seek wisdom on a no4 enfeild

[georgemia]

i bought one five years ago....bubba-ized....and had hopes of bringin back from the dead...had it rebarreled four years ago....still shooting good.

the question....this morning i go to the range with some reloads thinking i will have a great day...first mag,two out of ten will chamber and fire....second mag...two out of ten will chamber and fire.so far i have scrubbed it to within an inch of its life...this has never happened to this rifle...its never been "picky".

ok back to thought....if i chamber a spent round the bolt will not close...if i resize it in the reloading press it will chamber and close...now this happens with reloads cause thats all i shoot.ten rounds and only two of those will chamber.the other eight will not allow the bolt to close.

this gun has sat idle for a year or two.of course it stays covered with a bag over the muzzle,bolt closed to prevent unwanted critters,spiders...any thoughts?

Information

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[Al Diehl]

Without being there I am only spitballing here but...
Are you trimming each and every case? If not and, you are using a heavy crimp, the longer cases could be bulging in the neck when you are seating the bullets. This can result in some cases fitting and some (the longer ones) not fitting. Try loading some without a crimp at all and see what happens.

Al

[Patrick Chadwick]

if i chamber a spent round the bolt will not close...if i resize it in the reloading press it will chamber and close...now this happens with reloads cause thats all i shoot.

You have not provided enough information for a reliable long-distance diagnosis, but I suspect that the cases have been reloaded too often and the case neck has stretched. Have you checked the case length? When you insert an empty, resized case, the mouth of the overlong-neck is right up hard against the tiny step in the chamber where the transition a.k.a. throat starts. This step will have a slightly bevelled edge, so the case mouth can be forced in if it is a couple of .001! too long, and you will not even notice that the mouth has been "resized" by the bevelled edge of the transition step. This works because the freshly sized empty case is undersized, compared with the loaded diameter, to provide grip on the bullet when it is loaded.

When you now seat a bullet in that overlong neck, the mouth diameter is expanded by the bullet. The mouth cannot now be forced into the transition step, being held wide by the bullet, so the case jams and cannot be chambered.

On the cases which you did manage to fire, the mouth has now expanded to fill the bore. And the neck has lengthened again, now being tight up to the step, but the case is being held in lengthwise compression by the bolt. When you extract this case and it is able to spring back, you find that it will not chamber again.

Take one of the problem cases. Fired, but NOT resized. Ink over the case neck and mouth with a felt tip pen. Allow to dry for several seconds and then try to chamber this case. Repeat several times. Take out the case and inspect the end of the neck and the case mouth under a watchmakers eyeglass. If you see scuff marks on the case mouth, then the diagnosis is as described above - the cases are too long ...measure them!

I may be wrong, but if I am right, you are heading for a serious case-neck separation with a neck jammed up at the transition step - which can be a PITA to remove, and I described such a problem recently (with photos!). Those cases are past the end of their useful life!

Someone may suggest that you trim the cases back to a correct overall length again. I would advise against that false saving, which may cost you considerably more in FUBARed rifle than any cases are worth. Non-US military chambers are typically somewhat looser than SAAMI-standard brass, so if the case has become so long that it is jamming, then the brass has been seriously overstretched!

Bin the problem brass NOW and get some new cases. Not range pickups with an unknown history!!!

[Patrick Chadwick]

Without being there I am only spitballing here but...
Are you trimming each and every case? If not and, you are using a heavy crimp, the longer cases could be bulging in the neck when you are seating the bullets. This can result in some cases fitting and some (the longer ones) not fitting. Try loading some without a crimp at all and see what happens.

Al

Yes, a crimp could also cause a jam when chambering a loaded round. But it appears that some successfully fired cases will also not re-chamber, hence my "remote diagnosis" about case length.

[georgemia]

some great responses...got my brain twisted but i am understanding all veiws....as for the brass/loads...i am using winchester brass...it was new,i show in my reload notes it is four times reloaded at this point....no crimp on the case/bullet....i am seeing cases that are ranging from 2.210....say what? up to 2.230...none of the four are longer/shorter than that...

as for the case mouth neck area....this looks suspicious.my new brass compared to my four times fired brass....the four times brass....the first step up looks....longer than stock.....longer i mean within 1/16 longer.the shoulder is actually longer to the nekkid eye....almost as if the whole case has been stretched.....a go/no-go guage should show this?

i tried the blackout case....i am seeing scuff marks....at the mouth itself and at the step up?...sorry i dont recall exactly what its called....it actually looks like the bullet/neck area is out of round with the cartridge.only scuffed on the one side and not the other.

inside measurement on the case mouth measures .320?....i know these are .312 bullets.....this rifle is officially out of service.

almost looks like the throat is gone out of spec....may actually pour a lead slug of it and do some more measure.

[georgemia]

ok i phoned a friend who has a 303...he had a couple prvi factory rounds left...so i borrowed them.they will not chamber.the bolt will not fully lock down.

i did some science project with some reload cases...willing to ruin a couple if i get results.i tried to make them shorter...trim the neck...nope...i then tried to trim the primer area end....simple flat file and keep her straight....could only get .002 off the top but it still made no diffrence.

[CINDERS]

Forget the file thingy that is to much bubba with those forces, get new brass though a couple of things spring to mind may be they need to be shoulder bumped as the shoulder may have moved forward on some cases you do not say if you FLS the brass, your friends brass could be differently fire formed but I think the specs should let them chamber in your rifle but maybe not......

The only other thing I can really hazard with a long shot on is a carbon ring build up just out of the case neck where the projie and the case separate there may be some blow by before full obturation at the neck/shoulder is achieved.
This can happen with the smaller cases like the .223's and is an easy fix with a good solvent, 7.7mm nylon brush and some Iosso paste then scrub just that area first, clean it out and do it to the bore and neck area it is very good at removing Carbon and wont hurt the bore.

One book I have states(Nick Harvey- 9th Ed) 303 British Max case length = 56.43mm (2.2215") Trim to Length 56.18mm(2.210") anyway Patricks advice is pretty spot on if you are using hot loads then of course the brass will die very quickly.

Last bit it get it to a gunsmith and bore scope the chamber stranger things have happened.

[Simon P]

Just my thoughts, has there been any case neck separation you may have part of the cartridge in the chamber, is there any crud in the extractor ramp area of the barrel.

Is the bolt head fully wound home and not out by one revolution.

You could try removing the extractor & spring to see if this has any bearing on the problem and the extractor screw in the side of the body can be too long sometimes fouling on the bolt when it is going in to the lock position, compounded by the force of the extractor spring pushing the bolt head away slightly

[tbonesmith]

Is you headspace simply too tight? I don't know how this just cropped up, but I'd bet you are just shy of minimum spec headspace. You havn't changed your bolthead for some reason have you?

[Peter Laidler]

Or not screwed the bolt head up fully!