After inquiring as to any plans to release a flat based 174 grain .311 I was somewhat surprised to find out that CamPro is working on development of exactly that! There is no release date yet, but the bullet is under development. Imagine that, a Canadian made 303 bullet - I'd predict they'll sell a few.
Good news for 303 fans
- Thread starter enefgee
- Start date
Weird to hear you say "working to develop" a .311 flat based bullet.... I have the last few of CamPro's 311 flat based bullets on the reloading bench. They carried it for years, then for some reason discontinued
Note: I believe the ones I have are 180gr, not 174 like you mentioned
Note: I believe the ones I have are 180gr, not 174 like you mentioned
If shooters are lucky, Campro will develop the bullet with an exposed lead base, so that it will properly obturate to the multiple bore diameters on 303 Brit rifles, from .309-.317
That would certainly answer most people's problems.
nowarningshot
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
It would make more sense to me, if they made a larger diameter projectile. A open lead base, usual thin plating. People could slug their bores, buy a Lee resizing die designed for cast. They were cheap, not particularly available and probably $30 now.
The plating on Campro bullets is so thin (0.008" as opposed to most jacketed bullets whose jacket is at least 0.030" thick) that for "bumping up" purposes they're essentially "exposed base" - they do bump up. The process to plate a bullet save the base would require a much different process, which would be much more expensive, so don't plan on Campro doing that, and if they did, you'd all complain about the price.
Sizing down is inexpensive and easy, particularly with plated bullets.
"Bumping Up" using dies can be done, but requires dies no-one has or wants to purchase, and is limited, unlike sizing down which can be done as much as 10 thou.
Sizing down is inexpensive and easy, particularly with plated bullets.
"Bumping Up" using dies can be done, but requires dies no-one has or wants to purchase, and is limited, unlike sizing down which can be done as much as 10 thou.
If your bullet is a bit oversize by a couple of thou it's not a problem, if it will chamber.
Most. 303's have generous throats, so a larger bullet would chamber easily.
.315 would be just dandy, and with a thin jacket would obturate easily.
IIRC, back in the thirties, the Germans did lots of experimenting with oversize bullets, with good success.
It might be a good idea to sell small starter packs, so the shooter could try a few before buying a large amount.
Most. 303's have generous throats, so a larger bullet would chamber easily.
.315 would be just dandy, and with a thin jacket would obturate easily.
IIRC, back in the thirties, the Germans did lots of experimenting with oversize bullets, with good success.
It might be a good idea to sell small starter packs, so the shooter could try a few before buying a large amount.
Good points - all true. It's been shown through testing that oversize bullets (even 5 thou over groove size) don't increase pressure measurably as long as neck clearance remains sufficient, i.e. at least one thou. Every bullet fired whether it be cast or jacketed is sized down considerably by the rifling, and a bit of additional "squeeze" doesn't seem to matter much.
I still have quite a few 0.316" cast bullets I got from you about 20 years ago for my 303 Brits. In fact I subsequently bought my own mold of the same size which is why I still have them. Fitting a gas check can be a bit of a challenge, but I've used 32 Cal and they've worked well.
I'm kinda new to the 303 but while researching bullets, noticed there are ca. 170gr "32 cal" bullets that measure .320". Could not those be sized down to .315" or thereabouts for use in the 303?
I went searching for the Campro 180gr RN .311 bullets and they are not available anywhere.
Can jacketed bullets be sized down to fit the 303?
I've used 32 Cal and they've worked well.
That was taken out of context as I was referring to Gas Checks. You cannot simply use 32 Cal bullets in a 303, but you can size just about any jacketed bullet down 5 thou or so with a good lube.
I've sized plated bullets (like Campro) down over 30 thou. Look here at Post #16.
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...9-How-much-can-you-size-down-a-plated-bullet?
