303 British Brass

S

SIIaCanuck

Member
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
1   0   0
Location
Central Alberta
I've finally got my press set up and am determined not to buy another round of ammo at the crazy prices I have to pay in the UK.

I've got different brass in some quantity and wanted opinions/experiences/thoughts on each:


New:

100x Remington


Fired once:

100x Sellier and Bellot

300x FNM

200x PPU marked (Prvi Partisan)

200x ΠΠY marked (Prvi Partisan)


I've found the FNM ammo to be most accurate in my SMLE from the factory, but I don't know anything about the brass. The Prvi (both markings) and the FNM both show annealing marks but the S&B doesn't.


I know that Prvi brass usually has good reports, but don't know about the rest.

Comments please.

Stew
 
All brass is neck annealed. Some companies do an acid wash afte rthe anneal to remove the stain - some don't.

Just make sure the brass is box erprmed (one flash hole).

then sort the brass by brand and keep is in separate boxes.

Note the brass weight. brands of similar weght can use similar laods. if a brand is 10 gr or more heavier or lighter, load should be changed by one grain to be same as others.

Size the case only enough so it will chamber. no need to size all the way, usually. Brass will last longer this way.
 
So far my best experience has been Winchester and Remington Brass.
Neck size only and use less than max loads and you should max out the life of the case. I have the lee collet dies for this.
Some people say to anneal after the 4-5 reloading or if you notice a case getting hard to work.
Lastly if you have more than one rifle keep brass fired in each rifle seprate. it is like a custom cartidge case for each rifle.
 
All my brass is Boxer primed. I've got 200 FNM cases ready to go having neck sized them with my Lee Collet die.

I figured I'd weight them all and sort them into batches. As I shoot Highpower, I generally need 100 ready to go for a match so need to do some load development to find a consistent load.

I've got Remington 9-1/2 primers and RL-15 with Prvi 170gr bullets (sold as 174gr but weighing them puts them all at 170gr or just below).

I'll probably make up some test loads using Remington and Prvi brass too. That way I'll have a load for each set of brass to start with.

However, to start, I'll stick with just the FNM to see how I get on.

I have always segregated the brass from each rifle with a view to reloading anyway. My SMLE (Isaphore) has a unique chamber and produces a really nice angular shoulder (unlike the round shoulders of most Brit No.1 and No.4 rifles I've used). It's just a hair shorter than an Epps case but with only a 20ish deg shoulder instead of 35.

Must have been an Indian arsenal difference from the UK. It's by far my most consistent rifle and is a beaut!

What powder grain increments do you recommend working up with from a minimum load?
 
Last edited:
I've just read the account of developing the 303 ICBM and the guys in NZ found S&B brass to be really hard with a high reject rate. I wonder if annealing early would solve that problem or is it the grade of brass that is the problem.

That said, with 174 FMJ S&B factory ammo, I shot a 622 in my first reduced range Highpower match in almost 4 years. I dropped over 20 points on the sitting rapid due to newly-back-to-competition fever and another 10-15 on the prone rapid.

If I can get in the high 600s with hand loads and decent bullets, I'll be pretty happy. I'm hoping to break the 650 mark next time around so we'll see.

Stew
 
Just as a sidenote, I weighed a 10rd sample of brass from these three:

1. Remington - 158-160gr
2. FNM - 176.4-179gr
3. PPU - 175.4-179.2gr

How tight a weight should I aim for when segregating brass? Where I've got 200 cases, I can sort two batches and afford to put 10% in my "plinking" pile and still have a match set with 6x spares.

Stew
 
Ganderite said:
All brass is neck annealed. Some companies do an acid wash afte rthe anneal to remove the stain - some don't.

Just make sure the brass is boxer primed (one flash hole).

then sort the brass by brand and keep is in separate boxes.

Note the brass weight. brands of similar weght can use similar laods. if a brand is 10 gr or more heavier or lighter, load should be changed by one grain to be same as others.

Size the case only enough so it will chamber. no need to size all the way, usually. Brass will last longer this way.
Click to expand...

Just a silly question :redface: ; can you tell (from an external glance) if a complete .303 round is boxer or berdan-primed? :confused:
 
cyclone said:
Just a silly question :redface: ; can you tell (from an external glance) if a complete .303 round is boxer or berdan-primed? :confused:
Click to expand...


No. The diameter of the two types of primers are nearly identical and unless the manufacturer states on the packaging one way or the other, then it's not until after you've fired the round that you'll find out for sure.
 
.303 cartridges with the large .250" diameter copper coloured primers will be Berdan, corrosive and possibly mercuric.
Easiest way to tell the difference with primers about .217" diameter is to look down into the case.
Primer crimps will have to be removed before repriming.
I have reloaded a lot of Berdan primed ammunition, no big deal if you have the primers. Boxer is more convenient, though.
 
FNM Brass

I have found .223 FNM brass to be very consistant, regarding case weight.3% heavier than Win., or FC brass. It produces the most accurate loads in a Tikka heavy barrel.Believe it to be Portuguese manufacture.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom