No1 mk3 bending cases

[ATOM]

I got 80 or so once fired pieces of brass with this gun, and all of them were fired by this gun. A good portion of the brass is imperial so I guess I lucked out. 99% of the old brass given to me is perfectly expanded and don't look stretched. The rest is old federal but they sure seem thicker then the new federal cases that I fired yesterday. So I guess if I want to reload I should look for milspec brass or rounds rather then buying the normal Remington etc. brass that seems to be for sale around here?

Go with the Imperial brass to start - it's as good as ever's been made. When you run short, I would suggest finding some PRVI, even in hardball, and use that. It's pretty good. Whatever you go for, keep a close eye out for separations. You'll see a bright band 1 centimetre ahead of the rim. You can usually bend a paperclip into a short 'L' and feel the thinner ring (the one where the separation happens) inside. Once you figure out how many reloads you can depend on with that brass and your reloading, cut that number by one and toss the brass when it gets to that level.

The collet die suggestions above are bang on. Crimps the neck only and you can generally almost skip resizing in my experience. (Run loaded rounds through the chamber before heading out to the Big Hunt, of course.)

 

[Tinman204]

If brass fits tight in the chamber and you DON'T load her to the nuts, the brass will last a lot longer.

How long?

I don't know.

I DO have a box here which has been 15 times through my Mark III Ross. It STILL does not require trimming. My load for the Ross is 2 grains under the load I gave for the SMLE with the Sierra 180 Pro-Hunter bullet. That extra 5 inches of barrel brings the MV back up to 2335: about 200 ft/sec less than you get with MilSpec ammo in the same rifle.

Go easy on the brass and you get better ACCURACY..... and it is much easier on the pocketbook.

I am using 1942 - 1945 Defence Industries brass in all my old .303s.

Hope this helps.

I'm going to try loading the quiet/1850 fps round you described in an earlier post. I shoot a lot so price per round/ware and tear on the gun are my major concerns and really don't need a hot round cause the only stopping power I need is the stopping power of the berm behind the target. I figure if i want to shoot something with some kick ill buy a 45/70 or something like that. My first reloads will be with the 30 or 40 imperial cases I have and then when I get it down I'll reload the federal cases. I'm as excited about reloading as I am about my new Enfield!! life's good!

 

[jfred]

So with an O-ring (small pony tail) you would slide it on so it contacts the rim of the case? What size of pony tail are we talking Smellie?

 

[Tinman204]

So with an O-ring (small pony tail) you would slide it on so it contacts the rim of the case? What size of pony tail are we talking Smellie?

I tried this method on the weekend, and it worked! Every shot was removed and inspected after firing, all were perfectly fire formed and very uniformly stretched. I'm not sure exactly what size the o rings are, but here's a pic in relation to the cartridge.

Here's it stretching over the cartridge.

And finally seated at the bottom of the brass.

From now on this will be my method for the first firing of my brass. Then like Smellie stated I'll neck size only and the cartridges will fit my gun perfectly.

 

[jfred]

Awesome! Thank for the picture. I just bought 100 pieces of PRVI .303 and now I have a new trick to try. Smellie PM'd me about ways to increase .303 case life a few months ago but I think I deleted it.

 

[cosmic]

The O ring need only be used on the first firing of new brass. The O ring minimizes case stretch at the base of the case, letting the shoulder blow out. After the first firing, you can minimize case stretch by :

1) Neck sizing
2) Partially resizing the case with your FL die

Either way, if done properly, will cause the case to headspace on the shoulder rather than the rim. Aside from increased brass longevity, a latent benefit is increased accuracy potential.
As far as brass is concerned, there is no need to get pre-occupied about brass type, rim thickness, etc if you following the above regimen. I've used commercial brass for years (Rem and Winchester), didnt bother with the O ring, and am on my fourth partial resize without any brass integrity issues.
The reason the cases appear lop sided is due to the spring loaded extractor pushing the case to one side of the chamber, a well known phenomenon in LE's. other 303's such as Rosses and P-14's dont have this tendency, unless there is no relief cut in the brass.

 

[jfred]

Neck sizing hardens the brass at the neck over time. Makes it brittle and prone to cracks no? How would I go about annealing it to prevent this?