once fired 303 brass questions.

[Suther]

So I took my No1 Mk3 out for a test run the other day. Blew off 40 rounds in it, 20 were PPU, the other 20 were federal power shok. Both shot well, no complaints about that.

My question is in regards to reusing the brass. We were in the bush, and it seems a few off the brass got dinged up... Probably got stepped on or something. I was wondering if this stuff is still good to reload, or if I should just toss it?? A few have bent case mouths (especially the one on the right) while the second from the left has a decent ding right in the shoulder. There are also some scratches on some.








Last, I noticed the federal seem to flare out more at the base of the case... Is this just because the Privi has thicker case walls? This doesnt effect its ability to be reloaded does it?

Edit - The left one is PPU, the right 4 are federal. You can a distinct change in color on the brass on the federal right near the bottom, which is not visible on the PPU.

 

[45ACPKING]

I'm just getting into the .303 reloading...... I hunt and shoot with federal factory loads and find that while my rifle passes headspace check and falls between the go and no go gauges, I'm seeing a very slight "swelling" just where the base starts.
the brass looks great otherwise. I've poked around on various sites to see if there were any examples matching the conditions of my once fired brass but saw nothing.
seems in my reading on the main enfield forums that prvi brass is top choice brass for the enfields
I've ordered a 100 and am going to fireform them to my rifle using the "o-ring method"

 

[supernova]

These are good to go. A full length die will iron out way worse imperfections. It swages the neck down then expands it again. For really dented necks I sometimes size twice to iron out the dents. The brass will come out round again. For best case life, neck size or bump the shoulders minimally (.001-.002") Do not size down to the shellholder with .303 unless the brass is to be fired in a different rifle and you're ok with shorter case life. Sizing dies for .303 are much smaller than the chamber of your rifle, FL sizing to the shellholder will force the cases to stretch excessively upon each firing. This will rapidly lead to a case head separation. By neck sizing you are not allowing the brass to stretch which will make it last longer.

 

[Suther]

These are good to go. A full length die will iron out way worse imperfections. It swages the neck down then expands it again. For really dented necks I sometimes size twice to iron out the dents. The brass will come out round again. For best case life, neck size or bump the shoulders minimally (.001-.002") Do not size down to the shellholder with .303 unless the brass is to be fired in a different rifle and you're ok with shorter case life. Sizing dies for .303 are much smaller than the chamber of your rifle, FL sizing to the shellholder will force the cases to stretch excessively upon each firing. This will rapidly lead to a case head separation. By neck sizing you are not allowing the brass to stretch which will make it last longer.

I didn't plan on FL sizing any of it. I havn't bought dies yet, but I plan to get a Lee Collet Neck-sizing die.

I had no intention on getting a FL sizing die, at least not yet. With that in mind, will I still be fine using all of these?

 

[Suther]

I'm just getting into the .303 reloading...... I hunt and shoot with federal factory loads and find that while my rifle passes headspace check and falls between the go and no go gauges, I'm seeing a very slight "swelling" just where the base starts.
the brass looks great otherwise. I've poked around on various sites to see if there were any examples matching the conditions of my once fired brass but saw nothing.
seems in my reading on the main enfield forums that prvi brass is top choice brass for the enfields
I've ordered a 100 and am going to fireform them to my rifle using the "o-ring method"

I can see the swelling on both the PPU and Federal cases, but it is definitely more pronounced on the Federal. This is to be expected from any enfield pretty much. This swelling is because the chambers on Enfields are cut on the big side... I assume so they would still function with some dirt in there, being that they were military rifles and all.

I didn't use the O-ring method this time around, but Im going to try it out next time and see if I can see any difference. I dont think the o-ring trick effects the swelling of the brass though, it just makes sure the brass is expanding lengthwise from the neck, and not above the case head. Width-wise expansion would be the same.

 

[supernova]

Yes, the collet die will work fine for a while. Its not as forgiving with bent necks so you may have to straighten some by hand. It doesn't fix the dents as nicely as an FL die. You should however get an FL die. You will eventually need to bump the shoulders back when neck sizing. After a few firings the brass will get harder to chamber. A quick shoulder bump/body size fixes that then its back to neck sizing. I would grab the Lee deluxe die set because of this rather than the two die (collet and seat) set. It will also come in handy if you pick up brass fired from a rifle with a longer chamber than yours. You'll need one eventually just don't overdo it and you've got nothing to worry about.

 

[supernova]

I've heard the PPU is thicker brass, its a favourite among .303 handloaders. If you neck size these cases then the o-ring will do nothing for you. Its purpose is to hold the case head against the boltface to force the case to blow out into the chamber rather than get pushed into the chamber and stretch back to the bolt face. The cases will now headspace off the shoulder if neck sized so the case will not be able to stretch further than what it is now. The o-rings are for the first firing only, then cases are neck sized or minimally bumped to control stretching.

I can see the swelling on both the PPU and Federal cases, but it is definitely more pronounced on the Federal. This is to be expected from any enfield pretty much. This swelling is because the chambers on Enfields are cut on the big side... I assume so they would still function with some dirt in there, being that they were military rifles and all.

I didn't use the O-ring method this time around, but Im going to try it out next time and see if I can see any difference. I dont think the o-ring trick effects the swelling of the brass though, it just makes sure the brass is expanding lengthwise from the neck, and not above the case head. Width-wise expansion would be the same.

 

[bigedp51]

Suther

Your fired .303 brass is fine and the dings in the case mouth will not hurt anything, a neck sizing die will straighten out the brass and this happens all the time with many type rifles.

Also what you see at the base is also normal, the expansion ring you see at the base is governed by the base diameter of the case. The smaller the diameter at the base the more pronounced the expansion ring will be, it is also more pronounced in larger diameter military chambers.

Below on the left is the best new commercially made .303 cartridge case Priv Partizan, it has the thickest rims, the largest base diameter and the case wall in the base are .010 thicker. On the right is the best military .303 brass Greek HXP, this HXP brass is better than any .303 brass I have ever used and lasts a very long time.

Both cases below were fired in the same Enfield rifle and the only thing you can see in the photo is the HXP case has a smaller base diameter. As a side note the SAAMI has plus and minus tolerances for case manufacturing and many cases run on the small side of this tolerance, this tolerance can run as much as .010 plus or minus. Neither one of the cases stretched or thinned in the base web area on the first firing.

Below is a factory loaded once fired Winchester .303 case (never reloaded) and it stretched and thinned .009 the first time it was fired. Case thinning is based on the quality of the brass and the thickness and hardness of the brass. The Winchester brass was the worst for stretching and shortest case life.

A RCBS case mastering gauge was used to measure case wall thickness for thinning.

As you can see below a pointed bent rod extends into the case and gives its readings in thousandths. (and far more accurate than a bent paper clip)

Bottom line, if you don't let the brass stretch on the first firing using proper fireforming and neck size only your case will last much longer.

 

[45ACPKING]

thanx for taking the time to answer those questions guys, much appreciated