I need British 303 101

1
I just picked up a brand new 1958 Ishapore. I had some brass for reloading and I'm noticing some things.
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The brass shot from a friend's WWI era Enfield is fat, way fat. I assume that old gun has an open chamber from corrosive ammo, jillions of rounds, etc. I have some other fired brass that's not so swollen.

My gun is so tight I thought maybe it is some odd caliber I wasn't aware of. I couldn't get most of the re-sized brass to fully chamber. I lubed them up and ran them in and out of the resizer die from top to bottom until no resistance. Now those chamber and extract without a problem.

Then there's the length. The Lyman book says 2.222" for the brass. The fired brass I have is from 2.3- 2.44" but they all chamber. I started trimming them down to 2.222 but stopped when I saw the bonus length didn't keep the rounds from going in or out.

So.... Have dimensions been consistent over time for the British 303? This is the only gun I have for that caliber so I wonder if I should just use it's measurements as the standard instead of Lyman.
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Re: I need British 303 101

6
I have to do that with a couple of mine. Not all chambers are the same. So i have to full size brass shot in another gun, the keep what was fired in the finicky guns with them. It sucks.

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I must proof read more

Re: I need British 303 101

7
dandad wrote:I have to do that with a couple of mine. Not all chambers are the same. So i have to full size brass shot in another gun, the keep what was fired in the finicky guns with them. It sucks.

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I've read more and more things about older, mass produced military guns and how wide variances were just accepted. When the goal is to make them fast and cheap and able to burn through gritty ammo you end up with Enfields. No reloading consideration for us. :(

I need to segregate my big brass, like 45-70, by gun because those things are costly. I've never picked those up by the handful at the range.
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Puffing up is no substitute for smarts but it's a common home remedy

Re: I need British 303 101

8
I haven't started reloading for .303 yet, but I have a 1942 Birmingham I want to reload for. I did run across one piece of information about them on a milsurp forum. PPU brass is made the same way old military brass was, and will last forever. Most all US sources use much thinner stock, leading to increased case volume and lower pressure and velocity, and it doesn't take the extreme stretching very well, so it typically fails after a half dozen reloads and failures can be pretty spectacular. Watch closely for stretching and thinning.
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Re: I need British 303 101

10
I took the brass from the maiden range trip ran the empties through the gun and no issues. I guess fire forming them gives a guaranteed fit. I need to find a neck sizer in 312 so I can just make sure the neck is round and not shape anything else. I have a Lee factory crimp die that will just touch the end of the neck. I measured some for stretching and nothing noted.
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Puffing up is no substitute for smarts but it's a common home remedy

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