I know there are a lot of military surplus rifles out there with headspace problems, like the SMLE & Moisin Nagants. When I was a kid(late 50's/early 60's), my Dad, along with his buddies & brothers, used to do a lot of cast bullet shooting with these guns and just about anything they could get NORMA ammo for.
The Moisins, Carcano's and others often had minor headspace problems. The SMLE with it's rear locking bolt would stretch brass on the very first loading. Often causing casehead separation on the 1st reload.
To avoid this problem. The EXPENSIVE & often hard to get NORMA ammo/brass was treated with great care.
Usually 2-3 boxes of brass were “mated” to each rifle. Then each factory round was broken down. the case neck was heavily lubed on the inside and passed over an expander ball ONE CALIBER LARGER. The case was then lubed on the outside of the neck and gently NECK-SIZED until the bolt would just close on the partially neck-sized case. After any needed trimming the rounds were reloaded with their factory components. Brass was always neck or partially-sized from then on. Each case was carefully inspected before each reloading to check for signs of case stretching. LYMAN 310/Tru-Line dies were used for neck-sizing.
Any one else ever hear of such a trick. I haven't gone through the entire website to check for references to this ?
Long time Caster/Reloader, Getting back into it after almost 10yrs. Life Member NRA 40+yrs, Life S.A.S.S. #375. Does this mean a description of me as a fumble-fingered knuckle-draggin' baboon. I also drool in my sleep. I firmly believe that true happiness is a warm gun. Did I mention how much I HATE auto-correct on this blasted tablet.