Sizing brass from other rifles

[Longshot338]

Hi All,

I have a ton of brass from many different rifles. While this question sort of applies to all my brass, I am most concerned with the 303 British I reload.

I have a Hornady Headspace guage. I FL sized brass, fired it out of my LB No.4, and measured it. I then set the die up to resize only enough to bump the shoulder of the case back by 0.001".

Can I use the same die setup to resize brass from other rifles? My line of thought is thus: if the brass starts out smaller than my chamber, no issues; I will merely be squeezing the neck down to give me proper tension. If the brass is larger than my chamber, after it is run through my die, it should be back into specs, No?

I have tried this on several cases that were shorter to the shoulder than my chamber. Only the top 3/4" of the neck was swaged down in the die; there was a little bump where the existing neck had NOT been squeezed in my die, and the existing shoulder remained. I done forsee an issue with this persay; after I fire it once, it should be good, or not?

Alec

 

[Blastattack]

I would set the shoulders back a tad further than that if you are resizing brass from a different gun. In theory your setup should work, but different brass from different manufacturers fired from different sized chambers may not form back to the same size as the brass fireformed in your Enfield chamber. Brass has a tendency to try and spring back to it's original size and shape. Once the rounds are fireformed in your chamber, it's just business as usual.

As for the neck thing, that is pretty common. I buy my .303 cases once fired in bulk, and some cases are so enlarged that I cannot form the neck down to the proper size. However, it is an indication that the neck area in the chamber is oversized (or at least greater than SAAMI/CIP specs) and the neck expands a great deal to fill it. It doesn't affect function, but the enlarged chamber may affect accuracy and definitely affects the life of the neck. Annealing may be an option if your are particularly attached to your current selection of brass.

That's my .05, take 'er for what she's worth.

 

[cosmic]

The acid test is to try your sized brass in other rifles. I do exactly what you are talking about - I size my brass to the tightest chamber amongst my various 303s ( LE, P-14, and Rosses). You need to do tests to establish which one is the tightest. In my case, using Lee dies, I need about a "toonie" gap between the shellholder and the die.

 

[millwright]

As cosmic says, do.

 

[bigedp51]

Military headspace settings are .064 minimum to .074 maximum, bumping the shoulder back .001 for your Enfield chamber could be too much or not enough in other rifles. If you want all your resized cases to fit in all your Enfield rifles without adjusting your dies for each rifle you will need to bump the shoulder back far enough to fit you shortest chamber.

The problem with resizing to fit all your rifles is that it could cause case head seperations.

You bought the Hornady Cartridge Case Headspace to measure your fired cases and adjust the dies for minimum shoulder bump and extend case life. You now need to use your Hornady gauge and check the fired length of the case from every Enfield rifle you have.

Headspace settings, .064 is minimum, .067 is maximum civilian and .074 is maximum military

The amount the fired .303 case is sticking above the Wilson case gauge is how much longer the Military chamber is than SAAMI specifications.

 

[cosmic]

Well - Using my approach, I'm on my fifth reloads using commercial brass (Rem and Win) and no signs of incipient case head separation. I should point out that I have two 303's with commercial chambers, which I load for separately, as they are too tight to group with the military chambers.

 

[sunray]

"... to resize brass from other rifles..." All you need do is FL resize. No neck sizing only. Mind you, as mentioned, bumping the shoulder back a thou may or may not make a difference in every Lee-Enfield.
"...Military headspace settings are..." Nothing to do with reloading. Cases do not have headspace.

 

[Eagleye]

"... to resize brass from other rifles..." All you need do is FL resize. No neck sizing only. Mind you, as mentioned, bumping the shoulder back a thou may or may not make a difference in every Lee-Enfield.
"...Military headspace settings are..." Nothing to do with reloading. Cases do not have headspace.

How many reminders does it take for you to realize you contribute nothing to these forums, Sunray??
About as much enlightenment from you as a 2 watt light bulb.
EE

 

[Ganderite]

I do exactly what you have suggested as a plan. The ammo works well in a number of LE and Ross rifles.

The LE has a lot of cam on closing, so if a case is a bit long you can still push the bolt closed.

 

[bigedp51]

"... to resize brass from other rifles..." All you need do is FL resize. No neck sizing only. Mind you, as mentioned, bumping the shoulder back a thou may or may not make a difference in every Lee-Enfield.
"...Military headspace settings are..." Nothing to do with reloading. Cases do not have headspace.

I'm with Eagleye but will put it another way, sunray your brain has two settings...........off and inop

In the photo below are two gauges that measure cartridge headspace and a chamber headspace gauge.

The .303 and any bottle neck cartridge has headspace and head clearance before and after sizing.

After the cartridge is fired it can headspace on the shoulder and not the rim and shoulder bump during resizing is critical.

And a .303 British Case forming and trim die can be used for a shoulder bump die that doesn't touch the body or neck.

Study material for sunray and resizing cartridge cases.

Below is a photo of sunray after his last statment, "Cases do not have headspace".

 

[Longshot338]

BigedP51; nice diagrams. I use the oring method to prevent the case seperation.

My plan was to set the die up for the tightest chamber I have. When I go to load for a looser rifle, I will stack shims to raise the die the orrect amount. Sinclair has a shim set I'm going to try.

Basically if my No4 is 0.004" longer in the headspace than my No5 Jungle Carbine, I will set the die up to bump the shoulder on the No5's brass back 0.001"-0.002". When I go to load for the No4, I will insert a 0.004" shim under the die's lock ring to raise it the correct amount.

Alec

 

[bigedp51]

I had two shooter Enfield rifles, I set the headspace the same on both rifles to simplify reloading and let the other rifles gather dust. It made life a whole lot simpler, two shooters and the rest were a part of my "unused" Enfield collection.

To be truthful once I got my Mk.2 Enfield setup it was the only Enfield rifle I shot and I sold off my Enfield and milsurp collection to fund modern Firearms.

The only problem now is I have firearms that throw perfectly good brass away that makes me go looking for it.

 

[Longshot338]

I had two shooter Enfield rifles, I set the headspace the same on both rifles to simplify reloading and let the other rifles gather dust. It made life a whole lot simpler, two shooters and the rest were a part of my "unused" Enfield collection.

To be truthful once I got my Mk.2 Enfield setup it was the only Enfield rifle I shot and I sold off my Enfield and milsurp collection to fund modern Firearms.

The only problem now is I have firearms that throw perfectly good brass away that makes me go looking for it.

I hear you there. My M14 spits brass out a fair distance. Typical of this type of rifle, the casings go forwards and I have to wait for the RO to put the green flag up to collect it.