303 Reloading Issue I hope this is the right forum

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Frost Cracked

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I have been having some problems resizing my 303 brass to fit in my enfields and was looking for some help.

They will not all fully fit into the chamber without horsing down on the bolt something fierce, and they're a pain to try and remove after.

I attempted to adjust the resizing die, wondering if it is because the small amount of brass that stays in the collet and not resized in the die. No luck.

I tried trimming down the end of the case wondering if it was too long. No luck.

I cut the case in half and tried to just chamber the bottom half of the case. No luck.

At this point I'm convinced that the bottom part of the case is not being sufficiently sized to properly fit into some of my enfields. Any suggestions?

Apologies if this is the wrong forum to post this. I hoped I'd get more a response in the milsurp than the reloading forum.
 
I had similar problems when I had my Ross rifle and using Lee dies. Old brass fired from my Lee Enfields and then full length resized in my Lee dies would not chamber in my Ross.

My solution was to buy a box of factory ammo, shoot it out of my Ross, and then neck size only that brass and keep it separate for shooting out of my Ross.

What brand dies are you using? Any chance you could have a friend, buddy, random internet person try FL resizing brass out of a different die?

Do factory rounds chamber fine?
 
The LEE collet die neck sizes only. Your conclusion was correct. Neck sizing works in the 303 Br for brass that was fired in that rifle. You will have to FL the brass, and size it down to fit in the smallest chamber. I have a die that I lapped for "proper" size about 30 years ago. I space it about 020 or so above the shell holder and it works for me. The 303 Br is a bag of snakes. But once you learn it, it's OK. Took me about 25 years and about 5 rifles to learn that butch.
 
wasa said:
I had similar problems when I had my Ross rifle and using Lee dies. Old brass fired from my Lee Enfields and then full length resized in my Lee dies would not chamber in my Ross.

My solution was to buy a box of factory ammo, shoot it out of my Ross, and then neck size only that brass and keep it separate for shooting out of my Ross.

What brand dies are you using? Any chance you could have a friend, buddy, random internet person try FL resizing brass out of a different die?

Do factory rounds chamber fine?
Click to expand...

I'm using a Hornady Full Length as my 303 brass is a big bucket of range brass from dozens of different rifles.

Factory rounds chamber fine, yes... but reloads do not.
 
You likely have a rifle with a replacement bolt or bolt head.

The larger the number, the longer the bolt head.

The different size bolt heads are used to keep head space within spec.

303Brit headspaces on the rim and is notorious for having different rim thicknesses.

Back in the day, people would change out the bolt head to take up, what they thought was excessive headspace, to keep the cartridge centered in chamber, for better accuracy.

This condition wouldn't allow the bolt to close on cases with thicker rims.

The only other issue is your Hornady dies aren't bumping back the shoulders on your reloads or your shell head holder may be to thick to allow the case to go deep enough to bump the shoulder back.

If it is the shell head holder, the base of the die can be ground or machined to allow the case to be inserted deep enough to allow the die to bump back the shoulder a few thou and size down your brass.

I've had some real issues with Hornady sizing dies not sizing down the cases in other cartridge types. I only buy them, if nothing else is available.
 
Frost Cracked said:
I have been having some problems resizing my 303 brass to fit in my enfields and was looking for some help.

They will not all fully fit into the chamber without horsing down on the bolt something fierce, and they're a pain to try and remove after.

I attempted to adjust the resizing die, wondering if it is because the small amount of brass that stays in the collet and not resized in the die. No luck.

I tried trimming down the end of the case wondering if it was too long. No luck.

I cut the case in half and tried to just chamber the bottom half of the case. No luck.

At this point I'm convinced that the bottom part of the case is not being sufficiently sized to properly fit into some of my enfields. Any suggestions?

Apologies if this is the wrong forum to post this. I hoped I'd get more a response in the milsurp than the reloading forum.
Click to expand...

Will new unfired brass chamber?
 
Frost Cracked said:
I have been having some problems resizing my 303 brass to fit in my enfields and was looking for some help.

They will not all fully fit into the chamber without horsing down on the bolt something fierce, and they're a pain to try and remove after.

I attempted to adjust the resizing die, wondering if it is because the small amount of brass that stays in the collet and not resized in the die. No luck.

I tried trimming down the end of the case wondering if it was too long. No luck.

I cut the case in half and tried to just chamber the bottom half of the case. No luck.

At this point I'm convinced that the bottom part of the case is not being sufficiently sized to properly fit into some of my enfields. Any suggestions?

Apologies if this is the wrong forum to post this. I hoped I'd get more a response in the milsurp than the reloading forum.
Click to expand...

Frost Cracked said:
I'm using a Hornady Full Length as my 303 brass is a big bucket of range brass from dozens of different rifles.

Factory rounds chamber fine, yes... but reloads do not.
Click to expand...

It's not clear if you're neck sizing or F/L sizing - please clarify. If the former, you need to at least partial F/L size as a start.

You said that new unfired brass chambers, so it seems to be related to the ability of your (F/L?) dies to size the brass down sufficiently. One Lee Enfield having a tight chamber is unusual, but you said "all" of your Enfields present this problem, which points back to your dies or the process you've been following to F/L size fired brass.

You could paint brass with black marker, chamber and possibly see the problem area(s).

Maximally tighten down you F/L dies so the press cams over and try again.

An unusual situation that with more information likely has a ready solution.
 
