MK VII ammo hurt metfords?
- Thread starter JTF#
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I believe it was the hotter burning cordite propellant that was causing the erosion problems with the Metford Rifling. That and the soft barrel steels of the period. If your supply of ammo contains Nitrocellulose propellant (Powder) and "Gilding metal" jackets as opposed to "Cupro-Nickel" jackets then you should be ok. Again, Keep in mind that the steel used in these elderly barrels was much softer than what was used in WW1 and WW2 Enfield barrels.
The ammunition that hurt the metford rifling was the Cartridge S.A. Ball, Magazine Rifle Cordite Mark 1 which used a 215gr round nose bullet propelled by hot cordite powder which erroded the lead quickly. It is said to have exited the bore at about 2000 fps.
Cordite powder was very hard on the metford rifling and was adopted in 1891.
The more modern powder was nitro cellulose and was adopted in 1916 and was used throughout both world wars.
What you need to remember is a Lee metford is a black powder rifle and was originally designed go fire a black powder cartridge.
The rounds that you have are the Mark VII ammo which is a 174 grain spitzer bullet loaded to around 2440 fps.
For lee metfords, and long lees I tend to shoot handloads on the light side. Metfords often won't stabilize anything but a cast bullet sized to 1 or 2 thou over bore size. It's not really a matter of "hurting the rifling" it's just the later marks of ammo is loaded fairly stoutly and has a bullet of different shape and weight.
It is of my opinion that the later ammo is a little to hot for my oldies. I shoot 1942 surplus in my Ross, No.1 mk3* and of course my no4. But I don't shoot it out of my long lee. I have a metford here right now which has lots of rifling but won't stabilize .313" cast bullets so it's going to be a matter of finding the right size to make her accurate.
Hope that helps.
Cordite powder was very hard on the metford rifling and was adopted in 1891.
The more modern powder was nitro cellulose and was adopted in 1916 and was used throughout both world wars.
What you need to remember is a Lee metford is a black powder rifle and was originally designed go fire a black powder cartridge.
The rounds that you have are the Mark VII ammo which is a 174 grain spitzer bullet loaded to around 2440 fps.
For lee metfords, and long lees I tend to shoot handloads on the light side. Metfords often won't stabilize anything but a cast bullet sized to 1 or 2 thou over bore size. It's not really a matter of "hurting the rifling" it's just the later marks of ammo is loaded fairly stoutly and has a bullet of different shape and weight.
It is of my opinion that the later ammo is a little to hot for my oldies. I shoot 1942 surplus in my Ross, No.1 mk3* and of course my no4. But I don't shoot it out of my long lee. I have a metford here right now which has lots of rifling but won't stabilize .313" cast bullets so it's going to be a matter of finding the right size to make her accurate.
Hope that helps.
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My metford experience is limited to one.
But that being said, the reason people use cast is the fast powder we use ith them kicks the back of the bullet causing the bullet to upset and fill the bore.
All you can do is try.
That's the fun of these old things. You try something and even if it doesn't work you aren't out anything cause you will learn something very valuable. I've done all kinds of things here, lots of them didn't work but a few of the experiments ended up being a success and are some of my go to loads fir certain guns.
But that being said, the reason people use cast is the fast powder we use ith them kicks the back of the bullet causing the bullet to upset and fill the bore.
All you can do is try.
That's the fun of these old things. You try something and even if it doesn't work you aren't out anything cause you will learn something very valuable. I've done all kinds of things here, lots of them didn't work but a few of the experiments ended up being a success and are some of my go to loads fir certain guns.
