I recently bought a Lee Enfield, and via another recent purchase, picked up some ammo for it. Only a handful of rounds, but I took them down to the range to do a basic function check and christen the rifle. I'd had the gun checked over for headspace by a gunsmith who gave me the thumbs-up. Bolt closed into battery just as I'd expected, and everything looked fine.
So, out on the range, fired a few rounds and inspected the brass. Not all of the cases were split, but most had. This is what one of them looked like - some were split all the way up to the neck, but they all looked as though there was that kind of 'burn through' down at the shoulder, which I guess might be where the split started.
This brass has a South African 1943 headstamp.
Obviously, not going to be able to reload this (doubly-so since it was Berdan-primed), but I wondered if anyone had any observations or suggestions about why this might have happened to maybe 16 out of 20 rounds fired.
So, out on the range, fired a few rounds and inspected the brass. Not all of the cases were split, but most had. This is what one of them looked like - some were split all the way up to the neck, but they all looked as though there was that kind of 'burn through' down at the shoulder, which I guess might be where the split started.
This brass has a South African 1943 headstamp.
Obviously, not going to be able to reload this (doubly-so since it was Berdan-primed), but I wondered if anyone had any observations or suggestions about why this might have happened to maybe 16 out of 20 rounds fired.
