singleshotbuff
10-02-2008, 11:00 PM
Ever had one of those days at the loading bench that, in spite of loving this hobby, was just a PITA?
Here's my saga of trying to fireform 303 British brass to fit the GENEROUS chamber in my Enfield.
I have 50 pieces of gleaming new Winchester 303 brass that I'd like to make last a while. This brass isn't cheap (but I am) and is only available locally by driving nearly an hour. The chamber on my Enfield is so oversized that new brass or factory loads blow the shoulder forward a bunch and flatten primers on the first firing.
So, after conferring with the wise men (or wiseguys) in the chat room, I decided to firefrom the brass to my chamber on the first firing by seating 180gr jWord RN bullets (which I already had on hand) into the rifling. This will (hopefully) hold the casehead against the bolt face and allow the shoulder to move FORWARD, hopefully eliminating the flattened primers and the start of a casehead seperation.
So, I full length sized all 50 pieces of brass in my (I thought) RCBS die. I primed 10 pieces, then charged them with 41grs of IMR-4320, then prepared to seat my bullets extra long so that they contacted the rifling. Here's where the fun began.
The first bullet I seated nearly fell through the case neck. ON A F/L SIZED CASE. What could be wrong?
Did I grab the wrong bullets? Nope, I measured the bullets, .3105" (nominally supposed to be .311"). So I grabbed a case and tried seating a bullet by hand. A VERY loose slip fit in the neck of NEW BRASS. This ain't good.
After several minutes of trying to figure out how I screwed this up, I finally decided it would be wise to look at the dies (which I aquired used of course).
First of all, I discovered that, although they looked exactly like RCBS dies, they were in fact made by LACHMILLER, no problem so far. Then, I measured the expander ball on the decapping stem. It miked .310". A BIT loose for a .3105" bullet. At least I knew what the problem was.
Not knowing exactly what to do, and wanting to load ammo NOW, I pulled out my OLD set of RCBS 7.62X54R dies. They looked EXACTLY the same as the lachmiller 303 dies, so I measured the expander ball. It miked about .307", which I kinda suspected since I have used these same .3105" bullets successfully in my Rooskie A LOT. I thought, since the dies looked identical, that I could just swap the expander balls, resize the case necks, and be back in business. Of course, the decapper rod in my RCBS 7.62 die had been in there for a LONG time, so I had to go all the way down to the garage, put it in my vise, and remove it with pliers. Should fit the other die now.
Nothing doing. The thread pattern, where the expander ball screws on to the decapping rod, was different on the dies sets. Not a LOT different, but enough to eliminate interchangabilty. On to plan B.
I wound up putting the deacpping rod (with the .307" expander ball) BACK into the Rooskie die to be able to neck size and expand the 303 cases (the neck diameters are very close, the Brit is just longer). But, since my brass was already primed, I needed to raise the expander ball/decap pin in the die, to keep from punching out the newly installed primers.
In order to RAISE the decapping pin assembley, I had to use a pair of pliers and a small flat screw dribver to loosen the rod. I have a perfectly sized screw driver that I keep on my loading bench JUST FOR ADJUSTING RCBS DIES. Of course, I couldn't find the damn screw driver on my cluttered bench, so after looking for it for 20 minutes, I had to go BACK to the garage and look for another 20 minutes for a screw driver that would fit.
I FINALLY got the die adjusted and neck sized and expanded 10 pieces of brass. I loaded those rounds up with the bullets seated LONG, and I hope to FINALLY fireform some brass tomorrow.
What a pain
SSB
Here's my saga of trying to fireform 303 British brass to fit the GENEROUS chamber in my Enfield.
I have 50 pieces of gleaming new Winchester 303 brass that I'd like to make last a while. This brass isn't cheap (but I am) and is only available locally by driving nearly an hour. The chamber on my Enfield is so oversized that new brass or factory loads blow the shoulder forward a bunch and flatten primers on the first firing.
So, after conferring with the wise men (or wiseguys) in the chat room, I decided to firefrom the brass to my chamber on the first firing by seating 180gr jWord RN bullets (which I already had on hand) into the rifling. This will (hopefully) hold the casehead against the bolt face and allow the shoulder to move FORWARD, hopefully eliminating the flattened primers and the start of a casehead seperation.
So, I full length sized all 50 pieces of brass in my (I thought) RCBS die. I primed 10 pieces, then charged them with 41grs of IMR-4320, then prepared to seat my bullets extra long so that they contacted the rifling. Here's where the fun began.
The first bullet I seated nearly fell through the case neck. ON A F/L SIZED CASE. What could be wrong?
Did I grab the wrong bullets? Nope, I measured the bullets, .3105" (nominally supposed to be .311"). So I grabbed a case and tried seating a bullet by hand. A VERY loose slip fit in the neck of NEW BRASS. This ain't good.
After several minutes of trying to figure out how I screwed this up, I finally decided it would be wise to look at the dies (which I aquired used of course).
First of all, I discovered that, although they looked exactly like RCBS dies, they were in fact made by LACHMILLER, no problem so far. Then, I measured the expander ball on the decapping stem. It miked .310". A BIT loose for a .3105" bullet. At least I knew what the problem was.
Not knowing exactly what to do, and wanting to load ammo NOW, I pulled out my OLD set of RCBS 7.62X54R dies. They looked EXACTLY the same as the lachmiller 303 dies, so I measured the expander ball. It miked about .307", which I kinda suspected since I have used these same .3105" bullets successfully in my Rooskie A LOT. I thought, since the dies looked identical, that I could just swap the expander balls, resize the case necks, and be back in business. Of course, the decapper rod in my RCBS 7.62 die had been in there for a LONG time, so I had to go all the way down to the garage, put it in my vise, and remove it with pliers. Should fit the other die now.
Nothing doing. The thread pattern, where the expander ball screws on to the decapping rod, was different on the dies sets. Not a LOT different, but enough to eliminate interchangabilty. On to plan B.
I wound up putting the deacpping rod (with the .307" expander ball) BACK into the Rooskie die to be able to neck size and expand the 303 cases (the neck diameters are very close, the Brit is just longer). But, since my brass was already primed, I needed to raise the expander ball/decap pin in the die, to keep from punching out the newly installed primers.
In order to RAISE the decapping pin assembley, I had to use a pair of pliers and a small flat screw dribver to loosen the rod. I have a perfectly sized screw driver that I keep on my loading bench JUST FOR ADJUSTING RCBS DIES. Of course, I couldn't find the damn screw driver on my cluttered bench, so after looking for it for 20 minutes, I had to go BACK to the garage and look for another 20 minutes for a screw driver that would fit.
I FINALLY got the die adjusted and neck sized and expanded 10 pieces of brass. I loaded those rounds up with the bullets seated LONG, and I hope to FINALLY fireform some brass tomorrow.
What a pain
SSB