Anyone load .303 brit with H4895?

Ritchie

Ritchie

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I'm loading light at 38gr behind a 174 Hornady RN in Winchester New Brass but there seems to be alot of powder rattle when I shake the case. Is this normal?

How far should fresh poured non "tapped" powder come up the case? I have a LEE (Far From)Perfect powder measure and safety scale and I'm dubious as to whether they are measuring ok.

Please Help!
 
I don't use H4895 but I do use H414 and H335 with the same lee products. No problems. I use 47g of H414 behind a 150 g Hornady SP and 38.5 g of the H335 behind a Hornady 174 g FMJBT. Both in Igman casings.

The 47 g fills the casing up to the neck and the 38.5 g is way below the neck.

Check every charge if you doubt your scale and measure.
 
I don't use H4895 for the 303 either. Normally I like to use a powder that comes close to filling the case or is even slightly compressed, but sometimes I use loads that will allow the powder to move around a bit like you've got BUT ONLY IF it shoots accurate!

The 38 grs you used is within the Hodgdon manual specs (37.0 to 40.0 grs) for the 180 g bullet so you should be okay. H4895 is also the powder used for all the reduced Youth Loads listed on Hodgdon's webpage. All these loads have lots of space left in the case.
 
I use powders that pretty well fill the case for my 303 British as well. Being that it is a P14, I have several loads that are the same as the 308 winchester with equivalent bullet weights, since case capacity ofthe two is virtually identical. These loads are too heavy for a Lee-Enfield, however. Varget sees some use with 174/180 grainers and I use Nobel 104 [slightly faster than IMR 4350] for the heavier bullets [200 gr] Eagleye.
 
Thanks Guys,

I used this powder specifically for the reduced loads and it's good for the 7.62x39 too. I don't hunt (I know, I know) so they are just target loads at 100+yds. Since both the scale and measure are new, I had nothing to measure against. It just starts to touch the beginning of the case neck when freshly poured in. Sound about right?
 
Ritchie - I don't have any brass or cases right here (I load the 303 for my Dad) so I can't tell you for sure how full the case should be with that much h4895. If you are in doubt of the accuracy of your scale - you need to get a calibration weight so you can check.

Also, I haven't used the lee powder dispenser for a while, but I seem to remember it measures in volume (cc maybe?) and Lee gives you a list of volume/mass values for each powder. I remember whatever powder I was loading was actually a bit different than whatever value they had listed and I had to change the volume on the powder measure to get the desired weight. Maybe you should check that too.
 
You're right Mike. I had to weigh the powder and adjust the volume measure as it was out quite a bit.

The lee dipper I have is quite close. I'm taking the round to the range soon, lets hope The scale isnt way off.
 
Ritchie

If you want to test your scale, take 2 or 3 good quality bullets and weigh them all on the scale at once. (For instance 3x 150gr bullets shoudl weigh 450gr)

Most good bullets are pretty close in weight these days.

Your load seems fine, IIRC, I used a similar load to make low recoil rounds in a 303 at one time.

4895 isn't a bad choice for a .303. You may get higher velocites with other powders, you may not. :wink:
 
Ritchie said:
I'm loading light at 38gr behind a 174 Hornady RN in Winchester New Brass but there seems to be alot of powder rattle when I shake the case. Is this normal?

How far should fresh poured non "tapped" powder come up the case? I have a LEE (Far From)Perfect powder measure and safety scale and I'm dubious as to whether they are measuring ok.

Please Help!
Click to expand...

That is the EXACT load I shoot out of my No4 Mk2 and ny No5 Mk1 and I love it. Yes the powder rattles when you shake the case but it's not excessive. I have had up to 44gn of H4895 in a .303 case but I settled with 38gn for a few reasons.
I find it accurate (avg 2" @ 100yds), really easy on the brass, I have 8 reloads through S&B brass with NO signs of web or neck damage, NO blown primers and lighter recoil.
Personally, I don't see the need for high velocity or "max loads" for punching paper @ 100 yds. :roll:
 
That was my thoughts on the load KDG, I only shoot paper so I dont need MAX loads. I wanted long lasting brass and to get the most bangs out of a jar of powder.
 
I use olin 760 or h-4350 (prefered) for 174-180 grn loads. You can get military ball velocity with the least amount of case expansion (pressure). I use the same resising die and setting for all 6 of my .303's.

I didn't invent this, I gotthe idea from a 1960's gun digest. The gist of the article was use the slowest burning powder you can while getting ball velocitys (2450 fps).

This results in much less case expansion than using rel-15, 4895, 3031. Anyways it works for me, a couple of my .303's have commercial barrels/ chambers, the rest are military. Myammo works in all of them, the earliest I have lost a case is 12 loads.
 
.303

Never loaded for .303 British but if this is any help, from my old Sierra loading book IMR 4895 in 25" Mark 111 1/10 twist 37.7 grs 150gr spitzer 2200fps/ max load 44gr at 2600 fps,
180 gr spitzer, IMR 4895 35.8grs, 2000fps , max 42grs, 2400fps if your going up to max loads go slowly in 1/2 gr and check for pressures examine primers for pressure
 
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