I need some help from the big dogs regarding reloading

ironsite

ironsite

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Hi folks,
I hope that you can give me some reloading advice as I am getting confused. I started to do me own reloads about two weeks ago. Although I never had the chance to do some reloading with an experienced person, I did read the books, watched the video and spoke with a ton of experienced reloaders before I started. So this morning I went off to the range with 153 newly reloaded rounds of .303 british and Win 30/30. All rounds where loaded to the Lyman Suggested starting Grains for each type. This is where I was told to begin my reloading journey.
So there I am at the range, I chamber my first round of .303brt pull the trigger and bang. When I open the breech the back cap for the case comes out and the bullet casing is now stuck in my barrel......The RSO sees my swearing to the Gods and after finding out that these are reloads he picks and couple up and shakes them. He said, if you can hear the powder move inside the bullets NFG. He went on the explain that with room in the casing the force of the powder can blow back and do what it did to my rifle. So I packed up the reloads and went to town on my SKS for the rest of the day. When I got home, I checked my store bought ammo and they all have room inside them were I can hear the powder move. What is the deal here. where did I go wrong. I was told to buy a bullet puller, yank the remaining 152 bullets and add more powder. I want your input before I load my Winchester 94 with these reloads. I don't want to hurt babies.

P.S. When I reloaded the .303 brt. The bullet seater would seat up the bullet to the middle of the groove and there the bullet would move up and down within that groove, So I measured the proper bullet length and crimped it. The bullet would the stop moving. but could this have been the cause of the blow back?
Sorry for the long post, Thanks for your advice in advance.
Stan
 
The bullet left the barrel, it was the case (minus the primer end) that was stuck in my barrel. It actually came out pretty easy with a cleaning rod when I got home. could it have been a bad brass fluke on my first shot and should I try again?
Thanks
 
I might as well ask before someone else, what was the recipe of the load? This will help us out to see if you were loading to a correct load volume. You didn't mix up the powders on the bench by chance? You say the bullet was loose till you crimped. How did you resize the case before reloading? Was it with a lee neck collet neck die? Full length die? Give us some more to go on to help you out
 
You have a classic case (pardon the pun) of incipient head separation....very common on the 303 British Lee Enfield with the rear locking lugs.....I know of two other instances from two different 303's to experience this.......I recommend neck sizing only for this rimmed case....this will minimize the case/head separation and increase case life......Look for the bright ring forward of the case webbing....this is the indicator of incipient head separation.....There is nothing wrong with powder not completely filling the case......Consider IMR3031, IMR4064, and IMR4895 as powders for the old 303 British.....
 
I am using IMR 4064 powder at 37.0gn for the .303brt with a Hornady 174grn FMJ/BT bullet (3131) OAL= 2.945.
I do see some bright rings on some of the casings, I will disgard them.
Thanks for all the input guys.
 
quickly skimming through the posts, i can say that the RO is a moron if he thinks all cased must be filled... it all depends on type of powder.
 
Welcome to reloading. you learn with experience. Experience is very similar to mistakes.

303 is a bit more tricky than most calibers to load. The cases stretch just forward of the web (the solid brass part of the case head). If they stretch too much, the come apart.

So tossing the cases that look stretched is a good idea.

Here is what you should ahve done:

Instead of sizing the cases all the way to the bottom, You should have sized a few cases so that the neck was sized about half way down. Then tried these to see if they would chamber ok. If they chamber ok, no need to size any further. If there is resistance, turn the die down one rev and try again. The idea is to size only the minimum amount required.
 
I'm 6'2" 270lbs so I guess Im a "big dog"

First off your RSO is a dumbass!!

I could shake every loaded round in my gun room and I would bet $1000 that every one makes a noise!!

As for your case head separation, it happens with .303 sometimes. I've only had one in the thousands of .303's that I've loaded. Next time that happens simply attempt to chamber the next round. The next round will insert into the broken case and then give the bolt a good tap and then pull the bolt back which should extract the stuck round and the loaded round at the same time.

As stated above, neck sizing with .303 is the way to go as chambers in lee enfields can be quite generous which causes the brass to become stressed with each resizing.

All I can say is reloading is fun, sometimes things like this happen and it makes a great learning experience. The more you load the more you'll learn about a particular caliber.

I'd say shoot the remaining rounds you've loaded and have fun!!:)
 
Where did u get that load recipe? Seems below minimum as a 180g takes over 41g..Curious. You may be experiencing detonation instead of ignition...]]
ps Your RSO is full of BS
 
You guys are awesome!
Thanks
P.S. Big dog refers to people with more knowledge them me........so basically a 9 pound chiwawa has me beat today. but I'm glad I can go back to the range and try out the 30/30 loads.
 
It wasn't insipient head separation you had, you had total head separation.
Your load, heavy, light, shakeable, had nothing to do with it.
As has been pointed out, Lee Enfield military rifles have large chambers, in order that some dirt, or whatever, can get in the chamber, or the cartridges can fall in the mud, but will still chamber and go bang.
That means, in worn chambers, there is excess room for the cartridge. When the firing pin hits the primer, the whole cartridge is driven forward. It then fires. the copper case grips the chamber, holding the cartridge forward, with only the base of the cartridge blowing back. Most of the stretch of the case ends up just above the webb of the case and in extreme cases, like yours, the the case head pulls right off.
The solution to enable you to shoot your loadings, the case must be held back, so it won't be driven forward. Best solution is what Smellie tells so much, I'll bet he says it in his sleep!
A little rubber O-ring, like girls use in their hair, (apparently) is just right size. Slip it over the case before you load it. The brass case will come out in perfect condition and can be reloaded with success, but only if it is neck sized only, forever after!
 
RO not so bright. Stuffing your cases full of powder so it doesn't shake is NOT a good way to develop a load. There are some powder/bullet/case combinations that may compress the powder, but definitely not all of them. Or even most of them. This is an issue with the oversized chambers in the Lee Enfields more than likely. One way to remedy it is to slip an o-ring or pony tail tie over the base of the case the first time you fire it. This will centre the cartridge in the giant chamber so it expands evenly on all sides, reducing the chance of making a weak spot. Then only neck size the cases after that, being sure to use them only in that gun. Cases should be good for many neck size only reloads after that. (I'm assuming your headspace is OK on the rifle)

Hey Tinman, we're the same size!
 
When I went to the shop. I brought the press that was given to me with me with any bits and pieces. I showed this to guy behind the counter explained that I knew nothing. His recommendation was the 174 FMJ/BT bullet size specifically for the Enfield. The Lyman was the recipe he suggested although he did say that has always maxed out the power for a bigger wow factor. I was looking for accuracy and stability first and wow second....(my wife disagrees she always wants the wow factor.)




Trinimon said:
Lyman manual has a starting load of 37gr for 174gr JRN.
Click to expand...
 
ironsite said:
When I went to the shop. I brought the press that was given to me with me with any bits and pieces. I showed this to guy behind the counter explained that I knew nothing. His recommendation was the 174 FMJ/BT bullet size specifically for the Enfield. The Lyman was the recipe he suggested although he did say that has always maxed out the power for a bigger wow factor. I was looking for accuracy and stability first and wow second....(my wife disagrees she always wants the wow factor.)
Click to expand...

Flat base bullets seem to work better in the Enfields. I just got a batch of Woodleighs from Tradeex, they look great but I haven't got a chance to try them out yet. 215 gr RN though, should at least have some whompin' power.
 
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