I've got an Enfield headspace question for you folks. My first Enfield so I'm not sure.

I picked up a mismatched No. 4 Mk. I* Savage, with #1 bolt head, the other day but think I may have a headpsace issue. The fired brass, from 180 and 150 grain Federal hunting ammo, has a noticeable color change around the case head area. The bottom 1/4" of of the case just above the rim is bright and shiny and above that the case is much lighter in color. You can feel the case change shape slightly at the juncture of the color change. It's not making a single line, but rather two distinct sections.

The rifle was previously owned by a CGN friend of mine, who reloaded for it and didn't note any problems, at least to me. My Mosin Nagant does the same thing to its brass so I'm not sure if this just a trait of rimmed cartridges or if both my rifles have problems. I'm really wishing I had a digital camera about now.

If this is a problem, I'll be needing a different bolt head but I seem to recall that #1 is as large as you can go which means I'm going to need to re-barrel it, right?

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