303 British reloading Lead Bullets (No accuracy)

alexanderdj77 said:
My bullets aren't gas check. I had brought 3 Enfields that day 2x P14 one sporterized on Full wood and on Enfield Mark 4 No 1 the P14 are normally tack drivers. I really think it could be light bullets and yes I kind of eye balled the load from 308 info. I am going to load some jacketed ammo to specs and see if that makes a difference.
If I get the lead bullets going 2000ft/s wouldn't that lead up my barrel pretty bad?
Thanks for all the great info
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I still think that lack of a gas check is your major problem.
2,000 fps is certainly doable with gas check bullets, but I think completely out of reach with flat base bullets and 165 grains should not be considered as light bullets in a 303 British.
Regarding leading, I think the major cause of leading in a barrel is the condition of the barrel. I have owned and shot, quite extensively, five different revolvers in 44 magnum, two S&W and three Ruger Super Blackhawks. They all varied in how much they leaded. One Ruger and one S&W collected no, or very little lead. One Ruger leaded up so badly that I soon got rid of it.
Most of the advice at that time was If the barrel leaded up, polish it. Various types of very fine abrasive, including Bon Ami, were suggested.
Fifty years ago I did a lot of experimenting with cast bullets in a 30-06 rifle. Of course, at that time I didn't have access to a chronograph, but I had the same Lyman Handbook of Cast bullets, the first edition, which is in front of me now as I type this.
I used two or three different types of cast bullets, all with gas checks, many different types of powder and every type of lubricant I could conceive. I was trying for the most speed I could get coupled with reasonable accuracy and for this purpose I did best with slow powders, with the old war surplus H4831 giving me as good of groups as any, with about three quarters of so, of a case full. As far as I could see, one kind of bullet lube could not be distinguished from any other type. Thus, I started and finished with the ancient standby, a mixture of bees wax and beef tallow. In hot weather more wax than suet and the opposite in cold weather.
Your top loading with cast is always determined by velocity, not too much pressure for the rifle. When you get to a certain velocity, accuracy goes all to hell.
I was using a Husqvarna rifle which had a very smooth barrel and I had absolutely no problem with lead in the barrel. It simply was non existent, even with the cast bullets loaded so fast that they had blowby, from too much pressure.
 
I used to load the heavy Lee bullet. Around 200 gr. I used pistol powder and fast rifle powder. I good good plinking accuracy easily. Velocity was not high.

I sized them .312 Could have just lubed them as cast. Should have tried that, too.
 
I shoot 185gr gas checked cast bullets in 4 303 rifles.

2 of them have tight .311 bores but those are my mint Ross mk3 and an AG Parker regulated no4 target rifle. In those I shoot .311 sized bullets with 13 grains of red dot. Accuracy is superb out to 200 yards.

My other 2 rifles in 303 are a 1916 no1 mk3* and a 1900 mk1* long lee. If I fire .311 bullets in those rifles they tumble and the bore leads up pretty bad. I feed those 2 .314 sized bullets which works like a charm.

I'd say based on my experience the OP should re slug the bore, and load heavier bullets of a larger size in the .312-.314 range. Gas checks are a good idea to, cleaning lead out of a bore is not fun!!
 
yes that small of a round with that load. you will have leading even with a bullet of 13 to 14 hardness. IMHO min should be .313 you should be spending time scrubbing those bores. I will stop by today before the range and bring some magic lead remover, lol




alexanderdj77 said:
My bullets aren't gas check. I had brought 3 Enfields that day 2x P14 one sporterized on Full wood and on Enfield Mark 4 No 1 the P14 are normally tack drivers. I really think it could be light bullets and yes I kind of eye balled the load from 308 info. I am going to load some jacketed ammo to specs and see if that makes a difference.
If I get the lead bullets going 2000ft/s wouldn't that lead up my barrel pretty bad?
Thanks for all the great info
Click to expand...
 
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try the fattest bullet you can get to slip fit into a fired unsized case

then size the neck to have only a couple thou neck tension on that size of bullet. if the bullet has a bit of friction and won't slide on its own, don't size the neck.

just prime, charge, and press fit a bullet and shoot single shot to try....

if a cast bullet can chamber and release, there is no way it can be oversized.
 
nice!! I learned something, I am going to try this for fun. makes great sense. I remember sitting at the hunt camp and my dad and uncles sitting there with little viles of powder and hand reloaders making ten rounds each lol. way way back in the day for enfields and mausers. and they were bang on at over a 100yrds. they had no idea about being a thousand out or pressures. just what someone showed them. no mics if the rnd chambered they shot it. if they saw my reloading room they would laugh. they use a ruler and a scale

nanuk said:
try the fattest bullet you can get to slip fit into a fired unsized case

then size the neck to have only a couple thou neck tension on that size of bullet. if the bullet has a bit of friction and won't slide on its own, don't size the neck.

just prime, charge, and press fit a bullet and shoot single shot to try....

if a cast bullet can chamber and release, there is no way it can be oversized.
Click to expand...
 
I shoot Lee 185 grain cast with wheel weights, water dropped, gas checked and lubed with alox. Not sized.

With a CCI #200 primer and 41 grains of H4350, this load works well in a couple of rifles I have tried it in. One of those rifles I've actually got scoped just for this load as a general use load. It's not bench rest accurate, but is about 2" @ 100 yards accurate, and is powerful enough (2100+ fps in a shorter sporter, 2200 fps in a full wood) to hunt with. A similar amount of IMR 4831 will work too, but it was less accurate than H4350.

I also play with the same bullets loaded over a mostly full case of Trail Boss, for plinking or shooting small game while big game hunting. Or for my seven year old to shoot clays with.

No reason that properly worked up cast lead has to shoot terribly in a .303.
 
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