Once again, Friends, never shoot someone else's reloads!

W

Why not?

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The craziest 303 British loads I have ever seen. Here's four rounds that were fired a few days ago. Load is "174 gr Hornady and 38 gr IMR3031." Primer unknown.

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The guy gave up, wondering what was wrong, because "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

I now have the box and pulled a round to check. Certainly looked like 3031, but there was 48 grains in the case! It was still halfway up the neck after the bullets were pulled. Pulled the remaining six rounds and all were the same.

No wonder the cases were stretched.... and the primers blown.

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Of course, "Nothing like this has ever happened before." Apparently the rifle, a No1 Lee Enfield, is fine, but once again, Friends, never shoot someone else's reloads!

Now, anyone with Quickload able to tell us what ten grains more than was intended in this load this might have generated?

Ted
 
That's crazy! Good thing that they are a tough gun with strong action!

I don't have an issue shooting others reloads, but I'd have to know them, and either know it's either tailored for the gun, a starting load, or a low pressure load suitable for firing in the gun.
A few caveats; I wouldn't throw anyone's hand loads in.

I'm sure millions of reloads are shot around the world with very few incidents, and factory ammo that gets high velocities and works well in every gun in good condition. But there is that risk, and a load for one rifle might be a serious over pressure in another. Big difference in pressure handling between an original trap door and a Ruger #1, not to mention chamber variations between like guns of the same manufacturer.
 
tiriaq said:
Case separations can happen with .303s regardless of the load.
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Yep. If your reloading then you should be checking each case before reloading. You can make a little hooked piece of wire that’s fairly pointy on the end and run it up from the base of the case and see if you can feel an edge or crack forming about 1/8” up from bottom . If you feel anything then toss it in the brass scrap.
I get about 4 reloads before I notice anything and toss anyways.
This is my technique but if you do some reading this is common practice but techniques vary.
 
Lee Enfields were made with over sized chambers to facilitate cycling dirty ammo on the battle field, full length resizing them works the brass more than most other cartridge's and results in very short case life. Cases should be inspected for incipient case head separation before loading.
 
Another reason to use powders that almost fill the case with the load, at 90%+ capacity you will notice 10grs difference in powder as it won't fit in the case.
 
I've had others reloaded ammo purchased at gun shows.
Get caught once in a while when purchasing a few boxes from venders.
I weight them all and make notes as to variances.
Pull a bullet or two and weight the powder.
If they seem somewhat "in there", pound them off at the range.
Or else the powder is dumped and start again fresh.
 
The separations are probably not from the load.
The expanded primer pockets most certainly are - enough pressure to expand the case head is way too much.

I tend to treat unknown handloads as a source of components.
 
tiriaq said:
I would expect that 96,000 would spring a SMLE action.
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I expect it would do that at least, yes. I'm quite new to the GRT program, not saying it's right.

But OTOH 68,000 psi seems kind of low for being 8gr (20%) over max with a relatively fast rifle powder.
 
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Every thing seems fine with the rifle.

Reloaded the cases with a sensible charge. He is going to take it to the range later this week. Will let you know.

I remember Ackley saying he could not blow up a Lee Enfield. He did spring the action with a near case full of pistol powder, as would be expected with rear locking lugs.

Ted
 
The separation problem is probably with the cases. They are likely going to be separating with any load.
 
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