Had my first reload failure today, after 30 years of reloading.

[Ozzieman]

I have an Enfield that was built in 62. Its a Jungle carbine that looks inside and out new. I purchased the gun about 6 months ago and so far have fired about 100 rounds through it. When I purchased the gun I had it looked at by a very good gunsmith who has experience with Enfield. He measured the head space and gave it his blessing. He said that it looked like the gun had very few rounds through it.
This is a 308 and one that was built in that caliber not a chopped up copy.
Today I went out and shot about 30 rounds and on the last round I had a case head separation.
All the cases were once fired military and were reloaded with light loads of 4895 and light bullets 158 GR.
The loads were close to minimum powder weights.
All cases were full sized and trimmed to length and inspected by yours truly.
The last round that I fired the recoil felt normal but I saw a little cloud of smoke come out of the gun around the bolt. When I opened the bolt to extract the fired case only the head of the case came out.
The primer of the failed case looks normal with no pressure signs. The remainder of the case is in the gun and I want my gunsmith to look at it before I attempt to remove it.
Since these were once fired cases (I fired them in an M1A) my only guess is that it’s failed case and nothing more.
But it did scare the,,,,,,,, Well no need to use that kind of language here with friends.
Any ideas?

[R.Childs]

If it were me I would measure the casings with a case gage if you have one. I would want to see the difference in size from the ones I fired in that gun and then run a few through my fl sizer and see how far I'm setting the shoulder back. I would want to know that if you don't already. I had a casehead separation on the second firing of an Encore one time. The brass was stretching like crazy because of headspace. This gun had a custom barrel on it and had .017" headspace. The owner was not happy when I gave him that news! The barrel alone was $800 and was smithed by someone in Arizona.

[TimRB]

"All the cases were once fired military"

Dollars to donuts the cases were fired in a machine gun. My understanding is that those things have generous chambers to allow fast feed and extraction. Possibly your failed case had been stretched more than you thought.

Tim

[Slamfire]

That is an interesting rifle. I have never seen a picture of a British made 308 Jungle carbine. I have a 303.

You can knock out the case by pushing a bristle brush through the muzzle and out the chamber. That will often remove the case.

As for case head separations, don't freak out. They happen.

It may be that the cases stretched too much on their first firing. Or it could be a brass flaw.

I had a bunch of IMI 30-06 cases experience case head separations. This was IMI loaded 150 FMJBT service ammo. Not the commerically sold cases. It was not unusual to have a case head separation or two in the first firing. I think I fired most of the stuff in properly headspaced Garands. Then I reloaded the stuff, and would occasionally have more separations, in Garands and Bolt Guns.

I figure, the brass was hard.

Still, a Lee Enfield is tough on brass. But cases should last at least a couple of reloads.

[Ozzieman]

The cases were all once fired military that were new and fired only once in my National match M1A. All were mid 80's vintage.
The idea of the "I would measure the casings with a case gage" is a good idea. I have never used one but will look into one.
Is a case gage used before or after sizing?
I have a Wilson case trimmer and I tend to use the collet as a gage. If the case goes in to far or farther than normal it gets tossed.
As far as the gun being British its a Ishapore 2A/2A1- The Last Lee-Enfield
The following is some information on the gun.
The one that I have has the 800M sights

At some point just after the Sino-Indian War of 1962, the Ishapore Rifle Factory in India began producing a new type of rifle known as the Rifle 7.62 mm 2A, which was based on the SMLE Mk III* and was reworked to use the 7.62mm NATO round. Externally the rifle is very similar to the classic Mk III*, with the exception of the magazine, which is more "square" and usually carries twelve rounds instead of ten, although a number of 2A1s have been noted with 10-round magazines. Ishapore 2A/2A1 rifles are made with strengthened steel (to handle the increased pressures of the 7.62mm NATO round), and the extractor is redesigned to cope with the rimless round. From 1965-1975 (when production is believed to have been discontinued), the sights were changed from 2000m to 800m, and the rifle re-designated Rifle 7.62 mm 2A1.
There are no other differences between the Ishapore 2A and 2A1 rifles, but they are often incorrectly described as ".308 conversions". The 2A/2A1 rifles are not conversions of .303 calibre SMLE Mk III* rifles - they are newly manufactured, and are not technically chambered for commercial .308 Winchester ammunition. However, many 2A/2A1 owners shoot such ammunition in their rifles with no problems, although it must be stressed .308 Winchester may generate higher pressures than 7.62mm NATO, even though the rounds are otherwise interchangeable. The Ishapore 2A1 has the distinction of being the last non-sniper military bolt action rifle ever designed and issued to an armed force, and they are becoming increasingly popular with civilian shooters and collectors in the US, UK, and Australia as the supplies of affordable .303 British ammunition fluctuate.


