This came to me as a PM today, but I think many others will find it interesting.
Hello Ganderite:
I have read several of your posts and have come to the obvious conclusion that you know far more about reloading than I do. You would call me a newbie. I am hoping you would share some of your expertise with me to explain a serious incident I had today at the gun club today.
-Shooting handloads .303 British 37.8gr IMR 3031 behind 150gr SP CCI LR primer In a No4 Mk 1 Enfield.
-Chambered rnd, pulled the trigger........ HEARD THE SQUIB. Bullet stuck in barrel about 2" past chamber. Primer DID fire.
-Opened the bolt, cartridge ejected and spilled unburnt powder all over the bench. (I assumed ALL the powder spilled out).....wrong.
Got home and ran spent cases through universal de-capper and squip case would not pass. WTF? Turned it upside down and banged it on my bench and half a case of powder dropped out. The primer DID fire. The powder didn't, and was packed tight (half of it) in the bottom of the case. It got ejected onto a bench, thrown into a ziplock bag with a hundred other brass, bounced around in my ammo box in the back of my truck and still stayed in the case, when emptied the powder looked dry and granular just like out of the jug. They were only loaded 2 weeks ago.
I always thought I was a reasonably intelligent guy. I can follow the process.....but I have a hard time trying to rationalize the primer firing, ejecting the bullet.... but not igniting the powder.... or even pushing it out of the case????
Please give advice.............I'm at a loss to explain. Two RSO's and a couple experienced re-loaders were shaking their heads today.
Best Regards.......
I have had the same experience a number of times. I bet many others have, too. It happens when you make a load that is ignition-challenged. In your instance, the problem is a case with a lot of air space. This means the primer did not develop enough pressure to help ignition.
If you forget to put powder in the case, the primer will fire but the bullet might not even pop out of the case. The airspace in the case absorbs all the pressure. If the case is full of powder, there is no air space, so the primer will develop 6,000 to 12,000 psi - before any powder ignites. This pressure will pop the bullet into the rifling if the powder does not ignite (as happened to you). The pressure is important, as it helps ignition.
When working with mild loads or lots of airspace, a magnum primer is a good idea, to develop more pressure to compensate for the extra air space.
If you increase your powder charge from 37 to 42 gr, a standard primer will work just fine. Or, if you like the mild load, use a hotter primer.
The Lee Enfield is forgiving about getting the powder grains out of the action.
When I have a misfire, I hold the rifle vertical and open the action slowly, grabbing the empty case before it can dump powder. You have learned why, the hard way.
If the powder spills I usually have to take the action out of the stock and wash it clean. The hot water tap and a tooth brush is handy.
I have had rifles that seized solid in the field from spilled powder and would not work until they were cleaned. One time was in a match, and I was pushed for time to get it clean so I would not miss my turn to shoot. I shook a Coke can and them punched a small hole it it. This gave me a high pressure stream to aim into the action to wash all the powder out. Then I poured a small bottle of water into it to wash the Coke out. Worked fine.
The "magnum" primers burn longer and hotter. I use them when loading light bullets over ball powder. In 223, for example, if I am using ball powder like H335, I use a CCI 450 for the 55 gr bullet. With a 77gn bullet the standard primer works just fine.
Your 37 gn load would ignite well if you switched to the 174 gn bullet. Less airspace and more initial resistance to moving the bullet.
Hello Ganderite:
I have read several of your posts and have come to the obvious conclusion that you know far more about reloading than I do. You would call me a newbie. I am hoping you would share some of your expertise with me to explain a serious incident I had today at the gun club today.
-Shooting handloads .303 British 37.8gr IMR 3031 behind 150gr SP CCI LR primer In a No4 Mk 1 Enfield.
-Chambered rnd, pulled the trigger........ HEARD THE SQUIB. Bullet stuck in barrel about 2" past chamber. Primer DID fire.
-Opened the bolt, cartridge ejected and spilled unburnt powder all over the bench. (I assumed ALL the powder spilled out).....wrong.
Got home and ran spent cases through universal de-capper and squip case would not pass. WTF? Turned it upside down and banged it on my bench and half a case of powder dropped out. The primer DID fire. The powder didn't, and was packed tight (half of it) in the bottom of the case. It got ejected onto a bench, thrown into a ziplock bag with a hundred other brass, bounced around in my ammo box in the back of my truck and still stayed in the case, when emptied the powder looked dry and granular just like out of the jug. They were only loaded 2 weeks ago.
I always thought I was a reasonably intelligent guy. I can follow the process.....but I have a hard time trying to rationalize the primer firing, ejecting the bullet.... but not igniting the powder.... or even pushing it out of the case????
Please give advice.............I'm at a loss to explain. Two RSO's and a couple experienced re-loaders were shaking their heads today.
Best Regards.......
I have had the same experience a number of times. I bet many others have, too. It happens when you make a load that is ignition-challenged. In your instance, the problem is a case with a lot of air space. This means the primer did not develop enough pressure to help ignition.
If you forget to put powder in the case, the primer will fire but the bullet might not even pop out of the case. The airspace in the case absorbs all the pressure. If the case is full of powder, there is no air space, so the primer will develop 6,000 to 12,000 psi - before any powder ignites. This pressure will pop the bullet into the rifling if the powder does not ignite (as happened to you). The pressure is important, as it helps ignition.
When working with mild loads or lots of airspace, a magnum primer is a good idea, to develop more pressure to compensate for the extra air space.
If you increase your powder charge from 37 to 42 gr, a standard primer will work just fine. Or, if you like the mild load, use a hotter primer.
The Lee Enfield is forgiving about getting the powder grains out of the action.
When I have a misfire, I hold the rifle vertical and open the action slowly, grabbing the empty case before it can dump powder. You have learned why, the hard way.
If the powder spills I usually have to take the action out of the stock and wash it clean. The hot water tap and a tooth brush is handy.
I have had rifles that seized solid in the field from spilled powder and would not work until they were cleaned. One time was in a match, and I was pushed for time to get it clean so I would not miss my turn to shoot. I shook a Coke can and them punched a small hole it it. This gave me a high pressure stream to aim into the action to wash all the powder out. Then I poured a small bottle of water into it to wash the Coke out. Worked fine.
The "magnum" primers burn longer and hotter. I use them when loading light bullets over ball powder. In 223, for example, if I am using ball powder like H335, I use a CCI 450 for the 55 gr bullet. With a 77gn bullet the standard primer works just fine.
Your 37 gn load would ignite well if you switched to the 174 gn bullet. Less airspace and more initial resistance to moving the bullet.
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