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

Why not? said:
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
Click to expand...

There was a member on here a few years ago that managed to blow up a Lee Enfield, exactly that way... pistol powder instead of rifle powder, not intentional though. I believe it was posted in the milsurp forum, but it was so long ago that I doubt I could find it.

update: well, it wasn't as hard to find as I thought:

https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/969637-LE-No-1-blowup-or-how-not-to-dissemble-a-Lee-Enfield-(Update-post-97)?highlight=lee+enfield+blow+up

Post #97 has the solution to the mystery, page 10 if you have your page count set to default.
 
Last edited:
Ted, I was out target shooting with a friend of mine and he was trying out some reloads for his 270 weatherby mark v. On his first shot at 100 yards I noticed it impacted about 6" high on the target, then I noticed he was struggling to open the bolt. I knew right away he overloaded it but he insisted it was the max load in his reloading manual. When we got back to my place I pulled one of his bullets and weighed the powder charge. It was exactly 10 grains over max. I guess he must have been in a rush and read his scale wrong. Memory tells me he was shooting 150 gr bullets and the were traveling at 3600 fps.
 
.303 cartridge cases if full length resized will give you 4-5 reloads if your lucky before the case separates. Smart .303 reloaders buy a .303 broken case extractor (from Brownells) before they reload their first round.
 
It is difficult to blow up a rifle using an overcharge of an appropriate powder.

Most of the blown rifles I have examined have been ball pistol powder that got loaded instead of ball rifle powder.

You can blow off an extractor and get a face full of brass bits.

We are all vulnerable to a powder mistake (assuming you know what is in the powder thrower) or dumping the powder into the wrong can, being two common booboos.

I have twice loaded ammo that was out by 5 grains, because of an error on the balance beam. One was too hot and once was too mild.

The mild load turned out to be the accuracy load for my Hornet.

I have deliberately tried to blow up rifles on several occasions. Had to resort to pistol powder.

I know of a 4 lug target rifle that was loaded with pistol powder in error. Melted the case, but the rifle survived.
 
tiriaq said:
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.
Click to expand...

Yes, Lee Enfields with their rear locking lugs are known for case head separations, but I had never seen a blown primer before. Appreciate the more certain data from Quickload, but certainly didn't need it to know it was waaaay too much pressure to achieve that result.

I almost always break down handloads that are not mine. The exception is when I know who loaded them, and am confident that they know what they are doing.

Ted
 
Russ said:
QL says 68,000+psi for that load. 2850fps with a 24" barrel
Click to expand...

jethunter said:
GRT says 96,000 psi.
Click to expand...

tiriaq said:
I would expect that 96,000 would spring a SMLE action.
Click to expand...

todbartell said:
en3Tgx9.jpg
Click to expand...

Thanks for this, Guys. Clearly not a safe 303 Br load. Will know tomorrow how the rifle fared.

Ted
 
if you want to reload the 303 for Enfield's you should shoot new brass and neck size only there after. Each Enfield should have its own brass. Even FL sizing your brass and firing it in the same Enfield will quickly result in case head separation.
 
Russ said:
QL says 68,000+psi for that load. 2850fps with a 24" barrel
Click to expand...

Seems conservative. The Hodgdon published Max Load with a 175 gr bullet in the 308 (that has approximately the same case capacity as the 303 Brit) is 41.3 grs for 59,100 psi and 2650 fps. Who knows if it was even IMR3031.....

The easy lesson though is not to use unknown reloads.
 
Last edited:
Owning multiple safes of rifles helps. Many years ago i limited myself to two reloader only rifles. Now most are reloader only. Having many calibers, its not necessarily to load too max, simply grab another rifle. Most rifles have several accuracy nodes, the one at or near max isnt always necessary.
 
Yeah, it sucks having to pull apart what might otherwise be perfectly good reloads, but it’s really the only way to be safe.

I just did it with three boxes of 264 WinMag reloads I bought. Closer inspection and weighing of everything confirmed that the loads were exactly as they were labeled, but I did it anyway with the entirety of them. Plus the loads were way overloaded based on any published data I could find for that powder and pulled weight, and I checked a few sources.
 
Ganderite said:
.... I have deliberately tried to blow up rifles on several occasions. Had to resort to pistol powder.

I know of a 4 lug target rifle that was loaded with pistol powder in error. Melted the case, but the rifle survived.
Click to expand...

Ganderite, I have never seen a fired 303 Br case with a blown primer before. Lots of case head separations, but not enlarged primer pockets like the one in the picture.

In your experience, what pressure is needed to accomplish this? I realize brass can be different, but what would be the lowest pressure that could cause such brass flow? Two of these were Imperial brass and did not blow the primers like the Winchester did.

Thanks,
Ted
 
Northman999 said:
Yeah, it sucks having to pull apart what might otherwise be perfectly good reloads, but it’s really the only way to be safe.

I just did it with three boxes of 264 WinMag reloads I bought. Closer inspection and weighing of everything confirmed that the loads were exactly as they were labeled, but I did it anyway with the entirety of them. Plus the loads were way overloaded based on any published data I could find for that powder and pulled weight, and I checked a few sources.
Click to expand...

Maybe "overloaded" by an old reloader with an old manual.
Over time some powder manufacurers have become more conservative. (perhaps encouraged by their lawyers?)
 
303 load data from Lyman 45th edition, (1970)
-150gr bullet: IMR3031 max 42 gr
-180gr bullet: IMR3031 max 39gr

303 data Lyman 49th edition (2008) data for 150gr only.
-150gr bullet: IMR3031 max: 41.5gr
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom