.303 British reduced loads

4895 should work with pulled bullets. The cast is a little light. Iam using Lyman 314299 gc 205 gr or Lee 185 gr gc. I found heavier bullets work better. 24 grs of IMR 4198. I could put load up a bit but the Brits have lots of site adjustment to work with. I don't max load cast bullets. Regular primers no need for mags. Most of my shooting of pistol or rifle is lead. Paper is already dead when you shoot it.
 
Here's some I've used with a 155 gr GC Cast Bullet (all Max Loads in a Lee Enfield):

Unique - 15.0 grs
IMR-3031 - 38.0 grs
H4895 - 38.0 grs

I've used Red Dot as well - 4.0 to 14.0 grs for from 650 fps to 1800 fps. Love that powder for cast and subsonic loads.

I have yet to try Trail Boss.
 
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Since this thread has gone stale by about 2 weeks, has anybody got any reduced loads for "quiet" .303 loads, using a few grains of a pistol or shotgun powder. I made some up last year for a .311 diameter cast 150 grain, but I can't for the life of me find the load I had used; I can't remember but I think I used 700 X. Obviously my filing system needs work.
 
I've used 7gr of w231 with a 76gr cast.. Good for 25 yards but that's it.. Like shooting a 22
 
I use 8 gr of titegroup with 90-220gr cast
8-10gr w231 with 90-220gr cast
16-18gr A2400 with 120-220gr cast
25gr AA5744 with 160-220gr cast
30-32gr H4895 with 160-220gr cast
32-35gr imr3031 with 160-220 cast

With titegroup ive used down to 3.5gr behind 90 to 220 gr cast
And w231 ive used down to 4gr behind 90 to 220gr cast.

For light jacketed loads
Id use all the loads i listed above but the higher number as to not stick a bullet. All loads are no weres near Saami max for the 303 british. The imr 3031 will be the highest pressure but still pretty low. Hodgdons relaoding will tell you the pressure for that load.

Hodgdons reloading has 8gr titegroup behind a 160gr jacketed bullet in the 308, And a 303 case is the same size so will result in basically the same 25,000psi listed for the load.
 
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For a quiet load in the 303, if would find as heavy a boolit as I could find, or cast. It is harder for any powder to make a heavy boolit go fast, and faster boolits are loud. Really quiet loads are below 1100 (ish) fps (subsonic)

Right now my heaviest boolit is a 314299 that weighs in around 210 grains.

A quick look in the Lyman Cast Bullet chart says that 700X at 9.5 grains for a starting load gives you about 1240 fps. That is about the slowest load in the book.

The book doesn't show a load for TrailBoss, but so long as you don't compress the load it behaves nicely. Compressing the load makes pressures spike massively.

I would pick a powder I have in stock and pick a load and go with that.

For practice in my Ruger #1 I have loaded a 95 grain boolit (I think it is meant for the 32 acp) over a load of 12 grains of RedDot. The load recoils like and sounds like a .22. Accuracy is fair, but I don't know exactly how accurate as I haven't tried on paper.
 
Have you tried the "mexican match" load? It's fun ---- accurate? Close enuf for 25 to 50 yd. plinking in mine. Pull a surplus 7.62x39 and use the bullet and powder. Nice light load .
 
7 grains of reddot will push a powder coated lee swc 314-93tl to 1300fps. Use 3 grains and it's a quiet subsonic "pop". If you don't have reddot trailboss in the same quantities will work just as well.
 
I use 12 gr red dot under a lyman 314299 and I have shot many deer in the head with no problems at all. I go through the cast bullets to take out all one weight within one grain and use the same cases, federal for my use. at 60 yards I get very tight groups and the deer drop on the spot.
 
Anyone have experience using jacketed .32 acp bullets for plinking loads? Looking at some Campro 71 gr bullets and thinking about pushing them with a few grains of Bullseye as it's not really position sensitive, figure it would be nice to have something small for inside of 50 m

Don't really have the time to get into casting for at least another year or 2
 
I've used Hornady #32050 .32 cal jacketed (not plated) for short range plinking, based on one of BigEdP51's posts on the subject. As I recall, he used a heavier 100gr. projectile.

Mine are 85gr, those being the only ones at WSS at the time. This means a shorter bullet, and I have to tell you they are just barely seated: maybe 2mm into the case mouth. There's a cannelure, but it's sitting up high and dry, so to speak.

Here's the recipe: 13.5gr Trail Boss, OAL is 2.568"

Beyond 25 yds, accuracy drops off.
 
Had a buddy that tried your Trail boss recipe, I think he used 110 or 115 gr pistol bullets, anyways hes quite happy with it.

Regarding the Bullseye loads, its definitely a recipe I'll stay with. Finally tested them this past weekend, 71 gr Campro .32 acp FCP FP with 3.5 grs of powder, that's a fun little round.
It's still subsonic, and grouped a little under 2" @ 50 m. Also tried to push them a little further and was able to hit a 16x16 steel plate @ 200 m consistently, with the rear sight set at 800 m. Haha. Absolute zero recoil with these.

Anyone wishing to try these, please take precautions and seat the bullet immediately after the powder charge has been added, this powder takes up almost no space at all and a double charge could easily happen if you start daydreaming while reloading.
 
What did you do with the powder from the 7.62x54R? I've used approx. 75% of that powder with the pulled bullet in .303. Makes a nice load. Then I used maybe 10 gr. Unique with a .312 Lee in the 7.62 case and fired it off in a 91/30.

Also, as above poster has stated, powder and bullet from surplus 7.62 x39 works nice. Should work nice in a 7.65 Argentine as well.

In the past, I used kegs of 700X in light loads for lots of old calibers - 30-30, 32, .303, .308, 30-06 - well you get the picture. I scored 10 lbs of Unique, so I use that. I also use the surplus powder from pulled 7.62x54R, but for a bit heavier loads in .303.
 
I'll vouch for the reduced surplus 54r load. 75% makes a decent plinker with very mild recoil in my No4mk1. I've only tried this with Bulgarian Silver Tip, although I'm sure most surplus will provide similar results.

I've also had good results with the surplus x39 straight transfer of powder and pill. Almost zero recoil and consistent grouping at 50m.

I'd like to run both over the chrono this fall, I'm hoping to really dial the 54r load - @ $0.40 per load I'm a happy camper!
 
ipscgraz said:
Thanks Lionel

I am using .311 diameter cast bullets in a .313 diameter bore so I don't think I will be seeing any pressure indications.

for a 210 grain bullet sounds pretty tame; I will do some more research and will probably settle on 10 grains of 700X...That really is only double a 9MM load.

Thanks to all.
Click to expand...

Pressure certainly shouldn't be an issue but accuracy most likely will be.
Using light bullets 2thou smaller than the groove diameter is seldom going to work very well. There's going to be gas cutting from blow-by which will cause leading. Light bullets with light charges won't cause bump-up to seal the bore.
See if you can find some that are at least .313". A couple thou bigger would be even better.
 
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