Surplus component question

[snafu510]

A couple years ago I bought 400 rounds of surplus .303 British. It goes "click-bang" so I only shot a few rounds. Now I've decided to pull the bullets to reuse them. I bought a RCBS collet type puller. The bullets come out fine. So here's my question. Is the hang fire caused by the priming or by the old cordite? If the primers are still good I would like to reload the cases using new powder. If they are the problem then I'll use new brass, powder and primers. I don't think its worth trying to save the cordite for anything.

I looked up the headstamp, it's RL 1945 with a 7 below. RL is Royal Laboratory, Woolwich Arsenal, Kent, UK.

[Bedlam]

You could try loading a few say 5 or so with new powder and see if the hang fires continue. If not it was likely the old powder Just my .02

[bcrich]

I had the same experience with the surplus 303, slight delay in firing. I only had about 200rnds....atleast they all fired but It was anoying now I use varget and cci primers and all is well.

[gunboat]

Are those cases berdan primed?

[bcrich]

Are those cases berdan primed?

All of the surplus 303 I've come across has been berdan

[snafu510]

They are berdan primed.

[five.five-six]

you could fire a few primed cases into a towl to see how they do

[Mssr. Eleganté]

The click bangs are caused by bad primers. If your ammo is POF from the mid-1960's then you might find that the primers work much better on hot days.

[snafu510]

Okay, so I tried five.five-six's suggestion and I fired off a couple of primers in my basement. This confirmed what Mssr Elegante said that the primers are the problem. They do fire, but I couldn't hear the 1st one over the sound of the striker. The 2nd one made a "piffsssssssss' type noise.

It would have been nice to save the cases and primers for another loading. The cordite was a pain to get out though. It's really packed in there tight. The bullets are still good.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

...The cordite was a pain to get out though. It's really packed in there tight...

In the manufacturing process, they load the cordite into the casing before forming the case neck. That's why it's so hard to get the cordite out and impossible to reload it into another case.