.303 British loads w/ 100gr LSWC
- Thread starter slicknick
- Start date
Not much for published data of this sort. If you've got Bullseye I think I'd start with around 4 to 4.5 grains for a couple and see how they feel and see how deeply they punch into a hunk of 2x4. I think this will be a little high but it ensures that you get the bullet out of the barrel what with the rather cavern like casing volume. If it hits too hard then cut it back a little.
Google" Cast Bullet Loads for Military Rifles-Article by C.E. Harris". I have tried some of these and they can work. As others said 10 grains of Unique works good. A lot of the pistol and shotgun powders make for a great light load for the 303 and other old milsurps. I currently use Unique, Reddot, SR7625, 700x, and Trail boss for light loads. Its real easy on the brass too. With these powders I have used no fillers. I have had to try different lead sizes with the 303 because some of them have varying bore sizing. Castpics has good info as well. Castboolits is the best place for info for cast loads for milsurps as well. Good luck
I like using plain base lead bullets so right away I'm staying under 1500 fps. For quite a while I had Trail boss on my bucket list and last fall I finally bought a couple of cans at Jo Brooks. It meters very poorly and I ended up breaking out my old Lee dipper set and tried different dippers. I was creating a light target load for my 3030. 6.2 grains of Trail boss drove the 145 grain lead 1140 fps. Good at 50 yards open sights. Its like lobbing a softball at 100 yards. I know 10 grains of Unique in a 308 would print 6 inches below the impact of my regular hunting reloads. That being said my 14 year son could shoot all afternoon with that light round and gain some real proficiency with the rifle and no sore shoulder to go with it.
I've never used a filler for any of my mild loads.
Try googling "cat sneeze" or "mouse fart" loads on the interweb. They cover a lot of reduced velocity loads, just use common sense with going too low.
Your light boolit will make more of a "crack" than a heavier boolit will, just because the powder can get it moving so much faster. Roundballs will be the loudest of all boolit weights with the same powder charge.
If you don't want to pulverize a bunny, then try making your boolits harder, although I don't think there will be enough resistance to make anything expand at your reduced velocities.
For my personal expansion/penetration tests, I use a winters worth of flyers and newspapers, that I didn't use for light fires in the morning, and shoot into a boxfull to see what kind of mushrooming I get. It's very interesting to see the different results of velocity vs. hardness etc. The maximum penetration I've gotten so far is about 10" into wet newsprint. The lower velocities seem to penetrate just as well as the higher speeds. (1800 fps - 2200 fps)
Hope this helps
Try googling "cat sneeze" or "mouse fart" loads on the interweb. They cover a lot of reduced velocity loads, just use common sense with going too low.
Your light boolit will make more of a "crack" than a heavier boolit will, just because the powder can get it moving so much faster. Roundballs will be the loudest of all boolit weights with the same powder charge.
If you don't want to pulverize a bunny, then try making your boolits harder, although I don't think there will be enough resistance to make anything expand at your reduced velocities.
For my personal expansion/penetration tests, I use a winters worth of flyers and newspapers, that I didn't use for light fires in the morning, and shoot into a boxfull to see what kind of mushrooming I get. It's very interesting to see the different results of velocity vs. hardness etc. The maximum penetration I've gotten so far is about 10" into wet newsprint. The lower velocities seem to penetrate just as well as the higher speeds. (1800 fps - 2200 fps)
Hope this helps
Somewhere in my fuzzy memory I seem to recall a member on here (Riflechair, I think it was, in one of his videos) describing low power loads for the 303 British using bullets for the 32ACP which just so happen to be .311 diameter. A quiet, low recoil game getter quite possibly just what you are looking for. Not sure what he is loading for powder charge.
I have been burning up a bunch of 180 grain cast bullets from the Bullet Barn (.313 dia.). Pushing them with 18 grains of H4198. These are great shooters in both my Ross and LE rifles. Accurate, low recoil and I think they would be a match for any small game you would want to hunt.
Yes.
There's lots of flexibility concerning suitable powders and charge weights. Any of the fast pistol powders work well without filler. I'd recommend Bullseye, Red Dot, Unique or Trail Boss, any of which will operate at safe pressure up to a 15.0 gr charge weight and can be used at charge weights as low as will guarantee that the bullet will always exit the bore. Few reloaders have a chronograph it seems, but I like to operate with these powders in the 800-1300 fps range. Otherwise I'd recommend working in the 8.0-12.0 gr range.
Ken Waters pet loads manual has data for the 90gr Hornady SWC cast bullet .303 British COL 2.60" .314" bullet 3.3gr Red Dot/912fps the rest sized to .310" 3.3gr Red Dot gave 886fps.............4gr Unique @ 907fps.........3.8gr AAC-2 /822fps...Harold
