1896 .30-40 Krag rifle with a little too much head spacing....

[Rapidrob]

A cry in your beer tail. In 1976 I was stationed in San Diego,CA waiting for a new Destroyer to be built. I had plenty of free time due to a strike at the ship yard.
I got a part time job at a local Gun Shop.
A huge shipment of firearms from Mexico came up when firearm laws were made to prevent ownership in Mexico.
In this shipment were hundreds of 1896 Krag rifles.
I bought one for 75 bucks. Little did I know the beautiful bore was full of Mercury from primers. The first time I fired the rifle, the rifling was blown out!
It took 35 years to find an original replacement barrel from a rifle being converted to a sporter.
The rifle now shoots very well, but here's the rub. Its a one shot deal. One new round fired and the brass stretches far enough that on the 2nd reloading, the case fails at the web.
It is not my Gunsmith's work. The bolt body is the cause. It probable was a problem back in the 70's, I did not reload in the barracks and I threw the brass away.
So what to do? Order a brand new bolt body? Yep...done that waiting for it to show up. Will it solve the problem? Perhaps. I borrowed a bolt from a club member and it helped a lot.
Since new brass cannot be fired formed to my rifle without stretching ( due to the bolt body being a little too short, locking lug shows no wear ) What to do?
I loaded up 20 rounds of new brass and made them into blanks. A hefty charge of Bulls Eye powder and filled the cases with corn meal. Bang! instant .410 Brass shotgun shell. ( fired in a .410 musket ) But why do this? Total control as to where the case shoulder will be!
I annealed the cases ( see my post on the automatic case annealer I made ) and then backed off the .30-40 FL sizing die several turns. Sure enough a perfect case that not only head spaces on the rim, but now also on the case shoulder.
Does it work? you bet it does.
I loaded up five rounds and using 185 grain bullets, fired formed them in my rifle. No stretching at all. Now I'll only neck size the fired brass. I'm hoping to get several reloads out of each case.
I'm sure there are others who have the same problem. This is an easy, inexpensive fit the a head spacing issue. Not excessive and unsafe, but just enough to ruin the fired brass.
The .410 brass case- my formed casing- New Winchester case:
323598
My case - new Winchester case
323600
old fired case, note stretch ring-- new fired case. No stretching.
323602
323600

[HWooldridge]

I had an original Marlin lever gun in 32-20 that split cases with every shot. It was quite accurate but impossible to reload. That wasn’t a big deal in the late 1970’s because 32 WCF was common and cheap. I should have kept it and had the chamber fixed but a buddy wanted to pay more than I wanted to spend fixing it.

Another friend of mine had a 303 SMLE that did the same thing - his fired cases looked a lot like yours, but again, we just shot surplus ammo and tossed the brass. Glad you figured out a solution for your Krag.

[M-Tecs]

You have two other options. If you can hard jam the bullets into the rifling that will eliminate the stretch or neck up to 338 or 358 then size back to form a false shoulder.

[RickinTN]

Don't size the cases so much after the first firing. The first firing fire-forms them to the chamber. Leave that alone. Size the neck enough to hold the nest bullet and all will be well.
Good Luck,
Rick

[Rapidrob]

Thanks for the replies.
I do only neck size the once fired cases for my rimmed calibers that are hard on brass. .303 Britt, 6.5 Dutch, 6.5 Jap and this .30-40 Krag.
So far the "new" case shoulder seems to have worked very well. I have a match this weekend and will be firing 40 rounds. That should be a good trial.
I'll try the expanded neck tip as well.

[littlejack]

I bought a 1898 Krag about 4 months ago. Like yours, there were headspace issues. If shooting factory ammunition, there's no way to control the case stretching. Just shooting a factory round will not give you the proper headspace. The case is driven forward by the firing pin strike, but only the amount that is from the bolt face to the top of the rim. My Krag has up to .007 there, depending on which case brand I'm using. If reloading the rounds, you can do what has been mentioned already and jam the bullet into the rifling to push the case back against the bolt face. I load cast boolits in my Krag. I use the Lyman 311284 mould. This boolit has a .300 bore riding section, so jamming the rifling will not work. I only partial size, and the neck is only sized to .400 down from the top of the
case. The loads I make up are low pressure, so after the sizing step, I do not remove the the case lube. This allows the case to NOT stick to the chamber walls, and slide back against the bolt face so the shoulder will be blown forward to the shoulder part of the chamber.
It would be interesting to know how much space you have from the bolt face, to back of a chambered case.

