked a local gunsmith what he thought and he said that lots of old 30-30s do that and I shouldn't have a problem as long as I don't try to reload it hotter than factory loads.

What do you think?

Mike,

In these old 30-30's, sometimes the low pressure round is responsible for the exaggerated primer. How does it do with handloads? Sometimes holding the lever up tight against the frame will eliminate enough slack to reduce the effect. If this works, see what your gunsmith can do to reduce the slack or perhaps even fit a new locking bolt.

Malm

Thanks for the advice. I don't handload as of yet (but I will try soon!). I'll try holding the lever tight and see if that helps.

Mike,
It is pretty common for the 94s to exhibit excessive headspace. It may be possible to get the locking block to move up slightly and tighten things up a bit. Sometimes the lever link is actually bent and the block doesn't move up as far as it should.
It is not uncommon for the rims on 30/30 brass to be too thin by .005 or so which makes things a bit worse. I agree that it is not likely to be too dangerous with the low pressure loadings. Regards, Bill

I tried the holding the lever tight this afternoon and it made no difference. The action seems really tight and locks up firm.

Bill, about the rim thickness - I measured some fired and unfired cases and they are 0.055" which is 0.008" thinner than the 0.063" measurement that the rim is supposed to be according to info I found on www.stevespages.com

I guess for now I won't worry too much about it and I'll be careful when I start to reload for this rifle.

Thanks again everybody for the help.

The locking bolt may be the area that is worn, if that's it, it's a cheap fix. Using it that way ( with headspace), you will have poor brass life when you start to reload. You could of course set the sizing die up so it headspaces on the shoulder instead of the rim, but you might run into chambering, or extraction problems. 30-30 brass in a tight gun should last about forever if loads are reasonable.

[ 01-18-2003, 06:18: Message edited by: John Y Cannuck ]

A brand new Winchester 94 comes from the factory with very generous (what most of us would consider excessive) headspace. Chambers are cut large and brass is made small to ensure that factory loads chamber easily. Probably less than 1% of .30-30 shooters reload, so the factory is fairly unconcerned about the post-firing status of the brass. You can probably live with your headspace, just resize your brass as little as possible and still chamber dependably.