L1A1 re loading

[CCAMERA50]

Hallo ,

i woudlike to buy an L1A1 because ...... ( too much reasons )
but principally for shooting in the range ( i' re load all my ammo )

about that i saw in the range an L1A1 very nice and accurate but
the cases after the shoot ( spent cases ) was impossibles to re-utilize
- the owner confirmed me the impossibility to find an adequate gas regulation

someone is re loading the ammo for this rifle ?

some experience about this thing of the cases ?

Thank you and best regards

CC

Information

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[browningautorifle]

I reloaded for my L1A1 when I had one and the only problem was case swell. I used lots of lube and lots of weight on the press handle. Other than that, the loads need to be full house for the pressures the military ammo achieves. They should want 150 grain bullets. Try to use all one headstamp of brass. Check the book and load as close to factory spec as possible. These are a notoriusly strong rifle so don't cheap the load. Your gas regulator will help if they don't want to cycle for whatever reason. Don't shoot on too low a number. Keep opening the regulator up until it fails to eject and then close up two notches. Oil properly too.

[us019255]

I have reloaded for my L1A1 for years. 150 gr., full power loads. I get relatively short case life, I limit to 5 reloads/case. I also found that when I purchased once fired Lake City, some of the brass had been fired in a very long head space and had a stretch ring when I got it. These cases would case separate. I sorted the brass and tossed the stretched ones. Now I use only brass that I know has never been stretched.

[CCAMERA50]

Hallo ,

the cases you told about was milsurp or commercial ?

because the question you surely know about the difference between
the "commercial " .308 and the mlsrp 7,62 x51 crtrdgs , the fireforming , the
utilize of the same brass on the same ( only ) gun , etc........

any way the impossibility to reload i seen was related to a great deformation
caused ( i think ) by the extractor on the case bottom ( too much strong action
even though a "soft" gas regualation )

have you never seen some of that ? please let me know

best regards

CC

[nzl1a1collector]

The L1A1 rifle should have its gas setting on about '4.5' to '5', this should throw the cases about 10 feet.

If you have the gas regulator closed down around 1 - 3 it can rip the rims as too much gas is being forced back though the Gas Cylinder and you are likely to split a gas cylinder.

If you are already on '5' then open the Gas regulator up to 8 or 9 and they will reduce the gas. That's the reason for the adjustable Gas regulator.

[Peter Laidler]

An L1A1 shouldn't be ripping rims off standard NATO brass whatever the gas setting KtK and others because lifting the rear of the breech block after the mechanical safety phase causes the breech block to rotate about an axis centred at the front of the block and this causes the extractor to gently (?) lever the rim of the cartridge and just break the mechanical/expansive seal between it and the chamber. Primary extraction.

To show it working, you can doctor a defective/unserviceable breech block by rounding off the top surface so that you effectively eliminate the primary extraction. Remove the cover, then fire the rifle from a rest with a high speed camera going Then it'll rip the rims off the cases before your very eyes. Remember this at Shrivenham Ensci?

I would imagine that with softer brass, the extractor would start to rip the brass as it's lifting, starting the chain reaction