303 neck size

[northdude]

I have some greek surplus 303 brass that I ran through my lee loader and then merrily went and primed about 10 of them then had a thought and tried pushing a projectile into them by hand to check neck tension and they basically dropped into the case. Annealing and resizing the unprimed ones and they are good. Do you think removing the decapping pin from my 30 cal neck sizer and running them through that will make them usable

[bigpete]

It might ? Try it and see

[bladeracer]

I have some greek surplus 303 brass that I ran through my lee loader and then merrily went and primed about 10 of them then had a thought and tried pushing a projectile into them by hand to check neck tension and they basically dropped into the case. Annealing and resizing the unprimed ones and they are good. Do you think removing the decapping pin from my 30 cal neck sizer and running them through that will make them usable

You sure they're not .308" bullets?
What is the outside diameter of the brass before and after sizing it?
If the brass has hardened then it won't matter what you size it to it won't have any elasticity to grip the bullet.

[northdude]

.311 speer hot cores. I think its hard brass thats why they were good after I annealed them

[in2anity]

To delay the onset of case head separation (which happens sooner, with a rear locker) most 303 shooters only neck size This obviously requires that such fireformed brass be limited to the one action. The only explanation is that your use of the classic lee loader is not sufficiently resizing the neck. Therefore simply take the necessary steps to acquire appropriate neck tension, which indeed may be yielded by simply using your 308 sizer (don't over-complicate it). Beyond "sufficiently firm", utmost scrutiny of neck tension in a 303 service rifle, is really not worth the effort. Modern levels of handloading detail; relevant to scoped, double-bagged shooting, are a complete waste of time on an antique lee enfield 303, which are at very best 2moa shooters.

I personally aim for tight neck tension with my service rifles because of the inherent pressures placed on the projectile, particularly during a quick-fire event such as a rapid or snap match, where the action is cycled quickly and aggressively. If you implement "light neck tension" [a-la benchrest style handloads] projectile set back is a real problem that indeed opens those groups up...

[bigpete]

My late mate Tom and I both experienced this problem with the old Lee loaders, yet my dad used one for years for loading his 223 for fox shooting and never had an issue

[northdude]

After annealing the unprimed brass and running through the lee loader neck tension is fine so I think its a case of hard brass. All the rounds were fired in the same rifle. I havnt gone as far as benchrest prep for an old lee enfield I know their limits. I just dont want the pills dropping into the cases. Ive got lee loaders for some of my other rifles 22h, 223, 243, 303, and a variant of the lee loader for 6.5x55 done side by side comparisons with press loaded ammo and for hunting accuracy i couldnt see any difference...

[bigpete]

After annealing the unprimed brass and running through the lee loader neck tension is fine so I think its a case of hard brass. All the rounds were fired in the same rifle. I havnt gone as far as benchrest prep for an old lee enfield I know their limits. I just dont want the pills dropping into the cases. Ive got lee loaders for some of my other rifles 22h, 223, 243, 303, and a variant of the lee loader for 6.5x55 done side by side comparisons with press loaded ammo and for hunting accuracy i couldnt see any difference...

As i mentioned,dad used one to load his fox rifle for years....hsndlosds were under ½ moa using it....nothing wrong with them from that perspective

[in2anity]

After annealing the unprimed brass and running through the lee loader neck tension is fine so I think its a case of hard brass. All the rounds were fired in the same rifle. I havnt gone as far as benchrest prep for an old lee enfield I know their limits. I just dont want the pills dropping into the cases. Ive got lee loaders for some of my other rifles 22h, 223, 243, 303, and a variant of the lee loader for 6.5x55 done side by side comparisons with press loaded ammo and for hunting accuracy i couldnt see any difference...

yes you need a sufficient level of neck tension out of ye olde three-oh because the projectile impacts pretty solidly with the feed ramp when the action is run quickly. I always seat some drill rounds, measure their lengths, cycle them aggressively from a full magazine, then measure them again to see how much setback is occurring... if negligible, then happy days.

[northdude]

Ill anneal these ones once I've fired them as well. I don't want to waste the primers. Haven't loaded 303 before as the surplus stuff was cheap enough to plink with. Ive got some 2208 I can try in it

[bladeracer]

Ill anneal these ones once I've fired them as well. I don't want to waste the primers. Haven't loaded 303 before as the surplus stuff was cheap enough to plink with. Ive got some 2208 I can try in it

I've trimmed almost 1mm off my PPU brass in eight firings, I really don't know how long they can keep this up

[northdude]

is it because there's no shoulder

[bladeracer]

is it because there's no shoulder

Mostly due to the rear-locking bolt, the length of the bolt compresses under chamber pressure.

[northdude]

oh so so some light loads would help? I only shoot at targets with my 3, so don't need to chase fps

[bladeracer]

oh so so some light loads would help? I only shoot at targets with my 3, so don't need to chase fps

Yep, I haven't trimmed my reduced-load brass at all.

[Vince24]

First time I did a neck size with the Lee Collet die, the bullets were still falling inside the case after the neck sizing, lol!
I had not realised that with the Lee collet die, you actually have to push quite hard on the lever of the press for the proper sizing to really happen.
Not as smooth and nice as with the neck sizers from RCBS or Redding.

[bladeracer]

First time I did a neck size with the Lee Collet die, the bullets were still falling inside the case after the neck sizing, lol!
I had not realised that with the Lee collet die, you actually have to push quite hard on the lever of the press for the proper sizing to really happen.
Not as smooth and nice as with the neck sizers from RCBS or Redding.

Just a different design, the collet crushes the neck down to size laterally with very little friction, FLS-style die forces the neck into a smaller hole to swage it down to size with friction. Lee also does the standard dies, that's what I bump the shoulders with.

[Oldbloke]

I have some greek surplus 303 brass that I ran through my lee loader and then merrily went and primed about 10 of them then had a thought and tried pushing a projectile into them by hand to check neck tension and they basically dropped into the case. Annealing and resizing the unprimed ones and they are good. Do you think removing the decapping pin from my 30 cal neck sizer and running them through that will make them usable

You did it and it worked. So, the issue is the brass is work hardened and inclined to "spring back" after resizing.

It's over due to be annealed..

[northdude]

well happy to say it worked

[Oldbloke]