303 Cast Bullet Loads

[sobo4303]

I read some articles and they seem to be pretty loose in terms of reloading specs. I recall seeing a post by Smellie regarding the use of medium powders (RL-7 and 10x for example) as opposed to faster powders. I saw documentation where they used 16 gr of Unique, but I would wonder about the excess volume in the case. Saw another article where it stated use 25 to 28 gr of RL-7 and 27 to 30 of 4895 to get 1,700 to 1,800 fps. That's a pretty broad range. I don't have a chrono and my barrel is brand new - approximately 20 rounds of commercial 180's put through it.

Does anybody have some really good tried and true recipes. I have 200 180 gr cast bullets (commercial) with gas checks. Would like to load these babies and fine tune, rather than sorta guess at an in between range.

I have Unique, RL-7, RL-10x, IMR 4895, W748, H335, IMR 4831, IMR 4064, IMR 4350, Superformance and IMR 3031.

 

[smellie]

With your cast 180s, 13 grains of Red Dot should be right in the area you want.

Let Buffdog get on here; he uses that load for sniping gophers. It's accurate.

BTW, it has never been "documented", although it is being at this moment, but I have never recommended RL-10x to anyone, for any purpose. I have never even bought a can of the stuff. I recommend only loads which I have tried personally and found appropriate and safe, and, on occasion loads from other sources of unimpeachable authority.

The 13 grains of Red Dot with a cast 180 for a .303 comes from C.E. Harris, no less. He called it "The Load" and used it in most military-size rifles. Given that times have changed, I would NOT recommend it for the pipsqueak "little black rifles" of today (although I would REALLY like to see 180-grain cast bullets in a .223!) but it is a good load for medium-heavy bullets in those big old military cases: you don't need a ton of powder but you DO need consistent ignition combined with a MILD charge which is consumed completely. You get this with the Harris load.

Do have fun.
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[buffdog]

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Back when I was in high school, with little extra money but a lot of desire for target shooting, I bought a $14.95 Lyman Ammo-Crafter reloading set to make bullets for my $9.95 BSA Commercial SMLE No. 1 Mark III rifle. Later on, a $16.95 Long Branch No. 4 Mark 1* was added. The Lyman kit came with the 215 grain 311299 mould and a pot and dipper, along with a lube cutter.

At the time, I shot thousands of cast bullets out of these two bullets up to 600 yards. My old load used Hercules Hi-Vel 2 powder, (sadly discontinued) and would be a bit better than Mark VII Ball out to 200 and about the same at 600 yards. Naturally, sights had to be compensated with a chart to set sight elevations for ranges. BTW, this load would even work in a Lewis Gun.

Later on, C.E. Harris, a writer on the Staff of "American Rifleman" magazine did a lot of experimenting with cast bullets. He developed "The Load" for Military rifles using the same weight bullets as military ball loads for the appropriate calibre. I recommended this one to SMELLIE a couple of years ago, and he loves it. In the .303, the C.E. Harris load of 13 grains of Red Dot shotgun powder will give 1700-1800 fps to the 180 grain cast bullet, with good accuracy. The 160 grain LEE spitzers are C.E. Harris designs.

Red Dot is a flake powder and easy to ignite. If you are worried about it, use Magnum primers for a hotter spark. I have never had any problems with this load if it is used appropriately.

These rifles like long bearing surface round nosed bullets. Cast spitzer bullets tend to be inaccurate, IF people try to drive them too fast. An example of this is the 170 grain Lyman 311412 bullet, a spitzer design that is almost an exact copy of the military 30-06 bullet. Loaded above 1900-2000 fps and you have patterns, but if you load 14.5 grains of IMR-4227 behind it, for about 1600 fps, you will be surprised at what it will do out to 200 yards.

Cast bullets can be inexpensive to shoot, accurate, and fun to make. However, there are a lot of variables, such as barrel bore diameter, sizing bullets, bullet hardness, lubrication type and brand, gas checks, and dozens of other things. It would take pages here to even touch on the subject, so you are going to have to experiment a bit for yourself.

Best thing is to buy a Lyman Cast Bullet Manual and read it carefully. I prefer Lee sizing dies as they push the bullet from the base after lubricating. I also do not try to drive cast bullets too fast for my target and "shoot the gopher" loads.

If I want cast lead bullets to travel faster than 2000 fps, then I use paper patched (paper jacketed) bullets, and I can drive them up to 2800 fps with no leading.
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[just having some fun]

I read some articles and they seem to be pretty loose in terms of reloading specs. I recall seeing a post by Smellie regarding the use of medium powders (RL-7 and 10x for example) as opposed to faster powders. I saw documentation where they used 16 gr of Unique, but I would wonder about the excess volume in the case. Saw another article where it stated use 25 to 28 gr of RL-7 and 27 to 30 of 4895 to get 1,700 to 1,800 fps. That's a pretty broad range. I don't have a chrono and my barrel is brand new - approximately 20 rounds of commercial 180's put through it.

Does anybody have some really good tried and true recipes. I have 200 180 gr cast bullets (commercial) with gas checks. Would like to load these babies and fine tune, rather than sorta guess at an in between range.

I have Unique, RL-7, RL-10x, IMR 4895, W748, H335, IMR 4831, IMR 4064, IMR 4350, Superformance and IMR 3031.

I have not loaded for the 303

Unique is Unique that's why they called it that, it is not position sensitive
it does not care about taking up so little space in a 303 case

I checked 3 books --bullets from 155 to 214g have been used

I would not hesitate to use 180-200g for hunting deer to 150-175 yds maybe more and cast make a great low cost plinking round

Just remember for cast fit is king,-- bullets should be .001-2 larger than bore and could need to be as much as .003 larger than the bore

the Unique load for the 180g is from 12 to 16g -- work up to a MAX of 16g
should give you just under 1800 fps

Other Powders listed in the latest Lyman cast book for the 303 are
2400
SR-4759
5744
IMR-4198
AND
4227 I have not used the letters for 4227 because of manufacture

Imr old Stock is MADE IN CANADA (as in metal can)
new stock is made in Australia as well as the H4227

AND Caution should be used WORK UP LOADS

Some powders can be Position sensitive when starting at Min CHARGE

If you have a 1:10 twist don't push it faster than 1900-1950-- stop when your groups open up

You should be able to do dime sized groups at 25yds
1 inch plus at 50yds 3 inch at 100 ------ with Iron SIGHTS with your new barrel

Let us know

 

[Andy]

I like to use fast to medium-slow pistol powders with cast bullets, and work in the 1500-1800 fps range. In the 303 Brit with 180gr cast, I have found the following to work well:

10.0-14.0 grs of Red Dot
12.0-16.0 grs of Unique
18.0-22.0 grs of SR-4759

None of these require fillers.