Lee Enfield Long Branch No. 4 Mk1*... but all LE's seem to be disappearing as a surplus rifle you can buy?

When Russia invaded Afghanistan the supply of cheap 303 ammo disappeared immediately. The Afgans were all familiar with the Enfields and the cartridge. The secret backers of both sides had the money and the power to buy up any surplus weapon and cartridge on the market. At the time, in the US there was also a lot of negative feelings about the .303 being a poor choice to reload because of the rimmed design and the cases stretching making reloading a 2 or 3 time case before discarding the brass. If I was going to have to select a bolt action rifle to use in combat, the Enfield MK 4 would be my first choice. 10 shots vs 5, smooth action, reasonably accurate, modern sights. The 98K has 5 shots and sights that are not very good in my opinion. How many Germans died while trying to get the clips out of the way while the Brits were still shooting?
It does make my eyes roll when reloaders whine that a particular military cartridge is tough to reload. The military work on a "one and done" basis when it comes to ammo, except maybe gathering up range brass to be recycled. The military generally don't design ammo with reloading in mind, reliability and feeding in tough conditions are more on their mind.

The fix for .303 case stretching is to slide an O ring down the case so it rests against the rim. When the round is loaded, this ensures the case base is firmly contacting the bolt head, so any "stretch" is at the shoulders, ideal given the variability of Enfield chambers. Future reloads are limited to neck resizing, the only issue being is that the case is now only good for the rifle in which it was first fired.
 
My first Enfield was a 1916 No 1 Mk III* that I got for $90 back in late 1998. Sold it for $400 in 2018. Now down to one, a 1904 Mk I*** I got for a very reasonable $500 in 2019.
 
The fix for .303 case stretching is to slide an O ring down the case so it rests against the rim. When the round is loaded, this ensures the case base is firmly contacting the bolt head, so any "stretch" is at the shoulders, ideal given the variability of Enfield chambers.
A much better fix is to eliminate any case stretching whatsoever before ever firing new unprimed brass. Then all that happens upon firing is that the case expands radially to contact the chamber walls, no stretching anywhere.

You do that by creating a false shoulder ahead of the factory shoulder, essentially creating the equivalent of a fire formed case without actually firing. And you now have cases for your rifle that headspace on the shoulder, not on the rim, removing any variables concerning differing rim thicknesses.

Necks.JPG

My 95L series 1950 Long Branch that still had the arsenal hang tag attached when I got it has a very short ball seat and leade (compared to most Lee Enfields) as a chamber casting shows. Look at how much further ahead on the neck the false shoulder on that modified case is when compared to an unaltered case. (best photo I could do with my phone at my bench under fluorescent lights)

The "headspace issue" for Lee Enfield rifles is with few exceptions found between the ears of unknowing American handloaders and gun writers. With SAAMI's decision that they know better than the Brits what the proper measurements are for the .303 Brit contributing as well - SAAMI dimensions for chambers, cartridges, reloading dies, headspace gauges, etc are about .005" shorter than they should be. The Go-No Go range for the .303 British is only .010" to begin with.

Everything after that first firing is neck sizing only until you get to the point where you need to bump the shoulder back a bit. I think the Lee Collet Die is best for this, but opinions may obviously differ.

This requires handloaders who have more than one rifle to segregate brass for use in each rifle.
 
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