.303 with .308 cal bullets?

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gpracer

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In a nut shell, a blank .308 cal barrel and a .303 british reamer. Is this possible?

Load regular .303 cases with true .308 cal bullets instead of .310-.314? Much wider variety of .308 bullets and easier to find.
 
gpracer said:
In a nut shell, a blank .308 cal barrel and a .303 british reamer. Is this possible?
Click to expand...

Is this possible? ...

Not without altering the reamer so the pilot and the throat are the correct size.
 
Using just a standard 303 british reamer, I;m assuming just the pilot would have to be machined down? We are only talking about a .003 reduction in size, should be easily done on a lathe, which I do have access to.
 
gpracer said:
Using just a standard 303 british reamer, I;m assuming just the pilot would have to be machined down? We are only talking about a .003 reduction in size, should be easily done on a lathe, which I do have access to.
Click to expand...
why not used a 30-40 krag reamer same base , and rim as 303 br.. case lenght his app. 1-16 " longer and it made to used 308 " bullets Bob
 
sounds good if it will work.

Any one else who has done this?

I am just exploring options, I have an enfield with a rather poor barrel, I always have tons of .308 bullets on hand for other rifles so this seems like potentially a good idea? Rifle sees quite a bit of range time, but it has killed moose...
 
You can't turn down the pilot of a reamer. You could use a tool post grinder. Or, if the reamer has a separate pilot, it could be changed. Or, the reamer could be altered to use a removable pilot. The resulting chamber would be necked and throated for the original .303 bullets, pretty loose with .30s. You could have a reamer ground with appropriate neck and throat.
 
Some 303 British rifles shoot very well with .308 bullets without going to the trouble of rebarreling. A lot of the ammo that was loaded by the USA for the Brits and others dureing WW2 was loaded with .308 diameter bullets. I have several different headstamps with early 1940s dates and bullets measureing .308 diameter.
Of course if you have an oversize bore, then you may, or may not, have a problem. I suggest that you try out some .308 bullets in your rifle, you may be pleasantly surprised.
I have two rifles that I shoot fairly often in 303 Brit that will group under 2 inches at 100 yds with .308 bullets in 180 grain spire point. One has a .314 bore and the other has a .310 bore. Go figure.
On the other hand, I have some others that will only shoot into 4-6 inches at 100 yds with any bullets, wether they be .308 or up to .314 (I have a few hundred old CIL .314 bullets). bearhunter
 
A friend for years has using .308 bullets in three of his .303's.His choice of bullets are the Nosler ballistic tip and they are deadly.I mean deadly.He preachers to everybody about how good they are. just passing on some info.
 
.308 bullets do not shoot well at all in the rifle in question, I can only get a 5 inch group with most factory ammo, and 2-3 inches with reloads with .312 bullets @100, out to 200 yards the groups open up considerately. This would be more of a convienience thing than an accuracy thing, I always have lots of .30 cal bullets kicking around.
 
I'm not talking a Douglas or a Krieger, just a cheap 150$ .308 sporter barrel looking to be used. If I can make this rifle shoot better and more consistant than it is worth it to me. .308 bullets are way cheaper and easier to find in my neck of the woods. The bullet savings alone are enough to offset the cost for me. I do a lot of shooting with a lot of guns.

I'd like to stay on the topic, making .308 bullets work in .303 british, Cost, and opinions are irrelevant, what I need is information.
 
When it comes to loading the smaller diameter bullets in the 303 cases you may have to chance the expander in the loading die to a 308 one so the case neck is tight enough to hold the 308 bullet firmly.
 
If the 303 reamer has a floating pilot, it is a simple matter of changing pilots. A chamber cut with a 303 match reamer will have a 3115 diameter throat which will probably work fine any way. Perhaps not ideal, but workable. As already mentioned, the expander ball in the die would have to be changed or cut down.
This is all fine if you have a 308 blank available that you want to use. Otherwise, there are 311 blanks availbale from Shilen and MRC as well as others. Regards, Bill.
 
If you can get one, a new .303 bbl might be a better way to go. Those .303s are plenty accurate if the barrels are in good shape. Mine measures .313 and will shoot MOA with .311 bullets. I have some .312 Horady's that I'm achin' to try out.

Another option would be converting the .303 to shoot .308? Have you considered that?
 
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