Reloading .303

[Tower75]

Hello all.

I've only been reloading for about a year, and to be honest, I'm not sure it's even that long.

At the moment I only reload .303, and a "problem" that seems to be popping up is that about 5 cartridges out of every 50 always have loose heads in them. You cannot either pull the head out of the case, or push it back in, but you can freely spin the head in the case's neck.

My processs is to full-size the cases and I've heard that the necks on .303 can be a bit springy and don't always form to how the die shapes them - apparently the necks can spring back to some measurement between "fired" and "sized".

This would seem to ring true as when I get the "spining heads" I pull them and then neck size the cases and re-charge and seat the head. After that I get no problem.

I've over tightned my full-leangth die buy a full turn but I still seem to get about 5/50 cartridges with "loose heads" in them. Surely if I was doing something wrong they would all be like that, right?

Is there something that I can do to stop this, remembering that my engineering skill starts and stops with putting up a shelf, or is this just an issue with "springy" brass and I just have to live with it?

Regards
T

[ovenpaa]

Do the bullets have a groove in them? (A canular thingy, I can never remember the correct spelling)

[spud]

cannulure

[dromia]

If its the head then it sounds like case head separation?

Or is he getting his terminology wrong and refering to loose bullets.

Can you clarify Tower please

[Tower75]

It's the bullet that's loose.

Yes my terminology is wrong.

[Steve E]

Are the cases that you are loading all of the same batch and make? Different batches may give differnt case neck tension. If they are all of the same batch try turning the sizing die in a 1/8 turn more. Also what brass are you using. My experience of loading .303 for nearly 30 years is that HXP brass is the best. With full length sizing I can get 15+ loads out of HXP. New HXP brass can be bought from HPS for £20/100. Winchester and Remington R&P seem to be the worst brass out there. Lokks good but a waste of money. Privi would be my second choice.
The other solution may be to buy a Lee .303 collet die and just neck size. These dies really do work and I do use them if in a hurry to knock up some ammo or if I am at Bisley and need to do some loading.

Steve

[Tower75]

Do the bullets have a groove in them? (A canular thingy, I can never remember the correct spelling)

Missed that one, sorry. No, not that I remeber. They're S&B BTs

Are the cases that you are loading all of the same batch and make?

I've got a few hundred HXP with 1970s head stamps ranging to the 80s, and I've also got a few dozen War surplus Canadian boxer-primed cases that I use.

New HXP brass can be bought from HPS for £20/100

Who's HPS?

The other solution may be to buy a Lee .303 collet die and just neck size. These dies really do work and I do use them if in a hurry to knock up some ammo or if I am at Bisley and need to do some loading.

Got one of them. That's what I use when I get the spinning bullets. But I prefer to use the full-length one.

[Steve E]

HPS are HPS Target Rifles. Just Checked their website and New .303 brass is £17.95/100.

I now see what may be your problem, you are using S&B boat tails. If you mic' the S&Bs you may find that their diameters are not consistant. I had similar problems plus I could not get them to perform in my rifles. Try the Sierra 174gr Match King or the Hornady 174 gr FMJ/BT.

If you still get problems It may be that you need someone to assess what you are doing by watching you reload. Your technique may need adjusting. I know when I started reloading things sometimes didnot go quite right and it was not until a friend watched me load that we found out what the problem was.

Steve

[ovenpaa]

Peter Lawman is still advertising new HXP @ GBP11.95/100 as an alternative.

http://www.peterlawman.co.uk/reloading

Getting your process checked over is also a good idea, if you do not have any handy reloaders nearby any chance of a video uploaded to Youtube or similar?

[Steve]

Try tightening the sizer a little more.I use Privi brass with no loose bullet problem.Infact i resized some brass few weeks ago and tried inserting a bullet yesterday which was still a tight fit.