Enfield #4 Bolt Heads

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sobo4303

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I just picked up a nice refurbed BSA #4 Mk1. In using Remy brass, I have a total headspace of 0.009" (including the recommended 0.006 airspace).

The bolt head that came with the rifle is marked #2. Based on information I've read, I'd be looking for a #3 head.

Anyone know where I can find such an animal?
 
Minimum headspace on the Number 4 Rifle is .064", friend. The RIM has to go somewhere!

Max is.074"

I do not know of any "recommendation" for 6 (or any other number) thou between the brass and the boltface. The things were supposed to be as close to zero as could be made.

Part of the problem could be that very darned little commercial brass has a rim thickness of .063": the military standard which was supposed to be adhered to whenever possible.

You might measure the thickness of the rims on your "Remy" brass and see how close THEY are to spec.

You might also get yourself some DEFENCE INDUSTRIES brass from WW2. This is the stuff with just the date, letter Z and letters DI on the head. It is Boxer-primed, non-corrosive, non-mercuric and it is the best reloading brass ever made. It was also made in Canada. Dates run generally 1942 through 1945, although I am told that a bit of 1941 also was made. You run into it at gun shows; sometimes idiots throw it away at ranges. That's where I got my latest thousand. You might want to anneal it gently; it IS getting a bit long in the tooth.

And another thing. Head down to your local dollar store and get a pack of those silly little elastics that girls use on their braids and pony-tails. Put one of those ahead of the rim on each cartridge when you load the rifle. This will help your brass to expand and fill YOUR chamber completely. Now you can neck-size and load yourself some PERFECT ammo.

Hope this helps.
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I am told that the commercially-available Privi .303 has a thicker rim. Anybody every measured it?
 
That's why I love this place! There were a couple of knowledgeable looking sites wherein they were very specific that with a 0.064" rim, there is supposed to be a 0.006" air gap. If they are supposed to be tighter on closing then I dunno if a #3 will be good.

May have to replace that bolt. Speaking of bolt, and never having owned one or shot one before, When I close my bolt (with dummy casing in place), as I squeeze the trigger, the bolt begins to ride up a little. That would be the first time I've ever had a bolt do that in any gun. Is this normal?

I will have to hold down the bolt to shoot it, because as it rides up that little bit, the headspace (swivelling bolt head) increases marginally.

Advice?
 
smellie said:
Minimum headspace on the Number 4 Rifle is .064", friend. The RIM has to go somewhere!

Max is.074"

I do not know of any "recommendation" for 6 (or any other number) thou between the brass and the boltface. The things were supposed to be as close to zero as could be made.

Part of the problem could be that very darned little commercial brass has a rim thickness of .063": the military standard which was supposed to be adhered to whenever possible.

You might measure the thickness of the rims on your "Remy" brass and see how close THEY are to spec.

You might also get yourself some DEFENCE INDUSTRIES brass from WW2. This is the stuff with just the date, letter Z and letters DI on the head. It is Boxer-primed, non-corrosive, non-mercuric and it is the best reloading brass ever made. It was also made in Canada. Dates run generally 1942 through 1945, although I am told that a bit of 1941 also was made. You run into it at gun shows; sometimes idiots throw it away at ranges. That's where I got my latest thousand. You might want to anneal it gently; it IS getting a bit long in the tooth.
Click to expand...

:eek: I've got to come to your range and start collecting brass.
 
Nope.

They all do that. It's just that you notice it in dry-firing. Once the firing-pin is fully forward, it nests into a little cove in the bottom of the bolt-shank which keeps it closed.

If you do the trick with the little elastics, friend, your ammo will be fireformed to YOUR rifle and now will headspace on the shoulder, same as a .308. Now you just neck-size and your brass will last MUCH longer and your ammo will be more accurate because it no longer has to waste power to expand the casing to fit your chamber. Use a Lee Collet Die and you will start loading the best ammo on the block. Commercial ammo is for one thing only: the brass. Anyone who wants accuracy handloads.

BTW, Anthony has fresh Prvi Partizan .303 brass in big bags at Trade-Ex.

If you want to do a LOT of shooting, very darned cheap, try the famed C.E. Harris "Universal Load": 13 grains of Red Dot with a 180-grain CAST bulet. Lee makes a good mould for $25 and they have a sizer/lubricator/gascheck seater for $18. You get 1800 ft/sec, bore wear is almost nonexistant and accuracy is about 2 MOA out to about 300 yards. Cost? About a dime a shot and your brass lasts 5/8 of forever. This is BUFFDOG's gopher-sniping load out to 200+. Give it a try.

Hope this helps.
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Hey smellie, I saved this recipe from one of your other posts a while back. Is the powder H4895 or IMR4895?

For a super-accurate .303 load, try 37 grains of 4895 with a Sierra 180 Pro-Hunter flatbase, seated to the OAL of a Ball round; comes out about 2250 ft/sec from the SMLE, 100 ft/sec or so faster from a 1910 Ross. If your rifle is shooting well, this load can touch bullets at 100, sometimes even overlap them.
 
That's the odd thing: the rifles really don't seem to care a lot.

FWIW, I generally use the IMR powder in my test loads.

This load shoots like that through a 1918 Lithgow which turned up here needing some serious stock work but otherwise unfired, also with an original, absolutely unmessed-with 1918 NRF. Both rifles are iron-sights and in WWI trim. It also shoots better than I can see out of my P-14 and Number 4. The Ross, from the old HMS CANADA, wants 1 grain less powder and has touched/overlapped bullets with so many shooters behind the trigger that I am no longer called a liar for suggesting that it will do this.

I hit upon the load completely by accident; I was looking for something a bit mild so as not to hurt my ancient brass or old rifles, but still pretty close to mil-spec.

Interesting part is that the actual by-test most accurate velocity for the SMLE, determined while the rifle/ammo combination still was in test phase about 1909, was 2250 ft/sec with the Mark VII bullet. They increased this by 200 ft/sec in Service ammo in order to increase range and still have a load which was safe in a completely-worn-out rifle which accidentally happened to have a brand-new minimum-spec barrel.

All this load really does is duplicate the 1909 ACCURACY-TEST load....... and put the slug a little bit forward into that somewhat-generous leade. Works fine.

Hope this helps.
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