Popped out primer on 303 British today

Sine Wave

Sine Wave

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Was shooting my Lee Enfield with some off-the-shelf ammo today. Got some particularly sharp-smelling fumes at one point - didn't think much of it though. Report, recoil, etc didn't seem out of the ordinary.

Then I work the bolt and it won't feed the next round. Thinking the spring and follower were bound a little I tried some remedial action (push down on the rounds through the action, let them pop back up) but those rounds wouldn't pop up high enough to get fed by the bolt. So I remove the magazine to inspect the situation.

Under one of the feed lips is caught a spent PRIMER!

I look through the ejected brass and find a cartridge with no primer and some scorch marks on the back. I fit the primer into the pocket and it just falls out when I upend it.

On my boltface are also scorch marks and I can make out "303" and some of the rest of the lettering from the back of the cartridge scorched onto the bolt face.

I think maybe it was just a bad round, as the case doesn't seem deformed and I don't remember any shot sounding or feeling overpowered.

This was factory ammo (probably repackaged milsurp?) I have not had this happen before. Anyone encounter anything like this?

I got a close look at my firing pin and it's a little rough looking - a couple primers on other shells are very lightly pierced, apparently due to the rough tip of the firing pin. I wonder if it happened due to the blown primer somehow -- none of my other brass shows signs of a pierced primer.

(On a sort-of related note, a few months ago I did get a .223 round with a primer flattened/smashed into the pocket SIDEWAYS however. I noticed before I tried to shoot it.)
 
Sine Wave said:
Was shooting my Lee Enfield with some off-the-shelf ammo today. Got some particularly sharp-smelling fumes at one point - didn't think much of it though. Report, recoil, etc didn't seem out of the ordinary.

Then I work the bolt and it won't feed the next round. Thinking the spring and follower were bound a little I tried some remedial action (push down on the rounds through the action, let them pop back up) but those rounds wouldn't pop up high enough to get fed by the bolt. So I remove the magazine to inspect the situation.

Under one of the feed lips is caught a spent PRIMER!

I look through the ejected brass and find a cartridge with no primer and some scorch marks on the back. I fit the primer into the pocket and it just falls out when I upend it.

On my boltface are also scorch marks and I can make out "303" and some of the rest of the lettering from the back of the cartridge scorched onto the bolt face.

I think maybe it was just a bad round, as the case doesn't seem deformed and I don't remember any shot sounding or feeling overpowered.

This was factory ammo (probably repackaged milsurp?) I have not had this happen before. Anyone encounter anything like this?

I got a close look at my firing pin and it's a little rough looking - a couple primers on other shells are very lightly pierced, apparently due to the rough tip of the firing pin. I wonder if it happened due to the blown primer somehow -- none of my other brass shows signs of a pierced primer.

(On a sort-of related note, a few months ago I did get a .223 round with a primer flattened/smashed into the pocket SIDEWAYS however. I noticed before I tried to shoot it.)
Click to expand...

You don't say what # and Mark your rifle is, but it is possible that the head spacing may be excessive which would cause extra stress on the casing; a cheap casing may stretch enough to let go the primer during firing allowing gases to vent by the primer and pocket. There is a vent hole drilled in the side of most 303 chambers to allow gas to escape should such an event take place. Excessive head spacing can be caused by incorrect bolt head being used, wrong bolt head number, (Long Branches have 4 different bolthead lengths identified by numbers 0, 1, 2, and 3 where 0 is the shortest) excessive wear on the bolthead threading, and wear on the bolt handle locking surfaces in the receiver and bolt.

HTH

N_R
 
Thanks for the reply.

It's a No4 Mk1* - I bought it from a gunshop where they assured me the headspacing was checked by them personally, and I'm confident they know of what they speak. Never had a problem before with it. Don't know how many rounds have been through it but I've put through at least 500 or so.

I keep all my brass but haven't reloaded 303 British yet. I can't say I've noticed any damage to other brass. Perhaps it was just a bad round.
 
Sine Wave said:
Thanks for the reply.

It's a No4 Mk1* - I bought it from a gunshop where they assured me the headspacing was checked by them personally, and I'm confident they know of what they speak. Never had a problem before with it. Don't know how many rounds have been through it but I've put through at least 500 or so.

I keep all my brass but haven't reloaded 303 British yet. I can't say I've noticed any damage to other brass. Perhaps it was just a bad round.
Click to expand...

Sounds good... Compare one of your fired casings with a brand new one. If there is a lot of 'swelling' (A little swelling is always normal) starting about 1/8 to 3/16 above the rim, then you should have the headspacing checked again. If you had the next size up bolthead, you could try it for fit. Too bad you're so far away; I have a gauge for that rifle.

N_R
 
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