303 British

Boltcarrier

Boltcarrier

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Hi, just started to do reloading

I have some fired once 303 British brass

please advise that for beginner, just casual shooting, nothing fancy

what powder to use
bullet
primer

thank you
 
I’ve had excellent results with Reloder-15 and Sierra 180 pro hunters. I tried AA2520, IMR 4064, 4320, and H414 but never got any satisfactory performance out of my rifle with them. I was ready to retire the rifle and as a last ditch effort gave RL-15 a try. IMR 3031, Vihtavuori N140, H4895, and Varget are some other good ones worth trying, although I haven’t. There was no need to go further after RL-15 in my rifle. .
 
I'm with Chargerguy. Reloader-15 works well. The next time I buy powder I might buy some Vihtavouri and work up some loads with that powder. The 180 grain pro-hunters are easy for me to get, so that's all I've used so far. Privi-Parisan is great brass as it closely replicates the original specifications at the rim. I use CCI primers.

Best of luck. Let us know how it works for you.

Cheers

Jim
 
Thank you for your response.

What's the min and max load you use on the powder

and I have some dominion, imperial and ww super casing, are they ok?
 
Over the years I have picked up lots of 303 brass, old and new , surplus and commercial. If your just firing the brass in one gun, after the first full length resize, the subsequent reloads can be neck sized only, but if used in multiple 303,s the chambers can be quite different between rifles and full sizing a must. Quite alot of my 303 shooting is using cast bullets not loaded too hot and so its pretty easy on brass. Some of that old Dominion and Imperial brass may have lots of reloads on it and careful inspection is a must.
 
Old Lyman manual.....accuracy loads........150gr/IMR 4895-41gr/2409fps....................180gr/IMR4320-44gr/2469fps[factory duplication load/IMR4895-42.5gr/2433fps]........................215gr/IMR 4895-39.5gr/2188fps[factory duplication load/IMR4895-39.6gr/2183fps]
 
Calibre 303 British
Powder Varget Weight in Grains 41
Bullet Speer Hot Cor (2217) Weight in Grains 150
Primer WLR Loaded OAL 2.89
Case Various Weight in Grains 170

Discovered this load while working on a rifle, needed some ammo and loaded this. Groups shrunk and easy on brass. I've tested it in Enfields and in a Martini, it is just a load that works. You can substitute a Sierra, nearly as good. Don't use a Hornady bullet, not the load for a Hornady.

A quick check found some bullets at Western Metal.

My notes say that I sized for about 0.002" shoulder setback.
 
Hi Boltcarrier,

180 grain Sierra pro-hunter, Reloader 15, min 38.0 grains, max 42.0 grains. 3.075" OAL. I've seen some say the max iS 43.6 - I personally haven't gone that high, so use at your own risk. I run 41.0. Best load for my No. 4 Mark 1/2.

Any brass will do. I use Prvi, but also have some FC and Remington cases that I reload regularly with no issues.

I recommend you buy a few load manuals. Worth the investment.

Cheers

Jim
 
A flat base bullet is best; Hornady 174gr SP .312 if you can find them or cast. Try to use brass that was either fired in the rifle or new brass. Brass fired in another rifle should be full sized. Watch the brass for case head separation. When firing brass for the first time putting a tiny hair elastic around the base helps hold the case head against the bolt face which will reduce brass stretch at the base and reduce early case head separation.

RL15, rl22, imr4064 and imr4895 are your best bets for powder.

I will post some links to past requests for the same info when I’m not on my phone.
 
nitro-express said:
Calibre 303 British
Powder Varget Weight in Grains 41
Bullet Speer Hot Cor (2217) Weight in Grains 150
Primer WLR Loaded OAL 2.89
Case Various Weight in Grains 170

Discovered this load while working on a rifle, needed some ammo and loaded this. Groups shrunk and easy on brass. I've tested it in Enfields and in a Martini, it is just a load that works. You can substitute a Sierra, nearly as good. Don't use a Hornady bullet, not the load for a Hornady.

A quick check found some bullets at Western Metal.

My notes say that I sized for about 0.002" shoulder setback.
Click to expand...

My favourite .303 load is the same except I use a 150 Hornady SP bullet (flat base). I resize the cases using a Lee neck size die. This load shoots great in my No1, No4 and No5 rifles. With my old eyes, I can get 2.5-3" groups at 100y using the iron sights.
 
with the high cost of 303 bullets I cast most of my stuff and to reload fmj I use 7.62x54 silver tip downloaded of course. you can produce very accurate loads with cast and the silver tip is a nice bullet for punching holes in metal plate at 100 yards.
 
