Warped .303 cases

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ilikeoldguns

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I've been going through, resizing and decapping all my saved-up .303 brass as i sort it to start reloading and I am finding some of them seem to be warped; they lean over to one side. they are all stamped R.P. near as I can tell and it doesn't completely go away after going through the re-sizing die.

What is this? My Winchester cases do not seem to do this. I can't tell if these are Remington or maybe some over type. I did shoot a lot of PVRI stuff when i could find it.

Thanks for your time.
 
It's not uncommon to find ammo like that after it has been fired in a particular Enfield.
Some of the rifles have oversized, offcenter cases, and various other conditions that cause the stretching like that.
The best advice I can give you is to index your cases with a small mark on the head stamp, and neck size.
Too hot a hand load will cause them to separate prematurely as well....

Cat
 
I have to look at my Remington once fired 303 cases but from what I remember I think mine do the same thing. However I haven't tried to resize or do anything else with them yet.
 
The catnthehat has it right. These are battle rifles that have generous chambers so that they a filth tolerant. That lean is very common to the Lee Enfield rifles. I neck size and try not to worry about it. The cases wont last much past 5 loadings before they start to separate.

If you are only loading for one Rifle and it isn't an EAL I would use a Lee Collet die. It will help extend the life of the case.
If you have an eal you will need to full length size and live with the shortened life cycle of your brass.
 
The fix for this is quite simple.

FL size all of your brass, then reload it like you normally would.

When you go to fire the rifle slip a rubber hair tie or o ring down over the brass right down to the rim. The rubber band will center the cartridge nicely in the chamber and it will fireform straight. It also will allow the cartridge to headspace perfectly.

Here's a couple pics,

A86CA7F0-7BC8-43E5-8FFA-B0B355D4E9F6-2780-00000CE8A5159B47.jpg


B106A69F-D4EA-4164-9BF7-DA3DB0ACCD28-2780-00000CE8D33BA60D.jpg



Then keep your brass separate for every rifle and simply neck size as mentioned above. On the second firing the necksized brass will headspace on the shoulder instead of the rim more like a modern rimless cartridge. I usually get 15 loadings out of the thinest non milspec brass like RP or federal with this method.

Do a search on this forum for "ed's famous o-ring trick" for more info.

It's sounds crazy but there's hundreds of us milsurp forum guys that do it!!:)
 
In 1914 the chambers of the Enfield rifles were reamed larger in diameter and longer to the case shoulder in the chamber. This was done to make room for the mud of Flanders fields and the terrible muddy conditions of trench warfare.

Then we Americans in 1926 decided to set firearms standards and started the SAAMI and created a problem. Commercial .303 British cartridge cases are not made to British military standards. The cases are smaller in diameter and have thinner rims, when these type cases are chambered the case lays in the bottom of the chamber and when fired it warps (its called a banana shaped case)

bent-1_zpsf189ef70.jpg


Once the base of the case warps and is no longer 90 degrees to the axis of the bore the case is worthless and your group size will take on shotgun patterns. As stated above if a small thin rubber o-ring is slipped around the rim it will hold the case against the bolt face and prevent case stretching. The rubber o-ring also when compressed by the bolt flattens and when compressed centers the case in the rear of the chamber and prevents the case from warping.

o-ring_zpsfc086c19.jpg


In another forum the "brilliant" moderator had the same case warping problem and stated the Enfield chambers were drilled off center. This same problem occurred in the M14 rifle with its larger diameter chamber and commercial cartridges and the American Rifleman wrote an article on the subject. I also had a 1943 03-A3 with a large diameter chamber and my Remington cases warped when fired also.

You have two choices, find military grade cases that are made heavy duty or fireform the lighter and thinner commercial cases and not load them hot.

Don't tell anyone but Prvi Partizan .303 cases are made to military standards, ;)

The Prvi case on the left has a larger base diameter, has over .010 thicker case walls in the base web area and thicker rims. And the Prvi cases don't warp when fired unless your the moderator at surplusrifle.com and think the British couldn't bore their chambers straight. :bangHead:

privihxp-1_zpsdb98083e.jpg


Below is a photo from surplusrifle.com and the moderator Rapidrob, he tells everyone the rifle has excess headspace. What you can actually see in the photo is the case has a small base diameter and the "hourglass shape" is caused by the case expanding outward to meet the chamber walls.

