Bought some .312 bullets for my Enfield...

TransAm1991

TransAm1991

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Comparing them to the Winchester ammunition, the .312 bullet seems to be massive, I'm using Hornady bullets, marked .303 brit, .312".
I put one at the end of the barrel, it is big enough to not even fit in at the end, should I look for something more the size of the winchester pre rolled stuff?
 
Sounds like you need to slug your barrel. You want to know how big your bore really is.
1)Push a egg sinker (lead fishing weight) down the bore with a cleaning rod or a 1/4" brass rod.
2) Cut a strip from a pop can about 1/4"x 1" using a micrometer or vernier caliper measure the thickness of the strip. (Write this down)
3)Wrap the strip you cut from th can around the lead sinker you just pushed through your barrel and measure with the mic or caliper. Now sub tract double the thickness of the tin can strip from your final measurement to arrive at the true measurement of your bore.
( The strip of aluminum is necessary because most Lee_Enfeilds are 5 groove rifling. If your gun has 4 or 2 groove rifling than you can dispense with the steps associated with the tin can and measure the "slug"(lead weight) directly.
 
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saskgunowner101 said:
Take a 1x fired casing from your rifle, and try to insert the bullet into it. this will tell you all you need to know. Are you talking about cast boolits??
Click to expand...

Yes and no. He could have a tight bore and a loose chamber which would result in a large case mouth after firing. His bore could be anything from .308 to .316 maybe even more. The only true way to find out how big your bore is, is to slug it.

However it sounds like the OP does not realize how much resistance the rifling will make when trying to insert a bullet into the muzzle.
(If it just pushes or slides in by hand there is a problem)
 
ciphery said:
Sounds like you need to slug your barrel. You want to know how big your bore really is.
1)Push a egg sinker (lead fishing weight) down the bore with a cleaning rod or a 1/4" brass rod.
2) Cut a strip from a pop can about 1/4"x 1" using a micrometer or vernier caliper measure the thickness of the strip. (Write this down)
3)Wrap the strip you cut from th can around the lead sinker you just pushed through your barrel and measure with the mic or caliper. Now sub tract double the thickness of the tin can strip from your final measurement to arrive at the true measurement of your bore.
( The strip of aluminum is necessary because most Lee_Enfeilds are 5 groove rifling. If your gun has 4 or 2 groove rifling than you can dispense with the steps associated with the tin can and measure the "slug"(lead weight) directly.
Click to expand...
I have a 2 groove barrel, I read this and thought.. Ohh I got tons of fishing stuff, but they don't really sell lead sinkers anymore, I think mine are steel..
 
They are tin probably. A bit too hard for slugging. Try measuring the groove Dia. At the muzzle with the inside measuring spurs on a vernier caliper.
No wonder you thought they were too big.
If you place the point of the bullet inside the muzzle and take note you will see that it is only touching on the top and bottom but not the sides. (Or vice versa)
 
ciphery said:
They are tin probably. A bit too hard for slugging. Try measuring the groove Dia. At the muzzle with the inside measuring spurs on a vernier caliper.
No wonder you thought they were too big.
If you place the point of the bullet inside the muzzle and take note you will see that it is only touching on the top and bottom but not the sides. (Or vice versa)
Click to expand...

Yea, that makes sense, I'll have to check that out after River Monsters.
I'll use my vernier in the end, see what I can find out, and post it back here.
It shoots pretty good with standard Winchester 180 gr. rounds, pretty good groups for the short range I'm using.
 
Has it been determined that they are jacketed or cast? If they are jacketed, I would hope that the bullet would not completely enter the muzzle. If cast, the borerider portion should enter but not the base of the bullet at the driving bands.
 
ben hunchak said:
Has it been determined that they are jacketed or cast? If they are jacketed, I would hope that the bullet would not completely enter the muzzle. If cast, the borerider portion should enter but not the base of the bullet at the driving bands.
Click to expand...

Jacketed bullets.

Take a 1x fired casing from your rifle, and try to insert the bullet into it. this will tell you all you need to know. Are you talking about cast boolits??
Click to expand...
Did this after the show, they fit very well into the case, and they even fit into the chamber with the bullet in the empty case.
Just got excited I guess.


Try measuring the groove Dia. At the muzzle with the inside measuring spurs on a vernier caliper.
Click to expand...
Came out around .315", but my vernier could be a little bit out of calibration, but it's close.
 
TransAm1991 said:
Jacketed bullets.

Did this after the show, they fit very well into the case, and they even fit into the chamber with the bullet in the empty case.
Just got excited I guess.



Came out around .315", but my vernier could be a little bit out of calibration, but it's close.
Click to expand...

Close is only used with horseshoes and hand grenades :) A .312 bullet in a .315 bore is ok... Only marginaly accurate,but safe. Visa versa, not so much.
Now since you have a 2 groove barrel a .315 bore may be ok since the extra space can be filled up by the bullet material that would normally be swaged into the other 2 grooves. What is the land Dia.?
Can you verify the accuracy of your calipers by measuring a hole of known dimension, like a drill gauge?
 
ciphery said:
Close is only used with horseshoes and hand grenades :) A .312 bullet in a .315 bore is ok... Only marginaly accurate,but safe. Visa versa, not so much.
Now since you have a 2 groove barrel a .315 bore may be ok since the extra space can be filled up by the bullet material that would normally be swaged into the other 2 grooves. What is the land Dia.?
Can you verify the accuracy of your calipers by measuring a hole of known dimension, like a drill gauge?
Click to expand...
Used it the other day on some bearings, and it was very close, it's not a cheap china caliper, made in USA.

.304 to .305 between the lands.
 
Does anyone know which size egg sinker works best for this? I have to slug the Enfield and I was planning to do it tonight.
 
Just load them and shoot them I can guarantee you you will have no problem hornady knows what size 303 barrels can be.

I have loaded for many 303's and always used hornady bullets for this reason they are fatter ,you can slug your bore if you want but unless this rifle has a .308 barrel chambered in 303 on it you will be fine just work up the load.

Back in the days when Target rifle shooters used to be issued 7.62 nato rounds [308 win] for competitions a lot of guys used to put .307 bore barrels on there guns to gain a bit of accuracy and nobody blew up.

I hand swage some of my own bullets in .224 ,6mm and .308.
One of my varmint guns in 22 br has a loose barrel and it only shoots good with a .2255" bullet and that is what I use.

Even if your bore slugs at .311 you can still shoot a .312" bullet you just need to work up a load.
 
Slugging the bore won't change its dimensions. It is what it is...... just load them up and go to the range. They will almost certainily be more accurate because they are larger in diameter, and as coyote says, even if the bore is .311" they won't cause any problem.

I have loaded the old Speer .313s for years, and Steve Redgewell's .314 jacketed bullets in 303 Br with no problems at all.

Ted
 
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