Loading for ruger#1 303 British

[Why not?]

I tried loading 50 gr. of 4350 in some Win. 303 cases today.....what a job !!
Not only used a long drop tube, but also a toilet plunger !!

A toilet plunger? A toilet plunger? A toilet plunger won't work. It is far too big to fit inside the case neck!


Try a pencil.

What a moron..................
Ted

 

[Kevan]

Hmmm, maybe you're right Ted.....might have been a pencil...didn't have my glasses on....

 

[josquin]

...Not only used a long drop tube, but also a toilet plunger !!

Was this to get the powder "flush" with the shoulder?

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned RL 15. 43.5 gr. worked well in my P-14.

Stuart

 

[Kevan]

Was this to get the powder "flush" with the shoulder? ........Yep !

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned RL 15. 43.5 gr. worked well in my P-14.

Actually I mentioned it in post # 15 and so far along with loads made up with RL 17 have produced the tightest and most consistent groups....

 

[josquin]

Was this to get the powder "flush" with the shoulder?

........Yep !

I'm surprised no-one has mentioned RL 15. 43.5 gr. worked well in my P-14.

Actually I mentioned it in post # 15 and so far along with loads made up with RL 17 have produced the tightest and most consistent groups....

Oops...my bad. Must have missed that one

Stuart

 

[Leeper]

Reloader 17 should be a great powder for the 303 in the Number One. Close to 4350 in burning rate, it produces slightly better velocities and I think there is less bulk to it. I don't think one would get that 50 grain load into new brass but it will go in fireformed brass. It is tough to get it into the brass for the match rifle but for Dad's Ross it went quite easily. 2610fps in the Ross. The Ross was subsequently chambered for the 303 Epps and would then take up to 56 grains of 4350 but I don't recall what velocity was achieved. Regards, Bill

 

[John Y Cannuck]

Reloader 17 should be a great powder for the 303 in the Number One. Close to 4350 in burning rate, it produces slightly better velocities and I think there is less bulk to it. I don't think one would get that 50 grain load into new brass but it will go in fireformed brass. It is tough to get it into the brass for the match rifle but for Dad's Ross it went quite easily. 2610fps in the Ross. The Ross was subsequently chambered for the 303 Epps and would then take up to 56 grains of 4350 but I don't recall what velocity was achieved. Regards, Bill

Thanks for the memory jog on the Ross Bill, time I got mine back out and did some more work.
Like a taller front sight for starters.

 

[Why not?]

Reloader 17 should be a great powder for the 303 in the Number One. Close to 4350 in burning rate, it produces slightly better velocities and I think there is less bulk to it. ............ Regards, Bill

I agree 100%. It easily gets over 2700 fps with 180s in the 308 Win, so should do the same in the 303 No 1.

Ted

 

[Kevan]

Trying to post a pic of a group.

 

[Eagleye]

Here are a few pics of some decent groups I have shot with my #1 Ruger 303. The grid on these targets is ½", to put it all in perspective. The 150's shot exceedingly well, but some old 200 Grand slams I tried were mediocre at around 2½" Eagleye.

 

[Canuck44]

Anyone here tried using Cast bullets in their Rugers? I stayed away from the original purchase. Refresh my memory, how much are they going for?

Take Care

Bob

 

[Johnn Peterson]

Bill, usually doing a ladder load work up makes things far easier than more difficult. I've been finding that most of the time a reasonably good hunting load can be established with 10-12 rounds fired.

But then again, most of the rifles I use are bolt actions and most are bedded and not nearly as "sensitive" as what this #1 appears to be!

Also, I dont' have much experience with the #1's and I'm exceeding the max powder charges listed and even though the RUger #1 is much stronger than a SMLE, I still like to go slow and safe when working up loads in what is to me, "uncharted" territory.

Plus, it's interesting....

That being said, the reality is that I will likely first shoot a blacktail deer and a black bear with this rifle, and both will probably be about 25 yards away, so your method does have merit.

I loosened off the forend screw a bit, going to see what the local shop has for ammo, see how that works.

One of the Ruger No. 1's I had was a V model in 22-250 and I could never get it to shoot quite as well as I thought it should. Long story short, I came across an article, had some of the suggested accuracy modifications done by a local gunsmith and the resulting improvement was quite dramatic. It's titled, The Ruger No. 1, Shooting and tuning. I have Why not? /Ted's e-mail address so I'll e-mail him a copy. I don't know if it'll help your accuracy but if you're interested, PM me your e-mail address and I'll send it to you as well.

