Author: britrifles
Subject: Federal. 308 Ammunition
Posted: January 19 2021 at 12:02pm
Subject: Federal. 308 Ammunition
Posted: January 19 2021 at 12:02pm
 Enfield Envoy wrote:Thanks Britrifle. A commercial brass, despite once in your rifle fired, therefore fire-formed, is not the better choice as military brass. Probably only one exception: Federals Gold Medal Match cases.. Well.. . Thats a unequivocal point of view. |
Most of my reloading for my No. 4 has been with Canadian 7.62 Ball ammo cases. I’ve weighed these, they are about 15 grains heavier than typical .308 commercial cases. The Lapua .308 cases are a bit heavier than the others I have checked, about 10 grains lighter than the 7.62 cases. Not sure about the Federal Match cases, they may be of heavier construction too.
I believe one other factor that contributes to the short case life in the .303 and 7.62 Lee Enfield is the action design. The locking lugs are at the rear of the bolt. So, there will be some axial compression of the bolt and axial tension in the receiver under load, this adds to the headspace that does not occur in front locking bolts (or at least, not as much). I have been meaning to calculate the displacements, just have not sat down to do the math.
None of this matters in service, the case only had to last for one use. It’s us reloaders who are trying to reuse the case over and over again either because we are cheap or because cases are not available.
In my experience, case life in the Lee Enfields can be greatly extended if you neck size until you feel resistance in fully locking the bolt.
