Cast '303' issue

Rick said:
I'm looking forward to your post that tells us what dimensional measurements you got for your rifle's chamber neck/ball seat/leade after you've made a casting of that for measurement. Be a lot easier responding to your questions about your cast bullet efforts after that.

Come to think of it, your cast bullet load development efforts will probably also be easier after that...
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im not that Extreme, so do not hold your breath awaiting any of that to happen.

but i will post up when i fluke a load that does what i need it to do. :)
 
I'm not sure what's "extreme" about taking half an hour to get some measurements that will probably cut days and possibly weeks of efforts attempting to randomly fluke a useable load. Particularly at the velocities and distances you said you were looking at shooting at. And after choosing to have commercial cast bullets re-coated to achieve some diameter.

But to each his own, of course.

I do have an idea: how about we just offer random answers to your questions and see if we can fluke a useful answer!
 
WhelanLad said:
hey fellas, so i got these 303 180gr cast, an the deal is they were coated 3 times with 'stuffs' and are unsized- as in they normally get put thru a size die to be in that 311 range all uniformly.

so what i have got is basically unsized (raw) cast drops coated 3 times in stuff and sent to me.

what i have infront of me is black coated projies.

however, my woodleigh sizes at 311........... an these are sizing from 310-313............. an i am getting the Drift that they are not Round............ would this be right? or is that expected with this commercial casts that then get coated.. an say the coating must not be even all the way round, is what i assume.........


im proberly not that stressed or fussed until i load a few an plink them in some sort of rough test initially..... if devestating i will look into precise testing.


Being a hard cast, im assuming the not so round bullet may not fill the bore nicely, esp with the rifle being a ruger1, i did however find the slug i ran down the bore... its still showing 3135 or there abouts
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You ran a slug down the bore and it shows 0.3135" ?

It has been my experience that in 303 (or any other cast bullet) that the bullet must be 0.001" or 0.002" over bore diameter before you start to get good groups.
I have shot thousands of cast bullets out of 303 rifles with bore diameters ranging from 0.311" to 0.315". Every one of them would shoot tighter groups when the bullet was 0.002" over bore diameter. Any cast bullet that was 0.001" under bore diameter or at bore diameter gave abysmal groups.

The 303 got a very bad rap in the 1950s when American gun writers "tested" Lee Enfields and P14s. They used reloads with 0.308" diameter bullets. Very few of these rifles gave good groups with these bullets. The two piece stock on the Lee Enfield got the blame.
Then cam the Lyman Reloading manual suggesting sizing bullets cast to 0.311" ( Jacketed bullet diameter for 303 British).
It has been my personal experience that sizing cast bullets to a diameter smaller than 0.312" will usually give very large groups in the 303.

I have found that the most accurate velocities in most 303 British rifles are 180 to 220 grain bullets at 1600 to 1850 feet per second - these are gas check, powder coated bullets that are at least 0.002" over bore diameter.
 
A little late to the party

303 british

what is the barrel twist ?

bullet weight ? what Mould was it cast from ?

and is it gas checked ? if not gas checked you will not reach 2000 fps with out leading

you will not be happy if you try to push it too fast

What powder do you have?
 
10x said:
You ran a slug down the bore and it shows 0.3135" ?

It has been my experience that in 303 (or any other cast bullet) that the bullet must be 0.001" or 0.002" over bore diameter before you start to get good groups.
I have shot thousands of cast bullets out of 303 rifles with bore diameters ranging from 0.311" to 0.315". Every one of them would shoot tighter groups when the bullet was 0.002" over bore diameter. Any cast bullet that was 0.001" under bore diameter or at bore diameter gave abysmal groups.

The 303 got a very bad rap in the 1950s when American gun writers "tested" Lee Enfields and P14s. They used reloads with 0.308" diameter bullets. Very few of these rifles gave good groups with these bullets. The two piece stock on the Lee Enfield got the blame.
Then cam the Lyman Reloading manual suggesting sizing bullets cast to 0.311" ( Jacketed bullet diameter for 303 British).
It has been my personal experience that sizing cast bullets to a diameter smaller than 0.312" will usually give very large groups in the 303.

I have found that the most accurate velocities in most 303 British rifles are 180 to 220 grain bullets at 1600 to 1850 feet per second - these are gas check, powder coated bullets that are at least 0.002" over bore diameter.
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.314, 210 grain gas checked behind 24 grains of imr4227 3 of 5 were almost all through one hole at 30 yards on my initial scope sight in for my PH no4 mk2. Not even powder coated. I was very impressed.

To bad they wouldn't expand enough. Would be a great hunting load.
 
hobophobe said:
.314, 210 grain gas checked behind 24 grains of imr4227 3 of 5 were almost all through one hole at 30 yards on my initial scope sight in for my PH no4 mk2. Not even powder coated. I was very impressed.

To bad they wouldn't expand enough. Would be a great hunting load.
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Expansion with wheel weight alloy is a problem. I have shot one deer with my M10 Ross where I recovered the 200 grain Lyman 314299 bullet. Texas heart shot at about 25 yards. The bullet traveled to the right side of the spine, breaking every rib and stopped under the hide in the neck. No expansion, gas check had come off, and the rifling marks on the bullet were still very clear. I have found that softer lead bullets give more expansion in game animals than wheel weights but softer lead puts a speed limit on bullet velocity.
My load was 14.5 grains of unique and velocity was about 1500 fps.
 
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10x said:
Expansion with wheel weight alloy is a problem. I have shot one deer with my M10 Ross where I recovered the 200 grain Lyman 314299 bullet. Texas heart shot at about 25 yards. The bullet traveled to the right side of the spine, breaking every rib and stopped under the hide in the neck. No expansion, gas check had come off, and the rifling marks on the bullet were still very clear. I have found that softer lead bullets give more expansion in game animals than wheel weights but softer lead puts a speed limit on bullet velocity.
My load was 14.5 grains of unique and velocity was about 1500 fps.
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Yeah, I have a ton of jacketed softies in stash...alot. so ill save those and the 4064 for hunting loads.
 
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