[gnoahhh]

If your 311284 bullet has a bore riding nose section too small in diameter to resist the rifling, I submit that you need a different mold. You should get definite imprints of the rifling on the nose. Old 311284 dimensions are all over the map and I went through three of them before I found one that had a large enough nose diameter. Made a world of difference in the Krag I was shooting at the time, as well as the Krags I'm shooting now.

A 311284 bullet that achieves that protocol will suffice to hold the case head back against the bolt face for initial fire forming. If not, simply seat the bullet out far enough so the first driving band engages the rifling hard.

Lacking a bullet such as the 311284 I would simply do the trick of expanding the case neck to .35 caliber and then pushing it into a .30-40 die incrementally until the bolt barely closes on it. Neck size only after initial fire forming. I've done that trick with more milsurps in my life than I can remember.

[Rapidrob]

I too have left case lube on the case and fired them with a reduced load to allow the brass to flow out and into the chamber.
I will add tape the the face of the bolt and calculate the free head space with a long seated bullet.

[littlejack]

What I used to check the headspace, was a aluminum disc. I make the discs to make plain base checks for my .41 revolver. The disc fits the bolt face perfectly. It was just a case of luck that I had the disc laying on my reloading table.
As for the 311284 boolit. It does have to be lightly tapped into the muzzle of the barrell. It does show light rifling markes when pulled out. But, I don't believe there is enough engraving to stop the firing pin from driving the case forward when struck.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I used to tinker with Krags a bit, and came to the conclusion that eventually after thousands and thousands of rounds they will all have headspace problems. The problem is due to the single locking lug that takes all of the recoil and the metallurgy of the day, plus the fact that so many of these rifles were sporterized and subject to hot hand loads.

The traditional method, of course, is to remove and set the barrel back a few thousandths, but with a bit of luck and persistence the problem can be solved with a different bolt. I have a box full of bolts that have been replaced. I started by swapping used bolts among rifles, some used I acquired mostly on ebay and fixed several that way, but eventually found a seller who had a seemingly inexhaustible supply of brand new in-the-original-wrapper bolts. I found that these would solve the problems of even the most out-of-spec Krags. Originally this seller would sell the bolts individually for abut $90 each, but in later times was selling them in lots of 5 for about $250. I only encountered one rifle out of perhaps a hundred that I was unable to restore to in-spec headspace with a new bolt, and I re-barreled that one. I have to assume that the Army realized that there would be a headspace problem as they made so many extra bolts, and the part is not serial numbered.

323623 323624

A new bolt and subsequent neck sizing only of fired cartridges will likely solve your problem. If it doesn't, the only recourse is a barrel job.

DG

[Rapidrob]

I just used brass shim stock cut to fit the face of the bolt. With a new Winchester case seated into the chamber and the bolt closed with resistance right at 2:00 on the bolt handle closing, I've got
.0250 free head space.
I double checked this reading by placing a long drill rod down the barrel into the chambered case and marked the rod. I then tapped the rod rearward and making sure the case was seated against the face of the bolt. Same reading. More than enough to cause case splitting at the web when fired.
By seating thee shoulder forward as described above, this should stop any case stretching.
I'm going to fire a 220 grain bullet into my bullet trap and check the fired casing as this will be the higher chamber pressure of my loads.

[Rapidrob]

I just loaded up three rounds of ammo using 220 grain bullets and two types of powder. One being a max safe loading, the other the most accurate at long range from my notes. I used the same casing as in the above photos and seated the bullet to the bullets recommended OAL. The rounds were fired into my bullet trap.
The fired case does show the shoulder is blown outward to compensate for the .0250 excessive head spacing. There are no signs of an incipient case stretching using an inside case pick. ( yes, the reloaded case mouth is not trimmed from being blown out to .410 )
I'm hoping the bolt body will even close up the head space issue even more or perhaps totally.
L to R- fired 3 times-- new Winchester case
323629

[littlejack]

Rapidrob
I think I would be very happy with just .0250 headspace. That ain't much wiggle room. There is more than that in a lot of factory cartridges, to fit all the different chambering dimensions in different rifles. Even when I'm sizing some of my other cartridges, I may allow for up to .0300 -.0500. I've never had any case separation with my loaded rounds.
DG
From what I've read, and have been recommended, you have more than "tinkered" with the Krags. It has been stated by another member that you have great amounts of knowledge on the Krags. Glad to hear from you on the subject.
On my bolt, the front locking lug and the rearward safety lug engage at the same time. I don't really know if that is good, bad, or no matter but I just shoot low pressure cast boolits anyway.

