Reloading .303 British

[bigedp51]

I know what you are saying, but I've never heard of annealing after one factory firing. I anneal my other brass after five firings, and I do sometimes wonder if I really need to. And like I said I've seen factory (commercial and military) 303 split necks on the first firing. IVI and Winchester for sure, maybe others.

And, am I the only one who looks at the thickness of the brass on the neck of 303 cases and thinks the brass is about 1/2 as thick as on other calibers? Honestly, I have not taken a caliper to the brass (I will when I get a chance), but put a 303 case next to a .308 win case and it looks like the 303 neck brass is paper thin.

Anyway, I was just commenting on my experiences reloading 303. I reload for about five LE's and a couple pf P14's, but have only been doing it for about three years. I certainly do not consider myself an expert.

The main problem is the generous neck clearance in the Enfield chamber which causes the necks to stretch further than a standard commercial rifle chamber. The second problem is older cartridge cases and brittle and harder necks.

On average the neck thickness is approximately the same on most cartridges, below I neck turn my case necks on most of my rifles primarily for uniform neck tension and for neck alignment in the chamber.

This unturned .303 British neck is .003 thicker on one side, so I neck turn them for uniformity.
(I'm retired, and have nothing to do and all day to do it)

Don't you just hate it when two flyers mess up a perfectly good five shot group from your Enfield rifle.

 

[Northman999]

bigedP51,

Thanks for your great info!

And that's some fine shooting BTW.

I will definitely have to dig up some O rings and see if I can start getting the results you are. Reading so much about how the 303 Brit is hard on brass (it seems even all of my reloading manauls mention it), I kind of assumed I was just seeing the only results a guy could see in regards to short brass life.

 

[bigedp51]

Don't tell anyone but the Lee Collet die is my secret weapon.

Under .001 case runout.

And under .001 bullet run out.

Don't forget to lube these areas.

Please click on the link below

Lee Collet Die video compared to standard dies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZEas38vkKg

 

[desporterizer]

I have noticed the effects big ed is talking about, especialy on worn chambers. Now that being said, I have been using the same brass since 2004 in 7 different enfield with a min of 7 reloads each( some much more) & have never had a case sep BUT a major brass cull is in order.