I just got my C&R last Wednesday,mailed copies off to a few dealers Thursday, get paid tomorrow and ready to buy some guns! hat
Steven

I would say that's entirely a judgment call. If you have any concerns at *all* that the rifle might not be safe, have someone competent take a look at it. At the very least it should be checked for proper headspace.

It would be nice to have a gunsmith in the area.

You are fortunate.

Dennis Jenkins

The safest thing to do would be to have them checked by a gunsmith or buy a set of gauges.

Having said that I don't really do it.  I rely on doing business with reputable dealers and sometimes a couple of pieces of masking tape.  

Thanks for the replies.  

Quoted: Having said that I don't really do it.  I rely on doing business with reputable dealers and sometimes a couple of pieces of masking tape.

I check the headspace on every single C&R grade rifle I buy. Most are old rifles, most have been shot allot and I shoot them allot. I don't want one coming apart on me!!

But thats just me, I'm paranoid.

Be aware, tho, that some guns are VERY hard to headspace accurately, due to generous chambers and the difference between SAAMI spec'd guages (which your gs will have) and the military specs they were made to.

8mm & .303 are famous for this. A gunsmith might tell you a K98 is suffering excessive headspace when it's perfectly safe to fire.

Myself, I sandbag the action (put a sandbag over the action on a bench), duck my head below the bench and test fire it. Then, check for hard extraction, examine the shell for stretches, cracks, bright rings around the case head or pierced primers. If none of that exists - guess what? The rifle is fine and will last for another 50 years most likely.

Beats paying $30 to find out the same thing, IMHO.

I usually clean the gun and give it a visual inspection, see if I see something obvious might be wrong. Then I probably shouldnt do this, but I just fire the rifle from my hip with the top of the action pointed away from me. If I'm still alive I examine the ejected case for cracks. I usually do this for the first 5 rounds and then have at it.