help putting on new barrel, short or deep chamber?

[Gallahad]

OK, I actually have somewhat of an understanding of short and deep chambered barrels, but what do you have to do when installing a new barrel? whats the process, and whats neccessary for each kind of barrel, and which do you reccomend?

[Ranger413]

I'm not real familiar with the deep vs. short chamber stuff, but I recently swapped barrels on my Savage 110.  I used two headspace gauges to set the headspace correctly.  I can expound on this a little if this is what you're looking for.  If it is something eles, I may not be much help.

Ranger413

[PaulS]

Gallahad,

When installing a new barrel always short chamber it before installation and then after installation you finish the chamber for:

1: minimum chamber for target only rifles

2: moderate chamber for hunting rifles

3: deep chamber for military use only

for a gun that will see use in both hunting and taget fields use a chamber that is your best compromise for your application.

In a target rifle the lead and freebore is kept to a minimum with a low angle into the rifling. For a hunting rifle you want a little more room to keep pressures down with factory loads. A slightly longer freebore and lead with a bit steeper angle.
I suggest that you spend some time talking to a good riflesmith and follow his advice as to what the best chamber dimensions should be for your use.

[Judson]

Are you talking about new barrels that are short chambered or long chambered when you get them?    If you are, then this is the difference.   The short chambered barrel will come with the chamber too short so if you have or rent a chambering reamer you can install the barrel with out needing a metal lathe.    Long chambered barrel have too deep a chamber so you have to cut both the face of the barrel and the shoulder back to get correct head space.    I use the lathe for both style barrels and set the head space so that the bolt is snug on the go gauge.   The ideal situation is to get a head spaceing where there is no slop if you want the best accuracy the guns we build do not leave the shop if they will not shoot .5" or less with a good load at 100 yards.    However there is lots more to good accuracy then just tight head space.