[Driver man]

I have heard it said, If you fit an o ring along the case so it fits snug against the rim and then shoot it as normal then the case will have fire formed perfectly to your chamber with minimal case stretch , From that point on neck size only and use that case only in that firearm

[littlejack]

That sound like it might work very well. I may try that trick when I get to reloading my new brass. Thanks

[Rapidrob]

I am so happy with the .410 brass cases being resized I did 10 for my 6.5 Dutch firearms. Using the same technique I found I could move the shoulder forward a few thousands and get the tight bolt closure it needed to prevent stretching.
I fired five rounds of 160 grain .266 bullets and the fired cases show no signs of stretching.
I've tried the O-ring trick but if you stop and think about it what you are doing is keeping the rim further away from the chamber. The brass is blown out to take up that new space. Sure the shoulder is now more forward,but where did the extra length come from? You stretched the case at the same time the shoulder is blown out. I only got two reloading before the brass failed at the web.
My method you bring the shoulder back to where you want it to be. Nothing is stretched, just reformed further out.
Original fired 6.5 Dutch military casing on left--- my reload on right
323648

Close up of the two cases. You can see my reformed case shoulder is just slightly forward taking up the free head space
323649

[M-Tecs]

What causes the majority of stretching is the case being pushed forward by the ejector and or the firing pin. As the pressure builds the neck and front part of the shoulder expands adhering to the chamber walls. That is why leaving case lub. on the case helps minimize the stretching.

Bottlenecked cases with rim or belts tend to have a surprising amount of clearance on the shoulder. I've seen as much a .030" shoulder clearance, yet they were close to minimum headspace on the belt/rim.

[littlejack]

I agree wiff dat.

[littlejack]

One other thing to be careful about. I don't think I would do the lube cased procedure in a Krag action with factory ammunition or handloads with the same psi/cup. Not counting the rear safety, and only one locking lug, the bolt thrust eventually may crack at the lug or worse.

[Rapidrob]

I too have seen Enfield rifles with perfect head spacing on the rim and shoulders so far forward that they are not safe to shoot with commercial ammunition.
I have a No1 MkIII sporter that had a chamber so long and out-of-round that it was a total waste trying to load for it.
I chambered it for 7.62x54R as the throat was so worn out from shooting hundreds or more of rounds of CORDITE
that keeping it in .303 was no longer an option. At that that time a replacement barrel cost more than another rifle!
It is a fun little carbine now to shoot and it is accurate.
The rifle at that time had little value, been drilled by hand for a scope, and not done right, the chamber was oblong and the muzzle would swallow a .303 bullet.
I did not ruin a collectors rifle.

[Milky Duck]

I have heard it said, If you fit an o ring along the case so it fits snug against the rim and then shoot it as normal then the case will have fire formed perfectly to your chamber with minimal case stretch , From that point on neck size only and use that case only in that firearm

LOL this K1W1 was reading through and was about to type out the same...its often suggested for 303 brit.

[Rich/WIS]

The Krag I owned had the same issue. Didn't use the O ring but simply fire formed and then neck sized only. Doing it that way there were no further issues.

[littlejack]

I have done that as well, when I first started reloading for my Krag. Did't have nary a problem with case separation. But with mine having as much as .007 headspace on the rim (depending on which case brand I was using) I decided to try and take out as much slack as I could. After fireforming the case, there will be "spring back". But, when I partial size, the die does squeeze the case at the junction of the case body and the shoulder. Which in turn,
lengthens the enough that when I close the bolt, I can feel the shoulder being pushed up against the chamber.
We may be splitin hairs.

[Rapidrob]