You say that a case cut in half,so front half gone. If that back part of the case won’t chamber it’s the base diameter. Your using range pickups from multiple rifles , all different chambers. If your FL die is making full contact with the shell holder the die you have is doing all it can. 303 fired in larger chambers is a pain to resize.
I use Hornady unique lube and graphite the necks. One of two problems. Your die isn’t adjusted probably or the die isn’t made to size the base small enough.
 
Frost Cracked: If the basal piece won't chamber it could still be the rim thickness that's the issue as opposed to the O.D. of the case. If it's a No. 4 you're shooting there is enough variability in bolt-head lengths that it's possible to reduce headspace beyond acceptable specs meaning that you're squeezing the rim when closing the bolt. As part of this process gauge the headspace and see where it's at. Also be aware that different makes of .303 brass have different rim thickness.

milsurpo
 
When the rifles were in the military, they were headspaced to work with MILITARY SPEC ammunition.

British and Canadian military 303 ammo had the rim thickness specified at maximum .064". Canadian Defence Industries turned out a BILLION rounds with rim thicknesses either AT or so close to, .063" that it is difficult to gauge.

COMMERCIAL ammunition is a whole different dog in the cat-fight. I have measured commercial rims as thin as .037". This means that a PERFECT headspacing for military ammo will actually be around .025" LOOSE or EXCESSIVE when fired in that rifle.

Fortunately, Rimmed ammunition is very forgiving when it comes to loose headspace: dimensions which would be hazardous if the ammo were Rimless is digested easily, although it is hard on the brass.

If you have thin-rimmed brass, you should be sure that it IS full-length sized..... and be sure to check for incipient base separations. If you have thin rims, you can compensate for the headspace variation with a pony-tail tie just forward of the Rim and your brass will blow out to dimension.

Good luck!
 
If you have multiple Enfields, it really helps to keep each one's brass carefully separate, since it's fire-formed to its chamber, and then you neck-size and use it in the same one again. That reduces stress on the brass and it lasts longer.

With brass from a different rifle, I'd test-chamber the unloaded brass to be sure it fit the destination rifle, then full-length size as necessary to make that work.
 
Thank you for the information guys. To answer some of your questions:

-I am full length sizing with a full length die

-The brass is mixed because not all of it is mine from my rifles, so its a big bucket of random brass from my rifles, and a dozen other peoples rifles

-Some of the brass chambers fine in some of the rifles and in some rifles it really has to be forced in

-Factory brass fits fine into every rifle without issue

-I cut the case in half, leaving just about an inch of the lower part of case with the rim attached, and tried to see if it would close. It did not.

I believe that my die is not properly sizing the last bit of the brass. As a result, the last 1/8 or so of case before the rim is still oversized for some of my rifles. I may wish to look into an RCBS or Lee die FL die at this point to see if that helps.
 
Frost Cracked said:
Thank you for the information guys. To answer some of your questions:

-I am full length sizing with a full length die

-The brass is mixed because not all of it is mine from my rifles, so its a big bucket of random brass from my rifles, and a dozen other peoples rifles

-Some of the brass chambers fine in some of the rifles and in some rifles it really has to be forced in

-Factory brass fits fine into every rifle without issue

-I cut the case in half, leaving just about an inch of the lower part of case with the rim attached, and tried to see if it would close. It did not.

I believe that my die is not properly sizing the last bit of the brass. As a result, the last 1/8 or so of case before the rim is still oversized for some of my rifles. I may wish to look into an RCBS or Lee die FL die at this point to see if that helps.
Click to expand...

Are the shoulders being set back at all????

If not, instead of purchasing another die set just grind .125 off the bottom of your Hornady die and all should be well.
 
Frost Cracked said:
I will check. I did attempt to resize the half-a-case before I tried it though.
Click to expand...

That means the web of your base isn't getting up into the sizing die and that would indicate to me that either the shell head holder needs to be thinned or the base of the die ground enough to allow you to set the shoulder back.
 
bearhunter said:
That means the web of your base isn't getting up into the sizing die and that would indicate to me that either the shell head holder needs to be thinned or the base of the die ground enough to allow you to set the shoulder back.
Click to expand...

I believe you are right. I re-sized a shell without the holder (had to take the die apart and apply some percussive force to remove it) and it dropped in without any issue after that.

It's not resizing the base of the case far enough to fit properly. Now that I know the problem I'll tinker around and see what I can come up with... maybe an empty die to resize the outside of the case fully, tap it out... then size again... I'll figure something out.

Thanks so much to everyone for the help.
 
If the brass has been fired in a rifle that has an oversize chamber at the base (common on LE's, but can happen with any rifle), it is often difficult to reduce the base dia of the sized case using a standard FL die. To complicate matters, most folks only partially resize the 303 case with the FL die, which reduces the action of the die at the base.
Chances are some of your used brass will resize properly, ones that were shot in a tight chamber. For the rest, one could consider getting a small base die, which is commonly used for semis. Alternatively, if you have more than one 303, there is a good chance that one of them will have an oversize chamber that will accept the oversize brass. In my own experience, war time #4's are most likely to exhibit an oversize chamber.
 
well as a drastic solution you could modify a full length sizing die to resize range brass

chuck it up in the lathe and turn off 1/6" or so of the bottom of the die, this should do the trick to resize the base of your cases

now the problem is you will also be bumping the shoulder back so to prevent this you may want to drill out the shoulder of the die

you will need a second die to size the shoulder of the case
 
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