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This is a follow up to the question was whether the gun will fire after I sanded the chamber of the gun
CanadianGunNutz.com
and here's the answer
https://youtu.be/rTqrVyyjQTo
but there appears to be another problem after that.....whether I can use the fired cases to reload....???
You can size and load the cases until they crack and that's that. They're going to separate anyway because it's a .303 and they don't have the case life of many others. Use them and when they start to show a separation, discard them. Don't worry about it, you have the separated case tool now. They'll size just fine, you'll see.
Thanks, Jim. what you said made perfect sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by browningautorifle
I have a .308 whose chamber has something similar that was caused when the chamber was cut. I've been about to size and reload the cases without issue. As a matter of fact, the cases failed for other reasons. Never had one split at that point.Quote:
Originally Posted by browningautorifle
The "soldiers of the Queen" were never really into reloading, especially with the old Mercuric Berdan-primed stuff. Some of us civilian shooters here in the outer colonies did so out of necessity until VERY recently, however. I still have a couple of thousand RWS 6000 .250" primers tucked away. Ya' never know when......... Bear in mind that these old Mercuric-primed case are inevitably prone to cracking because of the Mercury in the priming compound. NOT SO anything using a Lead Azide or similarly-brewed primer.
Military priorities were reliability, safety and accuracy, pretty much in that order. And having a beer or three after a hard day sending the tax-payers' shillings down-range..
A LOT of Lee Enfields seem to have "oversized" chambers, FAR from "bench-rest "spec". Some of this is because of the way the originals were cut and probably more-so nowadays, because "surplus dealers" have been known to "freshen-up" the appearance of a chamber with all manner of power-driven rotary abrasive devices.
Being a rimmed case, it basically does not matter if the shoulder and body of the case have a rather casual relationship with the chamber, as long as the chamber is bigger than the cartridge.
If you are only reloading for ONE .303 rifle, play round with die settings and die selection. Try just neck sizing, because you need the neck tension to retain the bullet. Setting the Full-length die out a bit is an old trick. Adjust it until it sizes the body taper so that the case is a neat but not "tight" fit in the chamber. LABEL this ammo as being for the specific rifle by serial number if you have other .303 rifles.
If you regularly shoot a serious fleet of these things, and reload for all of them, you will have to decide whether to go through this routine for EACH of them, set up for a "compromise / average" or just go back to "standard" ammo and live with the shorter life of the brass. Neck / shoulder annealing between reloads will reduce case loss a bit, but it involves more time and equipment.
One of life's many interesting decisions.
One thing I was told that rounds should be fed from the mag as the rim can easily slip under the extractor claw that single loading like that and forcing the claw over the rim can lead to breaking of the claw.
Is this just an old wives tale.
I fls and ttl every firing all my 303 shells bar the ones for the sniper T that has its own brass just neck sized though I anneal the necks every firing with the AMP machine.
I think you may find that could be the divet left from the chisels intervention into the chamber wall not much can be done with that I had one way worse than that from the acvid in an insects body that crept down and died could only extract the cases by belting the bolt open, new barrel time for that one.
That applies more to some of the Mauser rifles. Lee Enfield won't break.Quote:
Originally Posted by CINDERS
Feeding from the magazine puts less strain on the dinky extractor spring and the round is generally fed in a single smooth motion rather than a fair bit of extra effort just at the point you are also trying to turn the bolt handle. Thank goodness for helical locking!
My small band of Lee Enfields; the .303 ones and the .25-303 and 7.62 NATO specimens have had the lower edges of the extractors "polished" LIGHTLY with a diamond Ezi-Lap "stick". This is as much to reduce "shaving" the rims as for smoothness of pickup. I only own a small number of "working' rifles; no "show-ponies" / safe queens.
Again, on the two-way rifle range, such niceties as polished / tweaked extractors are unknown and not really necessary.
For single loading, or closing over a round the claw is cammed out of the way when it contacts the extractor slot in the barrel breech on my rifles.
It happens real quick but can be seen when the bolt is turned down on closing easier.
Sanding the chamber may make it oval or just oversized. An oval chamber won't stop or aid firing.
Every chamber in every rifle, even two identical consecutively numbered rifles will be slightly different anyway. None of that has anything to do with the thing going bang or not.
"...anneal the necks every firing..." Totally unnecessary to do that. Annealing is only required when you have one case neck that cracked.
And the extractor is spring loaded.
"...Military priorities were..." Usually about money. snicker. Reliability, safety and accuracy were more the concern of the Troopies. With reliability and relative accuracy being foremost. Very few of 'em had ever seen a real firearm prior to joining.