303_Headspacing_A_zps5db77102.jpg


And now my favorite photo of Rapidrob's, lets blame the British for not being able to drill chambers straight with the axis of the bore. Rapidrob had to blame the British because he doesn't know the difference between heavy duty military milspec cases and lighter and thinner commercial cases. I also don't think Rapidrob ever forgave the British for burning Washington in 1814.
(or else he was using the Mayor of Toronto's crack pipe)

303_Headspacing_B_zps84a03645.jpg


Now if any of you Canadians "get bent" over this problem just blame the British if you don't understand skinny cases and fat chambers. :slap:
 
Tinman204 said:
Do a search on this forum for "ed's famous o-ring trick" for more info.

It's sounds crazy but there's hundreds of us milsurp forum guys that do it!!:)
Click to expand...

Dear Tinman204, its not my o-ring trick, a Canadian taught me this trick. He felt sorry for me because his ancestors help burn Washington and he knew I couldn't fix the problem with duct tape.

redgreen_zpse19c2e45.jpg


Now "get bent" hoser.

Laugh2
 
I have the same problem using American made brass in my 6.5x55 Swede.
For some reason they think everything should be built from 30-06, regardless of what the original specs were.
I just load them light, and they're still pretty accurate.
Indexing them would make things more consistent, something we can control easily enough.
 
Love it... The British, Americans, Canadians and likely the Auzzys and Kiwies. We all part of this famous beautiful Lee Enfield rifle... Prvi brass is the solution.. thanks all
 
Warped .303, because now I have time.

I must sincerely apologize, because I asked this before, probably around a year and half ago and now cannot find the thread.

I finally have time...somewhat related to depletion of supplies...to take a pause on my dad's .45C and reload some .303. There may also have been something about me breaking the decapping pin on my ancient 2-die set and buying a 3-die set when I couldn't find a new pin.

Problem is that a number of my .303 cases are warped. Seems this is a common issue. As I noted I asked before, but now I cannot find either the thread or if I saved the info.

Basically; can I reload these warped cases? I mean; I can muscle them through the press, especially with a little (lot) of lube. But what do I need to know? I eem to recall something about firing the warped reloads fixing them. Am I right?

All I know about the load right now is that I'll be using some softnose bullets (100 ea 174gr Hornandy and 180gr Sierra Matchking), mainly cause that's all I could find. And IMR 4895 (pretty sure that's what I have) powder.

Thanks for your time folks, sorry to be such a putz.
 
I'm no expert but I do reload and would like to help ..........

When you say "warped" I'm trying to imagine if that means that the case is misshapen or is there an actual curve along the axis of the centreline?

Without knowing for sure all that I can say is that in my experience running the case through a full length die and then fire forming it in the rifle gets you back into the ballpark. But if the case damage is severe there may be a point where it becomes unsafe for use and one must always pay attention to maximum case length and trim any that exceed it.

What is the history on these cases, how did they get warped and how many are affected? I just started reloading 303 caliber so I'd be curious how common this problem is how it can be avoided.
 
I never posted a thank you here and that was remiss of me.


thank you very much, all of you; I have some stubborn brass to force through my dies now. :)
 
Out of around 100 cases I have, some Prvi some Winchester, I have had a few that did this same thing. The really bad one or two I just tossed out, the other one or two that were only noticeable upon very close inspection of each case were reloaded to no ill effect thus far. Only 1 reload through any of my brass though, so take that for what it is.
 
The case leans because one side of the case was thinner and expanded more on that side and what you are seeing is a warped banana shaped case. American made .303 British cases have a base diameter on the small side and the Enfield bolt face does not center the case in the rear of the chamber. The rear of the case just lays in the bottom of the chamber and because the military chamber diameter is much larger than civilian SAAMI standards and warped cases are not uncommon.

The case below stretched over .009 on the first firing and after full length resizing the case started to separate. This case also leans because the case was thinner on one side and warped.

bent-1_zpsb820906c.jpg


The warped banana shaped case can happen with any rifle and brass quality is the biggest problem when case wall thickness varies.

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