.303 British reloading

Paul_1982

Paul_1982

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Hi there, so I literally JUST purchased my first bit of reloading equipment.... the Lee Classic Hand Loader! All excited to start learning the ways of reloading and saving money to feed my amazing Longbranch No4 MKI I set out to start looking for bullets, powder and primers......

Hmm, maybe should have looked into the availability of what I needed!

I managed to find some Sierra 150gr SPT Pro hunter bullets at Cabela's, along with some IMR 4064 powder and Remington 9 1/2 large primers... but jeez what a search! I'm not even sure if that's what I wanted cause I started looking for other products but settled on this since at least they were in stock!

Any thoughts on good reliable places to find what I'm going to need? I'd love to get into reloading this way, then move on to bigger gear and more reloads (45 ACP!)

Cheers!
 
If its in stock and not overpriced then have at 'er! The classic loader is a neat tool but it will grow old he he. Just be extra careful when seating primers. Always wear your eyes and ears, the first time you pop one off it will scare the sh!t outta you. Try to get a rythm going and listen to the sound each hit makes. You will quickly learn to tell when the primer is fully seated. I like a small brass hammer for the classic loaders, works better than a plastic mallet. Follow the instructions to a tee, make no tweaks or adjustments. Your next tool, and one you should use extensively is a reloading manual. I'd recommend picking one up before setting to work with the classic loader. The instructions will keep you safe but a manual will give you a better perspective on what you're doing. The information you will learn from the manual is immense and invaluable. This will help you make safer choices and help you decide which tools to buy next.
 
According to Lyman, 40gr of 4064 would be a good starting load with 150s, with a max load of 44gr. Do yourself (meaning your face, fingers, and rifle) a big favour and buy yourself a scale (the scoops that come with the dies are useless). Reading through a half dececnt loading manual for the process and hows and whys is also a good idea. I would suggest buying one at your local shop, but seeing as supplies of anythign and everythign firearm related are pretty low about now, i have it on good authority that many loadign manuals, from hodgdon, hornady, lee, winchester, speer, etc, can be found at your nearest neighbourhood torrent website.
 
There is lots of info on the 303 Br. and reloading for it. Search the forums and reloading manuals. (Waters Pet Loads, good read)

LEE Collet Die set (I reloaded 303 Br before these were made, modified an ordinary die to prevent excessive undersizing.)

Headspace of rifle within spec is important. Having your own gauges is not a bad idea.

Don't load any hotter than you have to, and exceeding max not recommended.

3031 nearly duplicates the characteristics of cordite, is usually accurate in the 303 Br. (It is the fastest powder I would use) Your choice of 4064, as good, or better.

Because most, if not all, of my 303 Br rifles had excessive headspace and/or oversized chambers, reloading had it's frustrations. Still, I was able to make safe reliable ammunition and get several loadings from my cases. I liked the Hornady 150 grain SP. Many SMLE rifles are worn out, and have excessive headspace. They are fun to fool around with, and when I need my "old army rifle" fix, I grab my Mosin Nagant, which is similar to a 303 Br, and surplus ammo is available for it. IMO the availability of new or refurbed MN rifles, in full military trim, for not much coin, makes them appealing.

Have fun, enjoy.
 
Headspace checked and barrel slugged? A rifle with bad headspace is not safe to shoot with any ammo. The Lee-Enfield barrel ID can vary between .311" and .315" and still be considered ok. Over.315" the barrel is shot out. Sierra(and Speer) uses .311" for their Pro-Hunter. A .311" bullet in a .313" barrel won't shoot well. Won't be unsafe assuming the headspace is ok though. Hornady uses .312".
The Lee Loaders are what a lot of us started with. Downside, sort of(aside from the speed, that isn't really an issue), is that they neck size only, so eventually you will need to Full Length resize and you must FL resize if you buy any new or once fired brass. New brass is not ready to load and once fired must be FL resized.
Throw the scoop away and use a scale though. The scoops can vary the powder charge plus or minus a full grain. CC's are not used in reloading either.
Hodgdon gives a max load(44.7) of IMR4064 for a 150(not a horrible bullet weight), but no Start load. Reduce the Max by 10% and go nuts. Loading .45 ACP with a Lee Loader will drive you nuts anyway. Look into a beginner's kit for that.
 
