Lee Enfield No4 .311 vs .312 bullets?

Joel

Joel

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If this should have been in the reloading section, sorry! Figured the Milsurp section would be where the knowledge base is.

And I know there is no real way to answer this besides slugging a bore or just shooting and finding out but I wanted to ask all the same. Does your Lee Enfield strongly prefer .312" bullets to .311"? I'll be reloading for a Long branch rifle soon and trying to decide between starting with Speer or Hornady bullets. Figured it would be good to hear some firsthand experiences here. Thanks!
 
It varies among rifles. Even if you slug the bores, its best to try a variety of bullets. Many believe that flat based bullets shoot best because they "slug up" better than boat tails to fill the bore. I've used virtually all available .303 bullets across a number of Lee-Enfields and have concluded that there's no pre-determined recipe on what works best. There are other variables, like neck vs FL re-sizing and propellant selection, but these also need to be proven by shooting.

Try a 180gr Speer (.312) and a Hornady 174gr (.311) with RL 15 or IMR4064 and see what happens.
 
Right on, thanks Purple. I had heard the same about flat base vs boat tails, but like you said there are an awful lot of variables, aren't they?

I'll give those bullets a shot, as well as some lighter 150 grain. The powder I have on hand that would work the best for now is IMR 4895 but I will keep my eyes open.
 
Pay attention to what you end up actually buying - Hornady #3130 are .312" diameter (174 grain Round Nose) #3131 are 174 grain FMJBT, but are listed as .3105" diameter. #3210 are 150 grain Interlock - they are listed as .312" diameter. In Speer #14, their #2223 is 180 grain Round Nose, but listed as .311" diameter.
 
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Potashminer said:
Pay attention to what you end up actually buying - Hornady #3130 are .312" diameter (174 grain Round Nose) #3131 are 174 grain FMJBT, but are listed as .3105" diameter. #3210 are 150 grain Interlock - they are listed as .312" diameter. In Speer #14, their #2223 is 180 grain Round Nose, but listed as .311" diameter.
Click to expand...

Thankfully I noticed that!
 
I have found both my no4 (faz 5 groove and savage 2 groove both shoot .310/.311 flate base perfectly fine. My no1 is a 1941 Australian and shoots them well too. P14 too.
 
It would be great if someone (HINT HINT Campro) would make a target version of the Mark VII bullet, a .311, 174 jacketed FMJ with exposed lead flat base. We don't need the stuff in the nose (aluminum, or wood) because we don't need it to upset on impact. I believe this would bring a lot more accuracy back to Lee-Enfields that won't shoot the current crop of bullets. I'd certainly buy a bunch.
 
Mine consistently shoot .312" bullets (Hornady 174gr. round nose) better than any .311" bullet I have tried, but I wouldn't say "strongly." Sierra bullets are .311" and both the 150gr. and 180 gr. loads I made did well enough while Speer's .311" 180 gr. aren't worth shooting in my rifles (so bad I'm not sure I didn't screw up something loading them. Speer's .311" 200gr. Grand Slams worked well for me.

Most of the factory ammunition I have shot has been Remington's Express Core-Lokt (.311" 180 gr. round nose) and their UMC (.311" 174gr FMJ spitzer) and they are both good.
 
The guru at 303british dot com thinks that the proper bullet would be .314 .
Since .303 barrels can be all over the place, slugging the bore is wise.
As mentioned, flat base bullets are often superior.
If you're using cast bullets, you can size them down or powder coat them up to whatever diameter works best.
 
There's so much information available from knowledgeable guys on the forum that we are hardly starting from scratch loading .303. Based on old threads I went to Sierra 180 grain and have had exceptional results with them in every .303 I've tried them in. The advice included loading to somewhat below max safe velocities. I couldn't be bothered slugging a Lee Enfield bore as I want ammo that works in all my rifles. So, start with something available and affordable (ideally a bullet/ powder combo you've found discussed in a thread) and see how it works in your rifle. Do you have a baseline established using some available commercial FMJ? I found loads with the Sierra bullets (150 and 180 grn) typically dropped group sizes in half compared to PRVI and Remington FMJ.

milsurpo
 
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