Reloading .303 cases

[JB White]

Watch for loose groups and keyholing when using BT's. Not all Enfields like them once they've had a bit of throat wear. No4's do better than older SMLE's which have been fired with Cordite loads and suffered more erosion. Flat Base bullets in the 303 are the rule of thumb.

[Merc]

JB,

What you're saying might explain a lot. I bought eight boxes of .303 British ammo, all 174 gr BT FMJ when I first bought the No.4 in 2014 and blamed all of the bad shooting I was doing on my inability to solve the iron ladder sight. I began reloading with 150 gr flat base soft points about the same time I installed a bolt-on Addley Precision scope mount and Bushnell scope on the No. 4 and, once zeroed, I found it to be very accurate at 100 yards which is the maximum target distance at the gun club I belong to. I also found that the 150 gr flat base soft points shoot the best in my rifle with one grain over the starting powder load. That's the nice part about this and other forums. The wealth of knowledge out there is amazing.

I might also add - Reloading isn't always done for economical reasons. I probably spend more reloading on a per round basis than a box of PPU .303 British costs per round. However, with a little dumb luck, I stumbled across a combination of bullet type and BLC-(2) powder that works very well in my No. 4. I call it dumb luck because I had no advance knowledge that 150 gr flat base bullets would work so well. They were simply the only bullets that Cabelas had in .303 British on the shelf.

Merc

[joem]

I retired a 1943 British one because I only got 3 reloads on the brass. I now use a Indian made in1967 and get more reloads from the brass.

[Vern Humphrey]

Often the problem that produces blown out .303 cases isn't excess headspace but rather war time chambers. Wartime chambers tend to be oversize which doesn't matter a whole lot with a rimed cartridge. The headspace on my old 1917 No I Mk III which I got fresh from FTR was measured by a gunsmith at .070 or quite OK, the fired cases look like classic examples of excessive headspace. The problem in this case isn't the headspace but the very generous chamber. Peace time rifles are another story, My No 4 Mk II which came new in the wrap produces fired cases that look like the came in a bag on new brass.

I full length resize because my hand loads will be used in both rifles. I have a bunch of brass from when I wasn't reloading but wasn't throwing any away either. Two reloads is max with me because of the chamber differences in the two rifles, and because I hand load to Mil Spec. velocities with 174 gr bullets.

I don't know if the Lee Enfield was subjected to "hogged out" chambers, but the Ross certainly was. My .303 M1905 Ross produces fired cases that look like .303 Epps!

This was, I understand, an attempt to prevent cases from sticking in the chambers, or from not fully chambering under filthy trench conditions.

[JB White]

Enfields were subjected to "hogged out" chambers in a sense and the rifles will be marked in some cases. The asterisks on the Knock's Form in a number ranging from 1 to 3 indicating the severity of rust or nicks found in the chamber. Armorers had to polish those problems away and the metal had to go somewhere. Usually not a problem and are safe, but can be annoying for the reloader.

The wartime rifles were chambered to spec. (All of them are war rifles) However they were subjected to more rigors and problems. I think that's where the "oversized wartime chamber" story comes from.

[Vern Humphrey]

As I say, I don't know about Lee Enfields, but the Ross was certainly hogged out -- you have only to look at the ejected cases.

[Sunray]

Knowing where they were didn't help. snicker.
Stuff is 1944 DZ. Weighed 4 randomly selected cases sans primer. Amazing how consistent they are.
167.7
167.0
168.5
167.5
"...adjust head space with different bolt heads..." Yep. Just take one off and put the other one on. Check with gauges. Not bits of tape, empty cases, live rounds, wads of gum or anything else.
"...if any commercial ammo currently available comes close to..." Isn't important.

[Merc]

Go to the Mauser Rifle section of this forum and check out the "Spanish Mauser 7X57 Reloads" topic. I started the topic and got some excellent advice on how to check for throat wear by measuring "jump" which is the distance the bullet must travel to reach the rifling when it is fired. This one deserves a topic of its own but is buried in the current thread.

Merc

[Merc]

Knowing where they were didn't help. snicker.
Stuff is 1944 DZ. Weighed 4 randomly selected cases sans primer. Amazing how consistent they are.
167.7
167.0
168.5
167.5
"...adjust head space with different bolt heads..." Yep. Just take one off and put the other one on. Check with gauges. Not bits of tape, empty cases, live rounds, wads of gum or anything else.
"...if any commercial ammo currently available comes close to..." Isn't important.

That is interesting. I would have thought the military cases would have been heavier than the commercial cases. Then again, they only had to endure one shot and weren't reloaded although the case head extractor was a common tool so it must have been a problem to some degree. I bought one and may never need it as long as I continue to neck size.

The bolt heads are an easy enough part to replace. The resulting new head space dimension will definitely require a head space field gauge test. Can't do one without the other.

Merc

[Vern Humphrey]

That is interesting. I would have thought the military cases would have been heavier than the commercial cases. Then again, they only had to endure one shot and weren't reloaded although the case head extractor was a common tool so it must have been a problem to some degree. I bought one and may never need it as long as I continue to neck size.

The bolt heads are an easy enough part to replace. The resulting new head space dimension will definitely require a head space field gauge test. Can't do one without the other.

Merc

If you see a bright ring around the case just ahead of the extractor groove, trash that case. You can double check with a bent paper clip -- inside the case you can feel a groove at that point, which is incipient case head separation.