I pulled out my Enfield "Jungle Carbine" that I bought 30 years ago. It is in very good condition but has an issue. When firing commercial .303 Britt ammo, you will get case head separations.( it is NOT the bolt head )
The carbine has been a safe queen since then.
This morning I pulled out my stash of fired POF .410 brass Berdan primed cases. As you know, in order to make .303 Britt, the factory made .410 cases in order to load the CORDTIE into the empty brass and then form the neck and shoulder. ( They did the same thing with the 1Z grain powder ) I cut a case lengthwise in half and the case thickness is the same as the normal .303 Britt Ball case.
The only fly in the ointment is that the primer cup is .5 mm shorter in height than the English made primers. As it turns out in my Berdan primer rack I have a few hundred of the primers I need. All I had to do is anneal the brass and size to .303. No trimming was needed. I adjusted my sizing die up to form a way too far forward shoulder and kept moving the should back down until the case would allow the bolt to close. The formed cases shoulder is .020 farther forward than a new unfired casing, military or commercial.
I loaded up a starting load and fired it into my bullet trap. No problems with the primer or the case stretching. I then neck sized only and loaded up 5 rounds of a full charge and 180 grain bullets in the same casing and fired them into the trap.
No issues what so ever and the brass shows no signs of stretching. Another firearm I can shoot again and be able to reload the brass without the brass being ruined.
Fired five times with full loads.
323670
The primers that fit the POF brass cases.
323671
Fired case, no issues with the primer.
323672

[Adam Helmer]

Most rimmed case headspace problems Start when the reloader Full Length sizes fired cases. I have many rimmed case arms and my favorites are .303 British. IF I followed the die maker's instructions, I would have case head separations on the second firing. Most of my Enfields, Krags and other arms are "long on the tooth."

I have a dozen .303s and a favorite MkIII requires me to back off the resizing die 1.5 TURNS. I SIZE to the chamber dimensions of each individual arm, both rimmed and rimless. Replace bolts, bolt heads, etc., or let the rifle tell you how much to resize. Whatever.
Adam

[littlejack]

More than one way to skin the perverbial feline.

[Rapidrob]

I have to neck size only my belted-magnums as well. Same problem.
An ideal solution would be to hydraulically expand the new cases into a clone chamber.

[Rapidrob]

The new Krag bolt body showed up today! Was not supposed to be here until Saturday....Happy dance.
The new bolt is nice and tight on my re-loads and fired cases show no signs of any stretching! WaHoo.. I will be shooting the rifle at my 200 yard Off-Hand Match at 200 yards ( steel Chickens ) this Saturday. 220 grain round nose flat base, 35 grains IMR-3031, Remington 91/2 primers, Lee Factory crimp die.
This will be the first time I can shoot the rifle more than a couple of rounds and not have the brass fail since 1975!
The new bolt body is as new as the day it was made. It was covered in Cosmoline and the bolt face has a black protective covering on it. No idea what it is, never seen anything like it before.
It does wear off from the rim of the brass rubbing on it as the bolt is rotated.
I fired 5 shots into my bullet trap and the cases are perfect. Neck sizing only from now on to keep the brass working for many reloads. The shoulder is still .0250 further out than new brass.
Just for giggles I fired a couple of 220 grain loads in the older brass that shows stretching after the first shot and they held together. Fingers crossed that they too will last.
Some kind of coating on the face of the bolt:
323729
The new bolt after cleaning off the Cosomoline:
323730
In my rifle, looks pretty good:
323731

[littlejack]

Let us know how you did at the 200 yard match.

[Rapidrob]

We were allowed three sighter shots at a 12x10" target then 20 rounds at NRA High-Power Chicken Silhouette AR500 steel targets. All set at 200 meters and shot off-hand.
There were AR-15's, an AK 47, M1 Garand and SKS's. I was shooting the 1896 Krag and for a 2nd rifle, the No 5 Jungle carbine. The wind was 5 mph left to right.
Bright sunny day, targets painted Black.
My loads for the Krag were 35 grains of IMR-3031 under a Speer 220 grain RNFB bullet, Remington primers, Winchester brass. ( 1,950 FPS at my altitude )
I did not have a single malfunction of the rifle and the brass looks as new as it was made, no stretching. I tied for first place. ( no shoot off )
The heat off of the barrel after 15 shots was causing a sighting issue. Several members said the same thing with their rifles.
Then, after everyone else had fired at least once, shot the Jungle Carbine and won with that rifle 1 st place. 39 grains of IMR-3031 under a Norma 180 grain SPFB bullet and RWS Berdan primers, .410 Shotgun POF reformed brass.
After the matches I fired the Krag using military surplus M-118 185 grain SPBT FMJ bullets using a Reloader-15 load, same brass and primers. The rifle shot them very well at the Chickens and did hit a couple.
I purposely shot a fast burning powder to really stress the brass to see if any were to stretch or fail ,non did.
Same with the .303 Jungle Carbine.....and there was no "Wandering Zero" in the JC, and the barrel was hot after 20 rounds in four minutes.
Next months match will be at 500 meters. Man Torso AR550 target with electronic flash to record hits. I'll work up a good load as there are several Saturdays to practice before the match.
I will try several bullet types and powders.
It is so nice to enjoy this Krag rifle I bought the 1975. It looks to be a fine shooter.

