we've 'spilled a lot of ink' on this topic elsewhere to some degree. i recommend the reading of Rob Lucas' article in the 1996 Gun Digest entitled " P.O. Ackley's Wildcats" in its entirety.....but especially pages 116 and 117 therein he quotes from Ackley's book (1962) "Handbook Vol. I" the experiments Ackley conducted with factory loads in a .30-30 he'd Improved, even UNSCREWING THE BARREL AND LENGTHENING THE FIRING PIN in his experiments using factory brass! let's face it: Ackley wasn't doing this over and over again with brass exploding in his face. he used a "junk pile" Model 94 to Improve for this series of tests; and he apparently got away with it.
the secret to doing a .30-30 Ackley Improved on a Handi' is to maintain the original, safe, headspacing that the rifle was chambered with. DO NOT RUN THE REAMER INTO THE BARREL SUCH THAT IT DEEPENS THE CUTOUT FOR THE RIM BEYOND ITS ORIGNAL DEPTH. it could, of course, be said that one still needs to use chamber gauges: go, no-go, and a field gauge, to verify that the original headspacing was safe from the factory. i see nothing wrong with verifying the factory's work before going ahead with a re-chambering of my own. SAFETY FIRST!
i just thought we all should consider reading the article.
take care,
ss'
