.303

Northman999 said:
Okay, you guys are even screwing up experienced .303 and .308 loaders.

I load .308 in my .308 ( and 30-06 etc) and .311 and .312 in .303 British. The .303 British has LANDS of .303, but the grooves are way deeper. I have a LB with lands of exactly .303 and grooves of .319! It was named .303 using the old system of naming based on the lands, not like modern rifles that name based on the grooves.

The .303 British does shoot larger bullets than the .308! So, you can shoot .308 in .303, it will just be a tiny bit loose.

Just resize your .303 case and put a .308 bullet in it and you'll see - it falls right into the case - I know - I've done it.

So...

.308 = .308
.303 British = .311 (sometimes .312+)

REALLY.
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Here is a direct quote from the old Speer #8 Reloading manual regarding loads for the 303 British: "The Speer .308" 'plinker' bullet can be used if the expander is changed to a .307" diameter" Regards, Eagleye.
 
Eagleye said:
Here is a direct quote from the old Speer #8 Reloading manual regarding loads for the 303 British: "The Speer .308" 'plinker' bullet can be used if the expander is changed to a .307" diameter" Regards, Eagleye.
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Never done or tried it, but how about necksizing your 303 case with a 308 Win sizing die?? If you're going to use 308 bullets in a 303Br case............ Quick check of the measurements of both and, looks to me that it would work and it would give you the interference fit you need to hold the bullet. Your thoughts?
 
Johnn Peterson said:
Never done or tried it, but how about necksizing your 303 case with a 308 Win sizing die?? If you're going to use 308 bullets in a 303Br case............ Quick check of the measurements of both and, looks to me that it would work and it would give you the interference fit you need to hold the bullet. Your thoughts?
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My personal thoughts are that it should work. You might risk some slight runout on the necks, since the 308 die will be considerably larger at the shoulder than the 303 die, but other than that, no issues that I can see. Regards, Eagleye.
 
OR, for less than $10, you can get a pin/expander for most die's I'm aware of in the proper size... Ask me how I know..

:)


Or heck, if you've already got a 308 Win die - pull the pin/expander out and stick it in your 303 die -- I've done that a few times too. :)
 
Eagleye said:
My personal thoughts are that it should work. You might risk some slight runout on the necks, since the 308 die will be considerably larger at the shoulder than the 303 die, but other than that, no issues that I can see. Regards, Eagleye.
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Might be, a bit, but go slow and easy................ ;)I knew we could find a solution:yingyang: that would at least work for a trial or test. Might try it myself:).
 
sunray said:
"...a .303 Savage and it absolutely requires .312 diameter bullets..." It's shot out. The .303 Savage uses .308" bullets. The '.303' part of the name is marketing.
A .308" bullet is the wrong diameter for a .303 British, period.
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The .303 savage I have is 100 years old and does not like .308 bullets.
It is not shot out as I can shoot a 1.5" group at 200 yards (from a rest). I started reloading .308 bullets but were not accurate. I slugged the barrel and discovered it was .311.
Savage originally made the rifles for a .311 bullet and that was what was used, but at some point they threw in the towel and went with the .308 bullet, changing the rifle barrels accordingly.
 
All I can say is I've known guys who have 'done this' or 'done that' for 10, 20 years plus, either work or play. And let me tell you somthing, just because you've been doing somthing for "years" doesn't make you "good' at it. It just means you've been doing it for years.... ;)

Cheers

Seabass
 
Seabass said:
All I can say is I've known guys who have 'done this' or 'done that' for 10, 20 years plus, either work or play. And let me tell you somthing, just because you've been doing somthing for "years" doesn't make you "good' at it. It just means you've been doing it for years.... ;)

Cheers

Seabass
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You couldn't be more right, but thanks to everyone for putting their 2 cents in
 
Foxamaphone said:
Hey guys,

Can you load a .303 with a .308'' diam. bullet, I know .303 usually uses a
.311" or .312" bullet but I've heard that you can the .308". I just want to make sure before I potentially buggar up a bunch of rounds.
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Yes you can do it, may or maay not shoot well depending on your bore. But the question is - why? Can't find the right bullets? Or just experimenting?
 
H4831 said:
I too, have heard of good results from shooting .308 size bullets in a 303 British. This comes about because the diameter of the bullet expands on shooting. There is a fancy name for it, but I have trouble getting my tongue around it, let alone trying to spell it!
Years ago I used to regularilly borrow a book from the local library, all about expirements the British had done with the 303 Lee Enfield, well before WW2.
This was long before chronographs, and they actually gave instructions on how to measure bullet speed, with a home built pendelum! (Worked backwards from hitting power.)
One of their expirements was cutting a barrel ever shorter, and testing the results. As they worded it, they cut the barrel so short, as to have a portion of the bullet exposed, when it was chambered! They were surprised to find that the portion of the bullet that stuck out had enlarged to a larger diameter than the bullet originally was.
This, they said, proved that on firing, the the back of the bullet started going before the front portion did.
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Obturation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obturate
 
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