I use Win. 120 gr.FMJ .310 slugs, 38 gr. IMR3031 pwd., std. rifle primers,in the 303br in my no.4 mk.1 & P14 ,1 1\2" at 100yds. when I do my part.Accurate Arms imported some FMJ .311 HB 120 gr. a few years ago that worked excelent in over size .303 barrels. Having pulled thousands of rounds of hand loads & dud ammo over the years for the componets it seems to me a lot of work to buy new ammo to pull apart with little savings.
.303 reloads using 7.62X39 components?
- Thread starter cantom
- Start date
If you really want to be silly, you can pull down your grandfather's .32-20 loads for his '73 Winchester and use those components.
Much easier to get some Hornady 150s or Sierra 180s or similar and load your .303 rounds to perform properly.
A good .303 should, off the sandbags, iron sights, shoot under 2 inches at 100. With a scope, that should go down considerably. But you won't do that with recycled SKS ammo, either.
The Russian bullets generally mike .310 through to .311. Extensive experimenting by the British over a period of 80 years showed that a .303 will nearly always shoot its best with a bullet at or very close to the maximum limit of size, which was .312. Some rifles even like fatter slugs than that, but generally with worn bores.
Enfield rifling (deep grooves, lands and grooves of equal width, odd number) tends to prefer flat-based bullets, even in the .30-'06 Model of 1917 rifle, so keep this in mind as you handload.
But you can get jacketed bullets from 80 grains through to 215 (formerly available in Canada, now being manufactued in Australia), which is pretty decent.
Much easier to get some Hornady 150s or Sierra 180s or similar and load your .303 rounds to perform properly.
A good .303 should, off the sandbags, iron sights, shoot under 2 inches at 100. With a scope, that should go down considerably. But you won't do that with recycled SKS ammo, either.
The Russian bullets generally mike .310 through to .311. Extensive experimenting by the British over a period of 80 years showed that a .303 will nearly always shoot its best with a bullet at or very close to the maximum limit of size, which was .312. Some rifles even like fatter slugs than that, but generally with worn bores.
Enfield rifling (deep grooves, lands and grooves of equal width, odd number) tends to prefer flat-based bullets, even in the .30-'06 Model of 1917 rifle, so keep this in mind as you handload.
But you can get jacketed bullets from 80 grains through to 215 (formerly available in Canada, now being manufactued in Australia), which is pretty decent.
Great topic.
I have heard of guys using 7.62/39 bullets in a 303 as a gopher round as the much lighter (I think 55 to 65 grain) made a decent sized varmint cartridge.
I am pretty sure all russian barrels were .311 whether 7.62.39 or 7.62/54
or even the pistol rounds. It makes a lot of sense from a supply standpoint.
I would guess that there is a fair bit of over and undersized barrels and bullets depending on how carefull the manufacturing process is.
7.62/39 used to be the cheapest centerfire round on the market until the iraq war. Now it is supposedly the 7.62/54 at 10Cents.
The AK round used to be a dime each but now has gone up to 15 or 16 cents.
The only reason I would see for using a /39 bullet is if you had some reason for wanting a much smaller bullet in a 303 rifle like coyote hunting where you don't want to damage the pelt. If you were just looking for cheap reloads a .311 FMJ would make the most sense.
Wolf has started making good cheap 7.62/54 cartridges for about half the cost of commercial ammo(the SVD guys in the US swear by it) so maybe they will make some .303 but I would not hold my breath. 7.62/54 is still a very popular military round.
I have heard of guys using 7.62/39 bullets in a 303 as a gopher round as the much lighter (I think 55 to 65 grain) made a decent sized varmint cartridge.
I am pretty sure all russian barrels were .311 whether 7.62.39 or 7.62/54
or even the pistol rounds. It makes a lot of sense from a supply standpoint.
I would guess that there is a fair bit of over and undersized barrels and bullets depending on how carefull the manufacturing process is.
7.62/39 used to be the cheapest centerfire round on the market until the iraq war. Now it is supposedly the 7.62/54 at 10Cents.
The AK round used to be a dime each but now has gone up to 15 or 16 cents.
The only reason I would see for using a /39 bullet is if you had some reason for wanting a much smaller bullet in a 303 rifle like coyote hunting where you don't want to damage the pelt. If you were just looking for cheap reloads a .311 FMJ would make the most sense.
Wolf has started making good cheap 7.62/54 cartridges for about half the cost of commercial ammo(the SVD guys in the US swear by it) so maybe they will make some .303 but I would not hold my breath. 7.62/54 is still a very popular military round.
