Splitting Brass on enfield

[86camaro]

A friend of mine just picked up a enfield 303 at a gun show. We went to shoo tthe other day and he was using old milsurp ammo. He shot about 6 rounds and looked at the brass and noticed the side of all of the cartridges were split right were the bullet is pinched in the brass. Anyone had experience with this, is it just old ammo? thanks

[Buckshot]

A friend of mine just picked up a enfield 303 at a gun show. We went to shoo tthe other day and he was using old milsurp ammo. He shot about 6 rounds and looked at the brass and noticed the side of all of the cartridges were split right were the bullet is pinched in the brass. Anyone had experience with this, is it just old ammo? thanks
I take it he stopped at 6 rounds and didn't try any other ammo? I am thinking it might be the old ammo, but there are others that know more about it than me. I have had some old stuff split at the neck.

[M1 Tanker]

Gotta agree with Buckshot and say the ammo is probably the issue. Got a picture of the split cases? What was the headstamp on the ammo?

[86camaro]

Yes, he stopped shooting as soon as he realized it was splitting the brass. I will ask him to bring the casings by so I can snap a few pictures for you guys. As far as trying other ammo, locally we dont even have anyone that carries 303 british ammo, so the milsurp that he got at the gun show is all he has.

[Buckshot]

The milsurp .303 I find around here is dingy old stuff (sixties) and they want to much money for it. I have had some split at the neck, but not every round. Anymore, I just stockup on .303
from AIM Surplus 150 gr s.p. for $13.95 a box. The Enfields are pretty tough old guns serving through both World Wars. I don't worry about a split neck once in a while, but
I usually will check and see if new ammo takes care of the problem. http://www.aimsurplus.com/catalog.aspx?groupid=25&name=.303+British

[chili]

Based on what you said, I agree, it's the ammo. Older ammo does that sometimes. Usually, it's nothing serious.

[Ghoulardi]

the brass and noticed the side of all of the cartridges were split right were the bullet is pinched in the brass. Anyone had experience with this, is it just old ammo? thanks

same thing happens with 7.62x25 ammo made in the 50s, doesn't matter country of origin, poland, bulgaria. not to mention a lot of the primers are duds. that's why I hunt for Romanian or yugo surplus made in the 80s, no issues with split casing or dud primers or buy newly made commercial ammo.

a lot of people just ignore the split casing and keep shooting this stuff, which is no skin of my nose. but I ask myself, is it worth the possibility of injuring myself for a few cents less a round? and came to the conclusion, no.