Excellent budget load, this shot extremely well in all four of my Enfields

180gn Speer HotCor RN
39.0gn D4895
CCI 200 primer
OAL 2.950”
2250 fps

The “smellie” load is also tried and true

150gn Hornady spire point
40.0gn D4064
CCI 200 primer
OAL such that entire cannula is above case mouth
2375 fps

I chrono’d both loads this past weekend. Neither load is at all close to max. The Dominion powders were notably consistent.
 
fireforming 303 british brass

is this still active?
when shooting factory ammo or new brass, a small elastic or even a band of 1/4" wide masking tape just in front of the rim. It ensures the brass is centered in the chamber and expands evenly and centered to conform to the shape of the chamber. after that neck size only and the case separation issue is avoided. I have found (in my rifle anyway) that the round rests in the bottom of the sloppy chamber and when it is fired it expands from the bottom up, this leaves you with a case head that is NOT perpendicular to the bore centerline.
roll a fired brass case on the edge of the table and look close at the case head for a tell tale wobble, you'll see it. when you full length size a case like this it really overworks the brass at that point and that working is what leads to case thinning and then separation.
once properly fireformed and neck sized, the groups on my rifle shrank instantly from 6inches or more down to 2" or less!!

hope this helps!

j.p.
 
yes, this is active and thanks for the info.

so i tried to put a dummy round in the chamber and it locked ok but when i tried to eject, the bolt refuses to disengage.

with the lock on close system of the Lee Enfields, normally the bolt just bounce back out very easily, but with my no 4 and no 1, both showed the same problem.

so the cartridge fed in quite easily and cocked. but when I tried to eject the bolt handle will lift up half way and stuck there, i had to really hammer the bolt handle with the palm of my hand to make it eject.

please advise if you have a solution for this.
 
is this a fireformed & necksized dummy round? or a dummy round with elastic around base? does the bolt not lift up? does it do this with live ammo?
 
Boltcarrier said:
yes, this is active and thanks for the info.

so i tried to put a dummy round in the chamber and it locked ok but when i tried to eject, the bolt refuses to disengage.

with the lock on close system of the Lee Enfields, normally the bolt just bounce back out very easily, but with my no 4 and no 1, both showed the same problem.

so the cartridge fed in quite easily and cocked. but when I tried to eject the bolt handle will lift up half way and stuck there, i had to really hammer the bolt handle with the palm of my hand to make it eject.

please advise if you have a solution for this.
Click to expand...

Both No.1 and No. 4 have what is called helical breeching - unlike most modern rifles - so that means the bolt face continues to advance forward as long as the bolt handle is turning down - when bolt handle is down - is the end of advance - you are at "lock up" - that was a very shallow angle of advance, so you can generate a lot of force pushing a cartridge into the chamber - cartridge was bent, oversize, dirty - will still go - what it was designed to do. So, now the extractor hook is forward of the front face of the rim of the cartridge. As you lift the bolt, the bolt face and extractor hook will start to move back, but there was space (slop) between the case rim and the extractor. That "hard stop" you are experiencing is the extractor finally hitting the front face of the cartridge rim, with something in the chamber that is tight to that cartridge - cartridge case too long and jammed in neck, cartridge too fat and jammed in chamber, cartridge bent and now jammed in chamber, and so on. For a soldier in trench or a tight spot - very important to get a shell in to fire one more time - but extraction was about "use some power" to get that cartridge out - might very well be what you are up against? Color your case and bullet entirely with jiffy marker - you will see where the colour got scraped off - will tell you where it got "tight"...
 
makes sense to me, the head of the bolt actually threads off/on the bolt, so those threads are the "helix" maybe you dummy loaded a spent case from another rifle?
 
Potashminer said:
Both No.1 and No. 4 have what is called helical breeching - unlike most modern rifles - so that means the bolt face continues to advance forward as long as the bolt handle is turning down - when bolt handle is down - is the end of advance - you are at "lock up" - that was a very shallow angle of advance, so you can generate a lot of force pushing a cartridge into the chamber - cartridge was bent, oversize, dirty - will still go - what it was designed to do. So, now the extractor hook is forward of the front face of the rim of the cartridge. As you lift the bolt, the bolt face and extractor hook will start to move back, but there was space (slop) between the case rim and the extractor. That "hard stop" you are experiencing is the extractor finally hitting the front face of the cartridge rim, with something in the chamber that is tight to that cartridge - cartridge case too long and jammed in neck, cartridge too fat and jammed in chamber, cartridge bent and now jammed in chamber, and so on. For a soldier in trench or a tight spot - very important to get a shell in to fire one more time - but extraction was about "use some power" to get that cartridge out - might very well be what you are up against? Color your case and bullet entirely with jiffy marker - you will see where the colour got scraped off - will tell you where it got "tight"...
Click to expand...

you are absolutely right.

there are scratches on the part of the body just above where the case separation normally appears.

what does it mean
 
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