Newbie Q- Deformed brass

Gary D

Gary D

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OK I'm JUST getting into reloading and I have a couple questions for you guys. I have an beautiful old Lee Speed style MLE that the chamber seems to show irregular wearing (OK that's not surprising being 111 years old) as a result the brass is bulging slightly on one side. so here are my thoughts.

1. Should I full case re-size this deformed brass and use it in other minty rifles here after?

2. Should I just neck size and reuse it in this rifle exclusively as it has fire formed to the chamber (although the wear is irregular and bulging on one side only...)

3. Just squash and recycle any brass being shot from this firearm.
 
Depends how bad the bulging is. You should have no problems full length sizing at least 3 or 4 times. Just watch carefully for signs of case failure after each use. You may get many more. Try to stay away from max loads.

The problem with neck-sizing is if the bulge is significant, it will jam if the bulge is oriented in a different manner than it came out of the gun.
 
Gary, the chamber is probably not worn, but oversize. This is a common situation with Lee-Enfields, especially those of wartime production.

The bulge occurs because the gravity keeps the case on the bottom of the chamber, and the brass expands upwards to fill the space between the case and the chamber when the rifle is fired.

If you partially resize the brass, just enough to have it chamber easily, you will be fine and get reasonable case life.

Let us know how you make out.
Ted
 
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By partially resize you mean do not compress the casing all the way into the die? I have heard you can neck size with FL dies if you do not seat the die completely, is this true? (using RCBS)
 
Gary D said:
By partially resize you mean do not compress the casing all the way into the die? I have heard you can neck size with FL dies if you do not seat the die completely, is this true? (using RCBS)
Click to expand...

You've got it!

Try sizing enough to do about half the neck to start. That will probably be enough. If not, just turn the die down half a turn and try again. Do it half a turn at a time, until the case will go in regardless of how it is oriented in the chamber, then lock the ring on the die, and size the rest.

Ted
 
Gary D said:
By partially resize you mean do not compress the casing all the way into the die? I have heard you can neck size with FL dies if you do not seat the die completely, is this true? (using RCBS)
Click to expand...

That's not a true neck-size, most often what you get is a partial full-length resize; by time you size enough of the neck, most times it is starting to compress the body as well. Which in your case may not be a bad thing!

Take a marker and "paint" one of your brass. Start with the size die backed out several turns. Run it into the die and then see where it contacted the die by where the marker is rubbed off. Adjust the die to get as much of the neck without touching the shoulder. This will give you as close to a neck-size as you can get with a full length die.
 
Using Joe and WhyNot's advice should work well for you; but if you need to size more of the neck for a bit better bullet-grip, you can use a .308 Winchester size die. Just take the expander plug out, adjust the die so you can run the .303 case in until the whole neck is sized. (The .308 brass has a much thicker neck than the .303, that's why this works)
Just do the full neck size before you do the partial-full-sizing, when you start doing batches of the ammo.
 
There are a nunmber of reasons for an eccentric expansion ring, but the chamber being worn to an egg shape isn't likely the cause.
Neck size, or size only enough for the case to chamber easily and hold the bullet securely.
 
thanks guys, I figure I'll just get the neck sizing die at the next show or the next time I get to a real city, what's $50, two boxes of factory, small investment I figure. But this is damn good to know regardless. As joe-nwt said some case sizing on these deformed rounds may not be a bad thing. I have 8 other .303s I'm reloading for too, and I definitely don't want to full length size for them, but a partial F-L-size might go a long way in making the reloads universally interchangeable.
 
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If you have that many 303's that you are firing the rounds through your case life will likely be short. I have several 303's and find it works better to keep the cases from each separate (I don't shoot them a lot any more though and usually load in 50 round batches).

44Bore
 
That will be the decision I'll have to make I guess, versatility vs case life. There are definitely a couple I shoot more than others, so those I'll keep separate and build custom loads for.
 
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