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I’ve got a whole bunch of once fired .303 PPU brass with these ridges in the necks. The brass was fired between 3 diff .303s, but mainly a No4 Longbranch. I recently fired some factory S&B rounds through one of the SMLEs and no ridges show. Wondering if anyone has seen this before? [ATTACH]242944
is it a trick of the light or does it continue up body of case????
nope havent seen it before..
In the past I fired some ex mil .303 ,through my no4mk1 ,only to experience multiple head separations.lucky i had a rattail rasp and latterly a .303 case removal tool to remove remainders from chamber .on inspection -a very tiny but bright ring evident on the case in front of flange . inspected remaining stocks -see the ring -round rejected.
In this case personally id get rid of those cases gut feeling ??????some type of metal fatigue.I stand to be corrected of course by those more erudite in the reloading field.
Trick of the light, only on the neck, almost wondering if it’s from the rifling…Quote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
This is a better photoAttachment 242945
Have a look at the chamber.
Ok soooo I just put one of the non-ridged S&B cases through the collet die on a hunch…. First time with no pressure, second time with the pressure I have applied to the neck size cases. The second time it produced the ridges on the case.
I guess I am applying too much pressure on the ram? And are the cases still good to reload with, if the pressure I apply when neck sizing is in fact the issue?
Pissed off I didn’t think of the ram pressure beforehand
I thought it looked like collet marks but I checked back and you said once fired so figured it had to be from chamber.
Thats fairly normal for a collet die and soft brass
Ah ok, new to all this so keen to learnQuote:
Originally Posted by veitnamcam
Have found some articles online re these marka now that I know what to search for, fairly common it would seem
If you inspect your chamber you'll probably find a gouge - caused by flame cutting due to case necks that has split in the past.
Or....And Ive seen this. Someone had a case head snap of and probably hammered a flat screwdriver into the stuck case to get it out, damaging the neck.
Greetings,
The Lee collet dies produce very straight brass but do require brass that is not too hard. Hard brass will spring back after being sized and not provide enough tension to hold the projectile. The fix for this is to anneal the necks every two or three loads. Grinding down the pilot is not desirable and will not be needed if this is done. My .303 cases are sized in a Lee Loader die and the loads kept down so that full length sizing is not needed. Case life can be extremely short if the cases are FL sized with the die down hard on the shell holder.
GPM.
Glad you figured it out mate
Thanks for the input everyone, next task will be to check the chamber area, will post if anything untoward is found
Much better and more precise instructions exist online than the ones included with Lee collet dies. I've found some and printed them out to keep with the dies. Saved me a lot of headaches when I 1st started using them. I think this link will sum it up but I'm not sure they are the same as I've got because my dies are packed away at the moment.
https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com...-sizing-brass/
Thanks, that’s quite useful for me. I had a play and made some minor adjustments to setup and I’m no longer getting the prominent ridges. Will still check the chamber to see if there are any issue but it’s starting to piss down now so it’s time for a curry and a beerQuote:
Originally Posted by 00buck
look at 2nd photo..follow line of your thumb nail up onto brass....if that isnt a line going up body of case into neck...Im buggered if know what it is. LOL
Na definitely not, was hard to capture the ridges without the light making it look like there were all kinds of lines running up the body, no lines on the bodiesQuote:
Originally Posted by Micky Duck
A collett die has to move the brass from a larger diameter to a smaller diameter and the brass has to go somewhere and that is in the form of ridges. There should be three or four depending on the number of slots in the die. It can be eliminated by first reducing the neck in a full length sizing die or even a neck sizing die. The really good benefit of a collett die is they will true the inside of the neck and all cases regardless of the neck wall thickness will have exactly the same internal diameter giving the best neck/bullet tension result apart from neck turning.
Thats not your chamber. Shoot them and then neck size .303 brass in a normal full length die.
My first instinct says chuck the PPU brass away and get better quality cases. I don't reload PPU due to too many neck cracks. I know others use PPU brass and have no issues ( or put up with the issues) but I don't, preferring instead to safeguard my breech from damage.
You have some good advice from other in the forum, follow that advice and you'll get it sorted.
Dismantle, inspect and clean your dies. Once cleaned, don't over lube your cases. Over lubing can cause deformation, dent, but I don't know about that line????
Good luck.
