Vlad,
stretched receivers and lug set back are definitely non existent at least with all the ones that I own or have looked at, and this includes a heavily used military action. The Mannlicher cartridges were all pretty low pressure. Throat erosion was a far greater problem especially with English retailed sporters which would have used British ammo and not necessarily been cleaned straight away or all that well.

One rifle, a Model 1910 retailed by Haliday & Co. is nothing more than a rifle straight from Steyr with the makers name engraved on the barrel and the rear sights changed to English open-V style, so the rifle which has 0.018" headspace came like that from the factory.

I also have to Model 1895 Dutch sporters in 356 Mannlicher, one a Jeffery and the other a Gibbs. The Jeffery which is in very good condition has 0.014" headspace and the Gibbs which is being restored has 0.018" headspace. The Jeffery may have been re-barreled although I doubt it as on those models the original barrels were usually used and re-profiled and new sights added etc. I spoke to Mark Cruddington about the Gibbs and he told me that Gibbs definitely used to use the original barrels and re-profile them followed by new sights, and on this one the original military sights were used although with a new base and leaves as well as platinum inlaid lines. So the rifles left the factory, either Steyr or Jeffery (or whoever made the rifle for Jeffery) with the headspace as it is now. The only one that I have with minimal headspace of 0.008" is a Model 1903 retailed by Beesley which has had a lot more work done to it before being sold, and it shoots very well.

All my Model 70 Winchesters have had between 0.004" and 0.008" headspace.

I only have one Mauser but I will check it tonight, I have not fired it yet.

Stories of case head separation and or case splitting were common in the old days whether military or sporting and I strongly believe that in many if not all cases the rifle was to blame and not the brass which was usually blamed. Poor quality brass, crystallization, age hardening etc are always the suggested reasons however the Kynoch brass that I have is made in the early fifties and should by all accounts exhibit all those problems especially the poor quality brass and age hardening which is usually attributed to Kynoch brass, when fired in a rifle with 0.004" headspace shows no sign of anything, the cases are perfect after firing. No stretching, no thinning, no splitting, no head separation.

It would be interesting to see if some of the members here were to check some of their sporters for headspace what the results would be. Whether Mauser, Mannlicher, Model 70 or Lee-speeds.

Matt.