[beemer]

I'm working on a #4 Enfield that has headspace on the loose side. The chamber is also a little sloppy and blows the case to one side. My go gage is .064 and the no go is .067, it will close on the .067. British military is .074 max. The bolt will not close on the .064 with a .006 shim behind it. I think the headspace is around .069.

I am wrapping the case in the extractor groove with dental floss till the bolt will close firmly. This centers the case and holds it firmly against the bolt face. The extractor has been removed to allow the case to center itself. I am using Rem factory loads. The fired case look good, shoulder is blown out to fit the chamber and the case expanded evenly. I haven't loaded any yet but am going to load one case several times neck sizing with a Lee collet die and see what happens.

This rifle was nasty with a frosty bore but strong rifling, It does seem to shoot well.

[Rapidrob]

While I am not an Enfield expert I do have a large collection of Enfield rifles and carbines. Does you rifle have the brass pin going from L to R though the stock? In front of the Magazine well?
If so, it has been to India for issue to the troops and in my collection I too have a rifle with an elongated chamber. I was told by an Indian Officer in 1983 when I was stationed at the Pentagon that this was tried on rifles to allow water to escape around the loaded cartridge during their Monsoon season.
While I do not know this as a fact, it does make some sense to make sure chamber pressures to not exceed safety guidelines with a rain / water filled bore if fired.
Years ago I did a photo article at Surplus Rifle.com ( now gone ) showing the measurements and a casting of the rifles chamber and the oblong can be clearly seen. Perhaps "The Way Back Machine" internet archive would still have the article? 1997 I think I wrote it.
Of the Enfield type rifles I own, not including the P-17 rifles which heave great chambers in my rifles, the Australian Lithgow made rifles have the best chambers and are very accurate. The No1 MkIII, III*,Mk V Trials rifle ( not Jungle Carbine ) and a couple of my No4 MkI rifles have "loose chambers"
I read in a British Armorer's manual from 1938 which the student wrote in the margin on a page about the SMLE NoI MkIII rifle maintenance
" head space shall be set in such a manner that the soldier shall be able to keep a dry pair of socks" You can bet some Sargent was drilling that into the students.
This inspired me to purchase from "Springfield Sporters" every bolt head size they had for all of the Enfield type rifles with replaceable bolt heads.
I soon found out that the numbers stamped on the bolt heads ( unless wrapped in Vapor-Paper or in a sealed box as new) were normally not the size they are now due to being hand fitted to the rifles bolt. 99% are smaller, and never larger. I still have a tray full of them.
I got frustrated at the lost time and effort to try to correct the head space case stretching issues I gave up and bought 10,000 rounds of Navy Arms .303 British surplus ammo. Listed as Battlefield pick up ammo. You name it, it was in the crate. A collectors dream. Most of the ammo when bang. A lot had dead primers. WWI to the early 70's. Some not loaded with propellant! Some with notes or even a lottery ticket in it. Some with Drugs. I found one with a tiny eye-hook screwed into the lead core bottom of the bullet and 1 foot of thin twine. A small charge of 4FG powder. What the heck?
I'm down to about 1,000 rounds now. Lots that shoot well, some for 100 yards shooting only. One lot will hang-fire every time. The bad / dead lots pulled for the bullets and powder. Z-powder and Cordite still like new and I reload it. Cordite great for straight walled calibers or cut up for others.
Good luck with the floss around the rim. Fire forming can cause the brass to stretch at the web, be careful. Bring a broken shell extractor with you or a tight fitting bore brush to get the body out of the chamber if the case looses its rim. Been there,done that.
Shoot the Enfields!

[beemer]

Sounds like you have a nice collection of Enfields. A Lithgow No1 was the most accurate Enfield I have ever owned, took some bedding work but worth it. My brother owns it now and has taken several deer with it. I had P14 years ago that had headspace of about .083, didn't matter as the bore was worn out. I traded it and $35 for a unissued Faz #4 M2 back in the 90's, ended up scoping the rifle as it's my favorite. I have had several over the years but down to three good ones. Wish I had kept everyone of them.

The 1953 #4 Faz I am working belongs to a good friend. It doesn't have a brass pin so who knows. Except for the headspace being on the max end of the specs. the chamber is not any worst than any other #4. The rifle actually shoots very well with the Rem factory loads.

