[Leon]

Bloody tedious, but essential work. I don't see how you can double charge cordite, but a squib was definitely something to be culled before it got to the front line.

 

[GeeRam]

If they are both making to the same contract specifications then it seems odd that PPU cases can be loaded 10+ times and S&B have problems splitting with the 1st reload.

I'd suggest that S&B may have 'dumbed down' their specification and and are now 'producing to a price point' rather than a quality level.

Yes, that is indeed the view as to what S&B have done, given the poor quality of their brass in general, which isn't confined to just 303 ammo.

 

[Doc Martini]

Bloody tedious, but essential work. I don't see how you can double charge cordite, but a squib was definitely something to be culled before it got to the front line.

There was an incident here about 25 years ago of an Austeyr rifle malfunctioning badly due to a squib round from the government ammo factory (ADI). As I recall the firer wasn't hurt, but ADI recalled all 5.56mm ammo for weighing. Thereafter all ADI ammo was issued in little plastic packs of 5 to facilitate weighing before it left the factory.

 

[Leon]

Squibs can be either benign - relatively speaking if you don't mind pounding a stuck bullet out of the throat - or lethal. The benign squib jams the bullet into the throat with enough of its rear sticking out to prevent the next round from chambering. But, a rifle with a free floating firing pin may initiate the primer and result in an out-of-battery detonation that will ruin the rifle and likely maim, if not kill, its shooter.
The lethal squib jams the bullet far enough into the barrel to allow the second round to chamber fully.

 

[Alan De Enfield]

The lethal squib jams the bullet far enough into the barrel to allow the second round to chamber fully.

A No4 with a blocked barrel : 5th November 2019

A real 'brown trouser' moment.

 

[JB White]

A No4 with a blocked barrel : 5th November 2019

A real 'brown trouser' moment.

View attachment 3982805

An exploding Enfield!
That doesn’t happen if the headspace is checked and the forend is glass bedded at the draws

 

[Alan De Enfield]

An exploding Enfield!
That doesn’t happen if the headspace is checked and the forend is glass bedded at the draws

No, its just the 'inherent weakness of the Lee Enfield design' that is so often mentioned !!

 

[DisasterDog]

A No4 with a blocked barrel : 5th November 2019

A real 'brown trouser' moment.

View attachment 3982805

I’ve had that picture saved since it was first posted.

 

[Alan De Enfield]

I’ve had that picture saved since it was first posted.

It just goes to show that you should check your barrel before firing.

 

[Leon]

It just goes to show that you should check your barrel before firing.

I always pull a dry patch at the range before firing and peer down the bore. I have an NDT scope mount on my No 4 Mk 1 but have to store the rifle without the scope attached. At the range I remount the scope (QD rings) and do a quick bore sight verification.

I'm curious though if the rifle you posted was fine to begin with but possibly had a bullet shed part of its jacket, and this blocked the next bullet fired. More usually we see either muzzle damage from snow or mud plugging, or the barrel bursts just forward of the Nock's form where a squib bullet is lodged.

 

[Lyman1903]

An exploding Enfield!
That doesn’t happen if the headspace is checked and the forend is glass bedded at the draws

just whack it down and make a jungley car-bean out of it

 

[JB White]

just whack it down and make a jungley car-bean out of it

Thinking tanker carbine myself. Doesn’t need bayonet lugs. You won’t be bayonet fighting inside a tank.