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303 Brit base sizing with a 44 Mag die

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Phil View Drop Down
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Joined: December 10 2014
Location: Louisiana, USA
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    Posted: December 10 2014 at 3:02pm

Hi folks. I’m new to the forum but have enjoyed reading
through many of the post.

I may have stumbled over something that may be of interest
to at least one person. I have read through quite a bit of post, but I haven’t
seen anything that would cover what I discovered (though there may be) so here
goes.

Back over the summer I finally got tired of losing brass
by the second firing even after neck sizing, so I figured it was time to set the
barrel back two threads and recut a new chamber. While I was at it I addressed the
headspace issues as well. Using a collection of various brands of new brass along
with some milsurp ammo I cut the new chamber just deep enough to accept
everything I had.

One thing I did not consider was that brass sized in my
full length sizer die is just a bit too large for the new chamber. Measuring the diameter
of full length sized brass cases just ahead of the case head showed 0.454”.
Measuring the diameter of fired milsurp cases that I used as a gauge at
the same location the largest I found was 0.452”. For months I have been trying
to come up with a way to reduce the base diameter of resized cases the
additional 0.002”, to the point that I was about to throughout all that I had
(all told about 500 once fired and range pickups), and start over.

So the other night I was digging through a box that I never unpacked from the move seven years ago and I came across a box marked 44 Mag. My first thought was I thought I got rid of all that stuff when I sold (mistake) that Marlin rifle years ago. I open the box and there were three factory 44 Mag. cartridges and a hand full of fired cases. As I was holding some of the
cases in my hand I got to thinking how much there diameter felt like 303 Brit. cases so I miked them. The unfired cartridges measured 0.451” – 0.452” and the fired cases measured 0.455”.

The light bulb in my head lite up, but did I still have my 44 Mag. Die set? I did. I sized one of the 44 Mag. cases and miked it. Boom! 0.452”. To check the fit in the chamber I run the same 44 Mag. Case through my 303 Brit. full length sizing die grabbed the ole No.4 from the gun case,
slipped the test case under the extractor and guided the case into the chamber. Flipped the bolt handle down and it closed up tight with no resistance.

Back to the reloading bench I went, screwed the 44 Mag. sizing die into the press (decapping pin removed) with the 303 Brit she!! holder on the ram, placed a piece of once fired 303 brass in the she!! holder and stroked it through the 44 Mag. die sizing the base only. Placed the case under the extractor of the No. 4, guided the base sized 303 Brit. case into the chamber, and closed the bolt. I got a little resistance and then flop. It closed. I extracted the case and discovered that the slight resistance I felt was the shoulder being pushed back by the new chamber.

Seems I have found a way to save much of my collection of 303 Brit. Brass. I hope my experience will prove useful to someone. I would think it could be a useful technique for someone that picks up range brass.
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