Every Enfield I have ever owned had a elongated shoulder, for battle crud I have read. Your experience with bolt heads is same as mine, the only way to tell what is is with a set of calipers. I have been loading for Enfield for over 30 years and have learned to get decent brass life. I headspace off the shoulder and assign brass to a specific rifle if necessary. A Lee collet neck sizer with an ocassional shoulder bump and annealing the necks. Staying a few grains off max loads is also a helps and usually shoots better. I do have a 303 shell extractor.

Glad you like the Krag, sounds like a fun rifle.

[Rapidrob]

I got my first Enfield rifle, a No4 Mk1 in 1965 for 17 bucks from a friend. I still have it. It is in NRA very good condition but has never been a great shooter.
Head spacing off of the shoulder really is the only way to go.
I have a SMLE from WW1 with a bore of .317! Could almost shoot early bore 8x57 Mauser out of it.
Being and owner of Enfield rifles is a love hate relationship.
I run NM MILSURPS ( New Mexico Military Surplus Rifle Pistol Shooters ). A club where were shoot surplus military firearms from 25-1,000 yards on stationary and moving targets. 50% of the range is in meters out to 500, the other half is in yards out to 1,000. We shoot 50 Saturday's a year, and have been active for 29 years. A great learning experience.
So far, we have never found a rifle or caliber that was "crap or junk". If the rifle or carbine has a good bore and crown, they will shoot very well at long distance.

[littlejack]

Rr
Thank you for the report on the match shoot. Good shooting sir.

[Rapidrob]

I will be shooting the rifle at 500 meters this Saturday using 185 grain HPBT as well as 220 grain RNFB bullets. Should be interesting.

[MOC031]

Whether for the Krag that was the original topic of discussion, or for Lee Enfields (that the Brits cut with chambers to assure they could deal with either trench mud or verdigris coated rounds from decades of sitting in some munitions storage in some godforsaken part of the British Empire), I would opt for eliminating uncontrolled brass stretching on initial firing by using the technique mentioned by others here. That is, forming a false shoulder by first using a .33 Lyman M die, and then partial full length sizing until the case is firmly against the bolt at the rear and the datum point of the chamber's shoulder portion at the front.

When this is done, pretty much the only way brass can move is to expand outward to the chamber walls. It can't stretch in length. Fire forming without the firing part. (or in these days of scarcity for some; saving yourself some primers and powder otherwise expended fire forming)

Followed by use of a Lee Collet die for sizing afterwards. Although for some reason or other, one of the chamberings Lee DOESN'T offer their collet die for is 30 U.S./30-40 Krag.

Not that it would help me much if they did. My 30-40 is my Grandfather's 1895 Winchester, and it has neck and bore dimensions that would almost make you think somebody accidentally mounted a .303 British rifle barrel on the action; I would need to get a custom mandrel made for the collet die. Or decrease the size of a .303 British collet to get the proper resizing I need for the way oversize 1895 Winchester ball seat/leade.

As for new brass for Lee Enfields, there is nothing close to replicating WWII/Korea Mark VII ball ammo than Privy Partisan's unprimed brass. Dimensionally, volume, and weight, it is indistinguishable from Commonwealth war brass and the now long gone and deeply lamented Greek HXP military surplus ammo from the 1980's. It could probably work just as well after modification in 30-40.

[Adam Helmer]

MOCO31,

I let all my rifles, both rimmed and rimless "tell" me when to stop resizing brass reloads. Rimmed cases like the .30/40 and .303 are easy to accommodate merely by backing OFF on the resizing die until you get a slight "crunch" fit. I have dozens of rimmed mil rifles and all are easy to get the right fit.

Be well.

Adam

[MOC031]

Rimmed cases like the .30/40 and .303 are easy to accommodate merely by backing OFF on the resizing die until you get a slight "crunch" fit.

I think of it (and I think it's usually described as) a "crush" fit. I.e., some increased resistance when turning down the bolt at the end of chambering.

I don't recall when I started doing it with bolt action rifles - probably a long time ago after reading something from somebody like George Nonte or Jack O'Connor, or some article in an early issue of Handloader Magazine - but I've been doing it ever since with all my bolt action rifles, rimmed or unrimmed, military or civilian rifle.

Whoever and whenever I got the idea of adjusting my sizing dies this way, I think it has worked out for me in the decades since.