 

[Gatehouse]

gatehouse68@hotmail.com

Thanks, I'll check it out!

 

[Budweiser2]

So I loaded up more 46gr h4895. First shot was 2.5 " higher than point of aim at 100- right where I wanted it to be. Next 3 shots made a 1.5" group dead on At 100!!??

Guess the first shot is going to go high but it's fine for hunting. Then I decided to chrono it and it was 2400fps? I tried another with same results

Then I realized i had used H4350!!!

So I shot at the 250 gong and got 4" low and 20" low at 335 but at 335 2 shots almost touched and one was out about 4 "

low velocity but it's time to hunt and this will do fine for blactails at 25 feet to 50 yards. If I head out for sheep I will take my 300wsm!!

Gatehouse
Try putting one into the dirt first to dirty the barrel. Then try your next 4 rounds on the target. Don't know if you have tried this yet?

 

[Andy]

Thousands of guys load 303 Brit for the P14 Action, and it's every bit as strong as the Ruger #1. We just use 308 Win loads, and find what works best for our gun. For me it's Varget for 150's and H4350 for heavier bullets. Some guys like Re15 and Re17.

 

[Johnn Peterson]

gatehouse68@hotmail.com

Thanks, I'll check it out!

On it's way as we speak.

 

[Gatehouse]

Any idea hwo to get the thumbnail scans to turn into full size versions?

 

[Johnn Peterson]

Any idea hwo to get the thumbnail scans to turn into full size versions?

Sorry about that. I didn't realise that you'd receive them as thumbnails in the e-mail. Did you open the actual attachments? I've sent the info to a few others and I haven't heard that from anyone else. Can you print each of them out to a full size, letter, page? If not, I've just printed out an extra hard copy, PM me your postal address and I'll mail you a hard copy.

 

[Johnn Peterson]

Any idea hwo to get the thumbnail scans to turn into full size versions?

Something else you could try, the actual individual show up in the letter section below, click on them and click on save picture as and save in a picture file and then print from there. Or, save in the same way from the individual attachments above. Worked for me. Again, if nothing else, PM me your postal address and I'll send a hard copy. Sorry about that.

 

[p-17]

Wow, this is very interesting... it seems that the Ruger #1 has the bedding sensitivity of an SMLE, with similar problems with flyers.

Clarke, here is a load you may want to place in the back of your mind because I've found it to work well in pretty well every .303 I've ever tried, and this includes #1s and P-14s:

150-grain Hornady SP with IMR 4320.

In a #1, I use 45.0 grains of IMR 4320 and don't go any higher due to the limitations of the action. In fact, this load is actually even a bit on the warm side for a #1, but I have a pretty strong Lithgow action from the 1940s, so I can get away with it.

In a P-14, I generally find that something around 46.0 to 46.5 gives astonishing accuracy, but loading up to 47.5 is OK in the P-14s I've used and is basically a .308 load (within the IMR loading data for a .308). Velocity is what you would expect: very decent.

FYI, I've found that IMR 4320 is also superb with heavier bullets. It's basically my go-to powder for this cartridge.

These 150-grain IMR 4320 loads are basically the reference loads I use anytime I need to play with a .303 because if they don't work then something is wrong with the rifle or the scope.

I would certainly try this combination with the 150 TSX if I were playing with a brand-new #1.

The other thing I'd be curious about is the throat dimension that Ruger used to cut your chamber. I became especially aware of this issue when Bill Leeper rebarreled my SMLE with a .308 diameter barrel (using a .303 match reamer). In my case, the throat dimension was longer and fatter than the bearing surface of the bullet, and this played havoc whenever I tried to use short, boattailed bullets. It required me to use longer, straight-shanked bullets, like the 180 .30 cal partition. With such bullets, the rear end of the bullet is still being supported by the case mouth as the ogive engraves the rifling. With shorter BT bullets, the back end of the bullet had left the case mouth by the time the ogive engraved, and it was "wobbling" its way into the rifling.

Since the Barnes TSX is a long bullet, and the .303 version is a flat base, I would expect great things, as long as your Ruger throat is not unreasonably long.

Keep us informed of your progress!