http://www.answers.com/topic/lee-enfield

[Unclenick]

You need a headspace gauge. Most of the match chambers for M14's were standard civilian .308 spec, and not the longer NATO 7.62x51 spec chamber, but even so, my NM M1A's chamber kicked Lake City brass out with about 0.007" over minimum head space. I proceeded to set it back to 0.005" for reloading so I wouldn't keep stretching the pressure ring down to paper thin, but you need to check that for yourself.

The other possibility is that the Enfield has the long chamber. That would also make it head separation prone. Again, apply a headspace gauge to a fireformed case to see. Getting a head separation before 5 reloads tells me you've got too much room in one of these guns.

To cure the problem in the future, if you can pick up some virgin brass of the type you want (IMI sells new empty military grade brass as SlamFire1 mentioned), then use the wildcatter's technique of putting a light shotgun powder load in and firing it with filler, or just load up some plinkers with maybe 7 grains of Bullseye. The case will fireform without sticking to the chamber wall, which means the case will back up and blow out to full dimension at the shoulder rather than stretching the casehead back. This avoids forming the thinned out pressure ring. Once you have good cases for your long chamber, set them back just 0.002" when resizing. That's all SAAMI specs require for good feeding (SAAMI minimum chamber headspace and maximum case shoulder spec are 0.002" smaller at the case), and it seems to work well and avoids the extra stretching that occurs after full resizing. Redding has some special shell holders with extra thick retainers that make this easier to set up your sizing die to do.

[Ozzieman]

“long chamber”
That’s an interesting suggestion. I just went to Sinclair International web, they have some case length gauges that are very inexpensive ($6) I think that a case gauge and length gage are in my future.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[R.Childs]

Ozzie, if you reload for a lot of calibers, Sinclaire has the Hornady Lock-N-Load headspace gage bushing set for $35. Those bushings will fit virtually all bottleneck casings. And that price is $7 cheaper than Midway.

http://www.sinclairintl.com/cgi-bin/...-66&type=store

[Ozzieman]

That’s just what I need,, another reason to go to Sinclair’s.
I live only 9 miles from there store and every time I go there I can’t get away with less than 200 to 300 dollars spent.
There all good ideas and I thank every one.
My wallet does not,,,
But I don’t listen to him any way.

[Storage_man]

The case gauge is mandatory after sizing. I have a browning ANM2 MG and I have had my share of case seperations. I have found that after 3 loads, the opportunity for a case seperation really increases. You can also pick up a 308 or 8mm Ruptured Case Extractor tool from Ohio Ordinance : http://www.ohioordnanceworks.com/parts/tools/tools.html This makes removal of the seperated case an easy task.

[Ozzieman]

If any one is interested in photos of the split case see the photos attached.
Having measured the cases that were fired and looking at those that haven’t been shot or reloaded, I feel confident that the problem is with the case and not the gun. Of the 50 cases from this lot there are a couple that have a ring that shows after sizing in the same location as the failed case.
I have not had the time to purchase a case gage and when I do I will let you know but for now I am scraping the entire lot.

[Leeman]

Hi Ozziman;
Case length gauges measure the length of the case from the head to the mouth.
Headspace gauges measure the distance from the head to a specific point of the shoulder.
You need a headspace gauge not a case length gauge.
If in doubt, have a gunsmith check your rifles' chamber.

[amamnn]

Another point to ponder when considering the purchase of "once fired" brass.
I belong to a club that has regular "old soldiers" and other matches that call for and/or allow the use of military cartridges. Last year a few of the regulars went together and ordered several thousand "once fired" cases for various US, UK, Russian, and German rifles. They had a lot of case failures that indicated that the brass had been worked several times. There were head separations and neck splitting that became so bad that most of the brass was recycled.

There are always going to be unscrupulous people and honest mistakes made in this area. If you can get new brass and take the time to learn the proper way to anneal brass, you'll get as good a value and fewer headaches IMHO.