Quote Originally Posted by Arky 223 View Post
bigedp51 that is excessive headspace.
I collected Enfield rifles and any books and manuals I could get my hands on for a very long time.

The military Enfield chamber was reamed larger in diameter and longer to the chambers shoulder in 1914. This was for two reasons, there was a political ammunition scandal over "who" was awarded contracts to make ammunition for the military. Some of this ammunition was so poorly made it was hard to chamber and the mud of trench warfare complicated the problem further.

If you can learn to reload the .303 British case and get 32 reloads with moderate pressures you will understand the word "headspace" and old surplus rifles.

My No.4 Enfield rifle below has had the headspace set below minimum just kissing the rear of the case to .010 over max headspace. Normal headspace was min .064 and max .074 and the Australians set .084 as emergence wartime headspace. And this rifle had the headspace set from .057 to .084 and I'm still here alive and well with all my body parts. Bottom line, chamber pressure, and the strength of the case have the biggest effect on your cases life. And the reloading manuals data for the .303 British and other older rifles are for the weakest link in the chain, meaning older rifles made from softer steels and weaker actions.



If you look at a SAAMI cartridge and chamber drawing headspace is listed as min and max with .010 in between the two. And many older milsurp rifles have headspace over maximum and measuring the base of the case above the extractor groove will let you know when you are pushing the case limits.

The link below does not tell you chamber pressure, it simply tells you the strength of the case and how much pressure it can take before you reach its elastic limits.

Simple Trick for Monitoring Pressure of Your Rifle Reloads
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/relo...-rifle-reloads

So ask yourself "why" a new Remington 700 in 30-06 can't be loaded to .270 Win chamber pressures, its just a necked down 30-06 case. And ask yourself "why" the table below was even made up.