Hornady 150g SST .311 bullets for 303

Suther

Suther

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
27   0   0
Location
Fraser Valley
So whats the deal with these bullets? Its what both Budget Shooter Supply and TradeEx both list, but Hornady doesn't list .311 bullets, they list .3105 and .312

Anyone know whats up? These seem to be the one of (if not the only?) bullets in stock anywhere for 303, so it doesn't look like I have much choice in the matter, and I have seen these recommended in other posts, but when I couldn't find the product on Hornady's website I decided I might as well ask around here to see if anyone knew why.

Thanks!
 
Bite the bullet and make a decision. a half thou won't make any difference to anyone's rifle.

Many of the Pakistani No4 MkII rifles have .310 bores. I even have a Savage with a .309 bore and a Lithgow with a .315 bore.

It used to be common to be able to go into a shop and buy bullets for the 303Brit that were made by CIL and measured anywhere from .309 to .315. It was up to the owner to slug the bore of the rifle to match the fit of the bullet to the bore.

This is what you need to do.

Also, one other thing to consider, many Mosing Nagants have .309 to .312 bores. They are trying to kill two birds with the bullet diameters they make.
 
Eeny, meeny,------Take your pick.
Your barrel size can vary that much, so I suppose you will be told to slug your barrel, and choose the one closest to the barrel size.
However, if the bullet you choose is a thousand or two too large, it will quickly be resized as it goes into the barrel and will shoot just fine.
If the bullet you choose is a thousand or two too small, it will expand on firing to fit the barrel and seal the gas in. Those in the crowd who like to use technical terms will say the bullet will obturate to fit the bore. Same thing.

Oops bearhunter, I posted before I saw your post.
Bruce
 
No No, thats not what Im asking about. I wasn't worried about the diameter or anything.

I couldn't find any .311 diameter bullet, or an SST line bullet in the 312 or 3015 diameter bullets, I was just wondering if anyone knew why that may be (discontinued maybe? I dunno.)
 
bearhunter said:
Bite the bullet and make a decision. a half thou won't make any difference to anyone's rifle.
Click to expand...
In the No.1 Mk.3 I had with a ~.315" bore, the .3105's would tumble 9 shots out of 10.
When I shot .311's out of it it was more like 1 in 10.
With .312's I didn't get any tumblers.

Used a mic on the bullets and they where all correct to a couple tenths.
 
Suther said:
So whats the deal with these bullets? Its what both Budget Shooter Supply and TradeEx both list, but Hornady doesn't list .311 bullets, they list .3105 and .312

Anyone know whats up? These seem to be the one of (if not the only?) bullets in stock anywhere for 303, so it doesn't look like I have much choice in the matter, and I have seen these recommended in other posts, but when I couldn't find the product on Hornady's website I decided I might as well ask around here to see if anyone knew why.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Sorry, My mistake, the listing should say .312.
I've changed the listing now.
Regards, Henry
 
For what it's worth here's what I have and their bore sizes.

Ross mk3 - .311"
No4 mk1 - .311"
MLE -.314"
no1 mk3* - .314"
M91 mosin - .310"

I shoot hornaday .312's out of all of them and they all shoot very well.
 
Suther said:
No No, thats not what Im asking about. I wasn't worried about the diameter or anything.

I couldn't find any .311 diameter bullet, or an SST line bullet in the 312 or 3015 diameter bullets, I was just wondering if anyone knew why that may be (discontinued maybe? I dunno.)
Click to expand...

With the ammo shortage going on right now I'm pretty sure all manufacturers have suspended either permanently of temporarily (as in Hornad's case with the 303 bullets) the production of less common / less popular rounds in order to change the machinery over to produce the more common / popular rounds.

You have to remember the .303 British rounds aren't a very popular round in the US. I don't think there has been a rifle produced and mass marketed in this caliber in recent years. Their thinking is why produce these bullets if they only sell 1,000,000 a year and really only sell in Canada, Australia and the UK (where the caliber has a greater foowing) when they can use those same machines to produce .223 / 5.56 at a rate of 10,000,000 a year and still not make enough.

I'm sure when the shortage is over they will resume production. But until then, less common rounds will be even harder to find.

Do what i did in the past couple weeks and start casting your own. (I just started casting .314 boolits for my .303 British because like you, I can't find components).
 
I remember reading years ago (sorry, I can't find the source) that one of Joyce Hornady's sons had a LE .303 growing up that he loved to shoot and hunt with. In playing around with different loads and components, he found that the .312 dia bullet shot better out of his particular rifle. It was based on this that Hornady settled on this diameter for its bullets. Since the bore of any LE can vary, its nice that we can have at least a small choice in components. My Savage No. 4 loves the .312 SSTs.

tbhupe
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom