Experience with setting barrels back?

[Mughi-14]

Hey Everyone,

Has anyone had any experience with having a barrel set back in the action and having the chamber reamed again? I have an Australian No. 1 Mk III* SMLE .303 British that shoots wonderfully but eats brass - I get two or three loads out of virgin brass. I'm thinking that having one turn of threads turned off the barrel would do the job and then having a SAAMI chamber cut (instead of the war chambers that most Enfields have) would help considerably on the brass lifetime.

Has anyone had any experience with setting barrels back? Any ideas of price?

I'm thinking that while the barrel is out of the receiver that I'll have the smith chop the barrel down a few inches and install a new ramped front sight and a muzzle break or flash hider (I'm in California, so I take what naughty-but-still-legal stuff I can get). Any suggestions? I've seen the Rhineland .45ACP conversion, but I can't get myself to give up an 11-shot .303 for .45ACP in a rifle.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Mughi

[2rangers]

Mughi-
First off, let me say I'm glad I'm not the only enfield owner here!
As far as short case life, let me ask you, are you full-length sizing or neck sizing only? The reason I ask is that I neck size only, and my cases las tfor at least 10-12 full power loadings. If you full length size, then 2-3 loadings is about correct! :huh: As far as rechambering, any competent smith should be able to do this. However, I would have my smith remove enough to cut a new spec. chamber, and ream a new chamfer in the rifling. Helps accuracy to have nice, sharp leade lands and grooves to get the bullet spin started correctly. But before you get a new chamber cut, Actually measure headspace. See what kind of 'slop' you have first, if any. Yeah, british cordite rounds are hard on throats, but they are not loaded that hot, and I have 2 no.4's that are wartime issue, and the chambers and throats are still decent. As a matter of fact, the older of the 2,(a bsa m-47c), will shoot 1-1.5 moa., although I did swap bolt heads to get a little tighter headspace. Unfortunately, I don't think yours has the removable, swap-able bolt head(?). If it were me, First, i would switch to neck sizing only, and see how that helps. As an added bonus, neck sizing usually increases accuracy quite a bit. (You now have cases perfectly fire-formed to your chamber.) Secondly, I would get an actual, accurate head space measurement. You can't really make a decision to cut unless you know what you already have. As far as cutting the barrel length, I wouldn't do it unless I needed it for cqb or something like that. The .303 isn't known as a barn-burner in terms of muzzle-velocity, and cutting barrel length will only lower velocity. A good rule of thumb is 100-200 fps reduction per inch, based on type of powder used, etc. Hope this info helps, and try neck sizing( if you don't already), you may be pleasantly surprised w/ both case life and added accuracy.
P.S.- the Lee brand collet neck sizing die, coupled w/ their factory crimp die has worked the best for me, and allowed me to load sub-moa loads for my enfields.

:sniper:

[Mughi-14]

2rangers,

I use a standard RCBS die set and RCBS neck sizer die. I haven't full-length sized anything, even virgin brass. The cases still split at three loading on average.

The SMLE I have (No. 1 MkIII*) doesn't have a replacement bolt to adjust headspace. However, it has a massive chamber. The case stretches a large amount (way past headspace .003+/- stuff). Checking some SMLE sites in the past, I found out that this isn't all that uncommon - good headspace but with a big chamber to make sure that a dirty round chambers and fires without binding everything else up. So I think I might have that problem.

I love the gun though - split cases or not. It is safe, not showing pressure signs and dealing with the separated cases with no problem (i.e., no gas in my face/eyes). I don't know - I'll check the headspace with a pro.

I'll keep the barrel length issue in mind. Good point on your part.

My handloads are fun to shoot and accurate enough, considering my skills. I use 100gr. Hornady .32 Magnum XTPs over 44gr of IMR4320, Speer 150gr. SPs (great B.C. on those), Sierra 174gr. Matchkings, and Remington 180gr. RNSPs. These work really well and group well enough that I'm not experimenting with powder much.

More later -

Mughi

[2rangers]

Mughi,
In your case, a good re-chamber job would prob. solve your problems, and increase accuracy to boot, providing the smith cuts the chamber on the tight side. What was your loading for the hornady xtp bullets? I have often thought of doing that, but hornady gave me the cold shoulder. <_< Thanks in advance. :sniper:

[Mughi-14]

2rangers,

I got the XTP load from the Speer Reloading Manual and the idea from other SMLE postings on other BBSes. The 100gr. XTP hollowpoint does not buck the wind particularly well but it does not drop like a rock either. It was only missing a 230m gong by about 4 inches or so, depending on which of us was shooting at the time. I use it for coyotes (when I see them) and I'm sure it will kick the proverbial crap out of them. No I haven't killed one yet with an XTP loading... yet, I stress... yet. I'll get one.

It doesn't kick worth a darn and it blows the hell out of improvised targets (water-filled stuff, stray fruit, rabid bunnies, you know...), so I'm hoping to report on it soon. At least the XTP bullet, being made for a pistol round, doesn't explode in mid-air when fired at 2300fps - so I'm happy anyway.

Mughi

[ronnyc]

The problem with the 303 is that they are designed with oversized chambers to allow for mud and other stuff and still shoot with out jamming. They weren't concerned with repeated firings using the same brass, so for them it made perfect sense.