.303 Gallery Ammo and a 56-50 Starr Carbine at the range

Nice looking WD Starr's Gents.

I am amazed that these are coming out of the woodwork, as the saying goes.

I picked one up here last year also in dam fine condition.

Thanks for taking the time to post pictures.

I have the same brass from Dixie, just have not had the time to try it out.
 
Such loads are also commonly used for small game so the poor things don't just go away in a red fog. Or as low recoil plinking rounds for kids or anyone that is bothered by recoil.

The typical loads seem to use small charges of handgun and shot shell powders such as Unique, 4227, 2400 and a few others. I've even seen some folks with recipes for the faster and very volume tolerant Bullseye and Titegroup powders.

So a google search for "small game .303 british" would be a good place to start for recipes. At least until folks start posting their pet loads.
 
lyman54 said:
Ok. My friend mentioned .32 in my .303 What kind of charge would you use? Would they be somewhat accurate with a higher charge? Thanks
Click to expand...

im using red dot in these loads as for charge there plenty of info about it online I don't give out my personal load data. im getting good enough accuracy to hit small game
 
.
Someone must have found an old lot of surplus .303 Gallery loads a year or so ago. Many original 10 round paper wrapped, string tied packages were showing up at local Ontario Gun Shows, and sold for around the $10 mark. Many of these were dated in the 1916 range, and were original Dominion Cartridge loads. I bought several and gave a packet to Smellie, along with some pre-WWI .455 paper wrapped packets that dated to the Boer War. I still have several packets left with various dates on them packed away for my collection.

The .32 ACP rounds work well for indoor shooting. For outdoor shooting under 300 yards, the 123 grain 7.62x39 bullets designed for the Russian cartridge works very well. The old C.E. Harris load of 13 grains of Red Dot shotgun powder is a good starting load for the outdoor loads but it might be a bit too fast for the indoor loads, which should be kept to about the 1200 fps range so that the backstop does not get chewed up.
 
Last edited:
Cheap reloads

buffdog said:
For outdoor shooting under 300 yards, the 123 grain 7.62x39 bullets designed for the Russian cartridge works very well.
Click to expand...

IMG_0161.jpg
Mk.II ball round on left, 7.62 reload on right.

I caught onto this for cheap reloading. I use a seating die to pop the seal of the bullet into the case on milsurp 7.62x39 ammo and then use an inertia hammer to pull the bullet and catch the powder. I reload my 303 brass with the bullet and use the powder charge. Is the cheapest way I found to do it other than casting my own bullets.

With the weight of my 303 rifle, the kick is mild.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0161.jpg
    IMG_0161.jpg
    30.5 KB · Views: 40
.
The Speer 100 grain plinker at .308 diameter will work in a tight barrel but the 7.62x39 bullets are .311-.312 diameter and tend to grip the rifling better. Best to slug the barrel with a soft lead slug to get the bore diameter of YOUR rifle as I have found variations up to .316 in the .303 rifle, especially in mass produced wartime rifles and if they have been shot a lot. I use mostly Remington 7.62x39 soft point bullets and get better accuracy with these reloads out to 300 yards than Mark VII Ball.

One of the biggest mistakes is to try to get too much velocity from these smaller length bullets if you use the pistol bullets. You do not need a lot of velocity for indoor or 100 yard loads but accuracy is important. LEE makes some good molds for cast bullets and I believe they do make a .32 calibre pistol bullet mold. I also like the tumble lubricated 160 grain 7.62x39 bullet designed by C.E. Harris especially for that cartridge. Driven at about 1600 fps, it tends to be very accurate, but above 1800 fps it tends to become unstable. This is a characteristic of pointed spritzer cast bullets and people tend to load them to higher velocities because they equate them with spritzer jacketed bullets. Lowering the velocity can give fine accuracy with these cast lead bullets.
 
buffdog said:
.
The Speer 100 grain plinker at .308 diameter will work in a tight barrel but the 7.62x39 bullets are .311-.312 diameter and tend to grip the rifling better. Best to slug the barrel with a soft lead slug to get the bore diameter of YOUR rifle as I have found variations up to .316 in the .303 rifle, especially in mass produced wartime rifles and if they have been shot a lot. I use mostly Remington 7.62x39 soft point bullets and get better accuracy with these reloads out to 300 yards than Mark VII Ball.
Click to expand...

So do you also use the powder from the 7.62x39 milsurp? ie you just pull a bullet and dump the poweder into the 303 and seat the 7.62 bullet?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom