.303 British Question

ItsMillerTime

ItsMillerTime

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Quesnel, BC
My dad brought his Enfield No1 Mk3 sporter out of near retirement recently when I got him to upgrade from his POL for his birthday last year :D
On our first trip to the range together, he brought along a bunch of Imperial ammo he had from the late 80's. We figured if it didn't work out, we could at least dispose of it at the range and carry on. All was well on that trip.
Next trip, we brought some Winchester, and I believe some Federal as well. Accuracy went to s**t, and after a few rounds, we noticed the bullets were ripping triangular holes through the targets (ie tumbling).
Major clean on the gun, another trip to the range, with mixed results, scotch brited the bullets to remove any imperfections and again some on and off tumbling (more with the winchester than federal).
Measured all the bullets, and the Feds are at .308-.3085, and the Wins are .002-.003" smaller.
Is this the normal ammo size out there now, and maybe his barrel is just about done? It looks great, and has been well cared for, at least since he's owned it. Or should we be contacting the companies?
What ammo do you guys use and what results do you get?
Cheers, and thanks for any input!
 
So, would you suggest contacting them then? I really hope all it is is the ammo, even though the boxes are all from different stores/lot numbers. Some are local gun shop, Wmart and CTire.
Thanks for confirming sizing for me.
 
Pull the bullets and measure below the cannelure. Also calibrate/check whatever you are using the measure the bullets.
 
If the barrel is well worn, as it sounds like it is, then you will have to try reloading. One of the bullet manufacturers uses .312" bullets for .303 British, I think it is Hornady. If you are still experiencing tumbling then you may have to use cast bullets at .314 - .315 inches. Good luck, Dave
 
I remember once long ago, I went to a CanTire and saw they were selling:
".303 Brittanique"

Took me a minute of WTF, before I caught on that I was looking a the French-side of the box :)
 
I've miked Federal, Remington and Winchester bullets in the past, and if memory serves me correctly, which doesn't happen often, they were all .311" in diamenter below the cannelure. That being said, they didn't shoot well out of a well worn No.4 sporter I have. Reloading with Hornady #3120 (150 grain spire point sized at .312") solved the problem.

These rifles are fussy with bullet diameter. War time manufacturing
"tolerances" don't help much either.
 
I should be able to get some of the last rounds from him in the next couple of days. I'm not sure what mic he was using to measure, but I'll confirm measurements with both of mine, and both verns I have at work. If worse came to worse, I could always have the Inspectors at work put them on the CMM ;)
I did just go back through all the shells from the last two range trips, and they are all labelled British, so that's out, at least.
Is there an appropriate way to measure a barrel? Would you just basically get pieces of rod ground to specific sizes and see what slides through?
I've been considering looking into reloading for my .243 anyways, so this would just make the intial purchase more worthwhile.
 
take the bolt out just to be safe.
then,take a live round (or just the bullet if you have any way to pull the bullet)
and place the bullet tip in the muzzle.
if the cartridge drops all the way to the brass case or almost all the way to the case,then
your barrel is pooched.
the bullet should drop only to the taper (before the cannelure).
 
toyboy said:
take the bolt out just to be safe.
then,take a live round (or just the bullet if you have any way to pull the bullet)
and place the bullet tip in the muzzle.
if the cartridge drops all the way to the brass case or almost all the way to the case,then
your barrel is pooched.
the bullet should drop only to the taper (before the cannelure).
Click to expand...

This won't help him if his bullets are, in fact, .308".

The best way would be to slug the bore of the rifle, that will tell you just how wide it is.

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm

That's probably the best tutorial I've seen on how to do it.
 
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