Enfield headspace issue?

[Brian Dick]

Ed, FYI: The MG's used with that HXP brass were Lewis,(two different guns), Vickers, (two different guns), and a Bren Mk.II. The rifles were everything from Long Lees to No.5's. I'm even surprised at the result of your test considering the diversity of weapons used. I've been using HXP for years to reload for good reason I guess. ATB. Brian

[Alfred]

Greek HXP is made on Winchester supplied drawing machinery, using Olin cartridge brass same as any Winchester ammunition, and loaded with Olin powder produced by the same methods used for the Oilin powders used for winchester sporting ammunition.
There may be differences in rim thickness and such, especially since Winchester cases have gotten a poor reputation for the last twenty years or so, but that was not always the case.

PS
I have recently run across accounts of some Privi partizan .303 ammunition sold in the US some years back that had caused problems due to soft brass. Hopefully thats no longer a problem, but it would pay to avoid older production Privi Partizan ammo and use only recent production cases.

[Edward Horton]

Thats funny one of our British forum members stated that the machinery for making the Greek HXP .303 ammunition came from the British Radway Green facility.

The myths and urban legends keep on going and going just like the Energizer Bunny.

[Badger]

Ok folks ...

Let's all make sure this thread doesn't start to slide, if you get my drift ..

Regards,
Badger

[Edward Horton]

Thanks a lot Badger, I pulled the pins on two grenades and now you want me to put the pins back in when both hands are gripping the spoons.

I'll just sit here and wait for things to quite down and then “slide” them under someones computer when no one is looking.

Never mind, I have to go now, someone in another forum is using duct tape to check head space.

[Alfred]

Thats funny one of our British forum members stated that the machinery for making the Greek HXP .303 ammunition came from the British Radway Green facility.

If the machinery came from Britain why would the ammo be loaded with a 174 grain flat base solid lead core bullet, rather than the MkVII bullet or the Boatail MkVIII bullets. Also if the machinery were from britain why is the ammo Boxer Primed when British .303 is all berdan Primed?
Why is the powder charge Olin Ball rather than either Cordite or IMR3031?

And lastly why is the brass of a different color than British brass and the rims not quite as thick.

During that time frame Britian could not even produce enough ammo to supply its own forces, how could they build ammunition plants for Greece?

As for thin rims on recent manufacture .303 cases, and the similar thin rim of the Krag cases.
Max rim thickness of the Krag is .064 just as the british .303 specs would call for, but US Army specs for the Krag rim is .060.
Old commercial krag brass often mikes at .064 or higher, the reason it was once recommended for .303 handloads. More recent production mikes at .059 or there abouts, closer to the army specs.

I suspect that commercial Krag cases at one time were made on the same machinery used for .303 brass. In more recent times the reverse has come about, .303 cases now being made on the machinery set up to make Krag cases to the original specs. There may be other rimmed cartridges in this class that also call for the thinner rim.

[Edward Horton]

"During that time frame Britian could not even produce enough ammo to supply its own forces, how could they build ammunition plants for Greece?"

[Alfred]

The Germans looted or destroyed the entire Greek munitions industry.
In 1946 Britian anounced that it intended to cut off all assistance to Greece, they could no longer afford it anyway. In 1947 Truman instituted the military assistance Program under the "Truman Doctrine" to rebuild the defence industries of Greece and Turkey among others in the region.


http://www.mysearch.com/search/redir...HQ%3D%3D&ct=AR

[Peter Laidler]

I don't know if therre were two specifications for HXP ammo. One for the uk MoD and another for everyone else but that made for us was made to the tighest of controls and specification. It had to undergo exectly the same checks and controls as our previous RG and RL stuff. Which it did and there were few if any complaints about its performance.

We also used it in our machine guns too

We also had a huge (42,000?) round batch of Privi .303 1978 Mk7z ammo inspected, tested, analysed and approved in order to use it in Vickers guns. We still use some. And the Government Scientist who did the tests for us said that it conformed exactly to our approved standards in every respect.

That included rim tolerance, hardness of primer etc etc as does the UK MoD spec HXP.

So if you are using this stuff then from that, it equates to the usual old UK MoD spec stuff...............

[jmoore]

Unfortunately, all the .303 Prvi available here seems to be 180gr. soft point, which is not quite as reliable in the feed cycle for some weapons. Still good ammo, though.