Because of the design of the web in the .303 cartridge case, consider yourself lucky if you get 4-5 reloads out of a .303 cartridge case. BEFORE you head out to the range with your reloads do yourself a favor and buy yourself a .303 broken case extractor. You will eventually need it and it can ruin the day if you don't have one when you need it.
 
IF you only neck size you will get many more reloads from a cartridge. I barely neck size and thus hope to get more reloads however eventually one will let go. Also helps if separate what you shoot in each Lee Enfield. I only shoot one LE so don't experience different size chambers which also leads to early case failure.

Try to find a mentor to help you in the beginning as it will make a world of difference. I had someone who posts on here help me, still does on technical questions and it is a lifesaver at times.
 
Garand said:
Because of the design of the web in the .303 cartridge case, consider yourself lucky if you get 4-5 reloads out of a .303 cartridge case. BEFORE you head out to the range with your reloads do yourself a favor and buy yourself a .303 broken case extractor. You will eventually need it and it can ruin the day if you don't have one when you need it.
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Thanks for the tip ;-)

Ebay...omg here I go again lol
 
i load for my enfield, if you get a chance at IVI brass jump on it... best .303 brass i have used, i got a few cases on the 4,5 reload no issues.

my P14 loves hornady 174gr RN.good for hunting good for target. powered by 43.2 grains of BLC-2 and it a rocking rounds down range as fast as my .308 with about the same kick as the remington bullets that are 300fps slower.
 
I just checked the Higginson's Powder site, they have IMR 4895 and 4064 in stock for $32/lb, but no 3031, they also have Win 748 and some VV. Winchester and CCI primers are in stock, as are Hornady .303 (.311") bullets.
 
Garand said:
Because of the design of the web in the .303 cartridge case, consider yourself lucky if you get 4-5 reloads out of a .303 cartridge case.
Click to expand...

Marry brass to a specific rifle, and once you've fired it the 1st time, just neck size only. I'm on my 9th load with my favourite #4, I inspect each case before I load it again, and most of it still has lots of loads left in it.

The evil IVI brass is great stuff, as is the expensive Prvi brass.
 
Sunray, as usual, giving out a bunch of erroneous info.

sunray said:
Headspace checked and barrel slugged? A rifle with bad headspace is not safe to shoot with any ammo. The Lee-Enfield barrel ID can vary between .311" and .315" and still be considered ok. Over.315" the barrel is shot out. Sierra(and Speer) uses .311" for their Pro-Hunter. A .311" bullet in a .313" barrel won't shoot well.[This is not necessarily true. I have had barrels that slugged up to .3135" that shot .311" bullets just fine] Won't be unsafe assuming the headspace is ok though. Hornady uses .312".
The Lee Loaders are what a lot of us started with. Downside, sort of(aside from the speed, that isn't really an issue), is that they neck size only, so eventually you will need to Full Length resize and you must FL resize if you buy any new or once fired brass. New brass is not ready to load and once fired must be FL resized. [Also erroneous info. As long as the necks of NEW brass are round, and not distorted, you can chamfer and load away] 1-f Brass should be FL resized, though
Throw the scoop away and use a scale though. The scoops can vary the powder charge plus or minus a full grain. CC's are not used in reloading either.
Hodgdon gives a max load(44.7) of IMR4064 for a 150(not a horrible bullet weight), but no Start load. Reduce the Max by 10% and go nuts. Loading .45 ACP with a Lee Loader will drive you nuts anyway. Look into a beginner's kit for that.
Click to expand...

The rest of the info is OK, but if you see a post from this guy, best to ignore it. He often posts errors, and sometimes those can be dangerous.
As a newbie, it is good to ask for info, but be careful the source. There are a number of very reliable posters on here who supply good, safe information.

Regards, Dave.
 
TargetAcquired said:
Marry brass to a specific rifle, and once you've fired it the 1st time, just neck size only. I'm on my 9th load with my favourite #4, I inspect each case before I load it again, and most of it still has lots of loads left in it.

The evil IVI brass is great stuff, as is the expensive Prvi brass.
Click to expand...


This is some of the best information you can get. So is the post from eagleye
 
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