.303 British case stretch

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windy

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Hi Everyone. I finally got to take my new to me .303 Lee Enfiled out for a spin today. As I bought this gun at a gun show and have not had a chance to bring it into a gun smith i was somewhat cautious about its headspacing and chamber clearances. With full PPE on I fired one shot and inspected the case. Seemed fine, no obviuos damage or discoloration in the brass. After a few more rounds I found one casing that had a different shine to the brass about .270" up from the bottom of the rim. I fired a few more rounds and these came out looking fine. I should mention that I was using factory ammo. Federal 150 grain soft points. When I got home I took some measurements between the stretched case and an unfried case, I also compaired the measurements to the ones found in the book "The Accurate Lee Enfield" pg 26
I'm hoping you reloaders out there can shed some light on if my rifle is way out of spec or if the stretches listed are ok and normal.
Spot Measured Unfired Fired
Dia Approx. .270" up from btm 0.448" 0.454"
Dia just above rim 0.448" 0.448"
Length base to shoulder 1.790" 1.820"
dia. shoulder 0.394" 0.404"
Length of neck 0.304" 0.314"
Length of case 2.209" 2.217"
Dia of neck 0.336" 0.341"

There was an obviouse change of shape in the shoulder area but I understand that this happens and is not really a bad thing. Im not planing on reloading yet as I've just gotten into the shooting sports as of last year, so a little case stretch shouldnt be too big of a problem. I would appreciate some opinions and comments.
Thanks
Windy
 
Thanks for the responses, these cases that are slightly bulged (.006"), are they ok to reload, when I start reloading.
 
windy said:
Thanks for the responses, these cases that are slightly bulged (.006"), are they ok to reload, when I start reloading.
Click to expand...
They are likely fine to reload, but impossible for me to tell without a personal inspection.
One thing you can do on any suspicious case, is to run a bent paperclip down the inside of the case, and feel for a groove where you see the bright ring on the outside. If you feel a groove, the case is garbage.
The groove is incipient to case separation.
 
Those numbers don't look too bad to me. They are known for excessive head space. However, that headspace is essentially gone after you fire the cartridge the first time.

The secret to reloading them is to neck size only, and don't push the shoulder face back with a FL die unless you have to. If you have to, then just move the shoulder back the very minimum amount - 0.001-0.002". Hornady sells a headspace gauge that can make it easier to measure the base to shoulder dimension. And the obvious, keep those cases separated for that gun only. Don't mix your brass.
 
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