Bump sizing is the most important & least understood part of reloading & is especially so on the Lee Enfield. Case stretching & head separations are mostly avoidable if done correctly. Anneal brass regularly also .

Thanks for the comment , i'm glad it worked out well for you .

With proper resizing of cases, even if a '1' bolt head isn't so big that it won't allow the the bolt is closed, you'll have the best fit possible due to creating and keeping fireformed cases that are matched to the chamber of the rifles they're being used in. The fit with creating and using fireformed brass is going to be far greater than whatever you get from choosing between two bolt heads that are both within specs as far as a go/no-go gauge is concerned.

Take the bolt head off the bolt body and measure from the front flat face [ cartridge side ] to the rear flat [ threaded side ]. If you intend to use reloaded cartridges in the same rifle from which they were originally fired , you only need to neck size the cases .

Hi, first of all [excuse me but I have to say this ] check that the jaws of your vernier caliper are parallel in both directions when you are measuring and take readings in several places on the bolt head . These rifles were made a long time ago and it's not beyond possible that somebody may have tampered with the bolt head and removed the original number and restamped it with a number 1 to make it appear unworn . As regards getting spares , I would get a 2 and a 3 bolthead and try them out , I'd also get a spare mainspring , firing pin and extractor and extractor spring and screws. But I'm anal about having spare parts around . If you keep your reload pressures to a modest level , your brass will last .

Thanks for your reply. Did as you suggested. Measured from different places on the bolt head and it measures .63” Not sure where you are located but searched google last night and found no bolt heads available here in the USA. I’ll try some of the forums. So would it be true to say, the thicker the rim on a 303 BRITISH, the less head space issue?

@@desabc221 . I'm in Canada and #1 and #0 bolt heads seem quite common. You'll have to watch the forums and eBay and some of the internet gun parts suppliers to find #2 and #3 . Gun shows are a good place to find them too . I have found several US dealers selling new bolt bodies and used complete bolts if you want to tackle the headspace issue that way . A thicker rim will take up more of the headspace , but you should still inspect your brass thoroughly as rim thickness is not a guarantee of safety or brass life.

Hi and thanks for the comment . Camera ? Tripod ? Hell that's waaay too organised for me . I just use my cellphone and make a video when the mood takes me . I figure the content is the important part , not the presentation [ although I will try to do better ]. [Maybe] ! lol.

The headspace is 10x the amount you mention because it's a rimmed cartridge

@@Manny_Coon His post is essentially correct in that using a full length die to resize just enough that the bolt closes with a crush fit will create a fireformed case that headspaces on the neck, not the rim. A Lee collet die or neck sizing die would be even better, but achieve the same thing. The large size of Lee enfield chambers in comparison to the sized of the loaded ball rounds intended for use in them has nothing to do with whether the case is rimmed or not. The chambers were deliberately cut much larger than the ammunition to ensure that even mud or corrosion covered cartridges would chamber and fire. That's why there's so much case expansion on initial firing - the Commonwealth nations making these rifles did not care in the slightest about handloaders wanting to reuse the fired brass. Proper resizing technique - better yet, initial case preparation of new unprimed brass - eliminates all this case stretching and makes these rifles no different than any other bolt action rifle.

A primer on it's own won't create the same pressure as a cartridge . You need to push the used primer part way back in the empty case and close the bolt on it and then measure as outlined in the video. Number 1 rifle bolt heads are not numbered .

A case that has been fired will have expanded and taken up all the available headspace .

Hi Patrick , thank you for the comment . I agree , Okie headspace gauges look very good , but sadly I read today that Okie has passed away . Hopefully someone else will continue to make them .

@@dungspreader Hey pal, been a while since my comment. I kinda forgot to mentioned that a friend of mine make thos kind of Gauges since 2019 and is selling them. Go on google and search for " TECTAL 303 headspace gauges.... If you not found them already the last years ^^

It doesn't make any real difference . The table just shows that during wartime manufacture , there were inconsistences . It's a wise policy to measure your headspace and also measure the bolt head .

It depends on the rifle , you have to measure the existing headspace in your particular rifle and chose a bolt head length to give you the correct headspace . Check the video at 8min.40 secs for average lengths .

Jose Canisales If you couldn't determine that from watching the video then you really need to pay someone else to check the head spacing for you.

Size 0 is the shortest head size and was generally for newer rifles. As the action stretches and the bolt head is set back, longer bolt heads were needed to keep proper headspace. Size 4 is the longest bolt head. Each bolt head size has tolerance in its length so it is entirely possible for a long Size 0 to match a short Size 1 in length (etc.) To find the tightest headspace, you would have to take the dimensions of your rifle and weigh them against the spec and adjust accordingly.

@@TacticalTerry In 50 years of Service Rifle competition and seeing all kinds of Lee Enfields in use, I've never actually seen a #4, even while cruising Lee Enfield tables looking for bits and pieces of rare parts i.e. parts of A.J. Parker competition sights. If they exist in the wild, even the most obsessive of LE collectors can't track them down. However you are quite correct that the bolt heads have quite a variation in size within each number. A few years ago one of the collector groups measured up several dozen of each number of bolt heads. The differences were dramatic within each group from shortest to longest in length. As a result, the gun plumbers simply swapped out different examples of identically numbered bolt heads to find what they liked the best for fit.

I've never seen one but I don't doubt it . Stratton mentions 00 and 4 marked bolts in his book .

Hi from Canada !

Thank you , glad you found it useful . Many years of marriage and being unable to get a word in has made me soft spoken . Happily single these days but the soft spoken habit persists , My suggestion is to watch the video through a media player or use headphones [ which I have to do as my computer is also barely audible sometimes ] . Have fun shooting your Enfield !

@@dungspreader Great answer! And great video. The Enfield community thanks you.