Mold to cast .303 Br.

Sly Old Fox

Sly Old Fox

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In lalaland, that is Ottawa.
Several of us are thinking of casting for our .303 BR rifles.

We need a bullet that will be accurate out to 200 yards. Suggestions?

If we could get decent accuracy without gas checks, it would be an advantage. So if we used a moderately hard mix, say Lyman #2, could we still get close to 2,000?

The rifles are mostly Lee Enfields with some Enfield P-14s and possibly a Ross.

Thank You.
 
I've shot thousands of cast bullets through a half dozen different 303's including a No 1, two No 4's, two No 5's and a 1910 Ross. By far my best success is with Lyman 314299. My moulds are actually an old Ideal SC and an early production Lyman DC 311299 which casts .315. Bullets are cast of WW plus 2 percent tin and quenched from the mould. I've also found this an excellant bullet for the 762x54R should you wish to expand your milsurp interests in the future. This is a gas check bullet.
 
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Old ranger is bang on, #314299 is kinda the std. as is #311284, if these bullets drop large enough for your bore/s, certainly a good start. I have a mold from aussie land that drops an oversize 216gr bullet if your bore demands it. Contact CBE if you want more info on top quality brass molds, they have a better understanding of the .303 then most as they are/were a commonwealth country. #314299 drops at 205grs. depending on the alloy, for me.
Just one further note, before shooting cast in your rifles clean your bores and then clean them again, you have years and years of that foul j-word bullet stuff to clean out first. Copper has no place in a good barrel and can cause leading when you send a cast bullet down to caress your barrel.
 
I have an old single cavity Lee mould that drops a .312 185gr round nose, it has been a good shooter in my Enfield No4 Mk1. The box says recommended for 7.65 Mauser, 7.7 Jap and .303 Brit. It is the C312-185-R.

I cast from water quenched WWs and get a 180-182gr bullet, then add the gas checks to the bullets and push them to about 1500fps based on load data. I havent set the chrony up for these yet to see if the data is correct.

Ben is right... Clean before you shoot and I liked to run a snake through after 20 rounds to see if there was a lot of leading which there wasn't so now I run a snake at the start and another at the end or at 100 rounds.

Without the GCs there was a lot of lead in the barrel after the first 20 rounds.

Cactus
 
I am in the same boat, just getting started with the 303, and i have a 314299 coming. I eventually want to shoot a moose with one. I have shot a moose with the 500 grain bullet I cast for my 45 70, but I want to get one with the lee enfield. I think a 200 grain cast bullet in the 2000-2200 fps range should do the job..
 
When using that skinny pointed bullet on moose make sure your alloy is not too hard and has lots of tin in it, you will want some expansion so it doesn't act like a fmj. IMHO
22to 45 ...how did your moose react to the hit and did your bullet expand?
 
A bull was running broadside to me at about 25 yards, I heard this bull coming, and when he came out of the bush and I saw some horns, I swung my siamese mauser up and shot him in the hump. I intended to hit him a bit lower, but in the heat of the moment that is where it hit. I picked him right out of his tracks. He landed on his head. But it did not kill him. I stood there for a few minutes, and he got back up, with great difficulty. My second shot hit him in the neck just in front of the rib cage, and it was the most dramatic thing I have seen. On the entry side the bullet splashed up a bit of blood onto the horn, and his head hit the ground between his feet like he had been pole axed, then his legs buckled. This was unquenched wheelweight, shot at about 1800 fps from 25 yards. The bullet went between the bones in the hump, and the one that went through the spine also went right through. I feel very well armed with this rifle, and am of the opinion that there is no need for jacketed bullets with a 45/70.
 
As I have posted on other threads, I have had excellent results with the Lyman 311284 bullet using straight wheel weight metal. I think Ben has that mold available to cast bullets for you.

Ted
 
Sly Old Fox said:
Several of us are thinking of casting for our .303 BR rifles.

We need a bullet that will be accurate out to 200 yards. Suggestions?

If we could get decent accuracy without gas checks, it would be an advantage. So if we used a moderately hard mix, say Lyman #2, could we still get close to 2,000?

The rifles are mostly Lee Enfields with some Enfield P-14s and possibly a Ross.

Thank You.
Click to expand...

Several of you? In the Ottawa area? Finally some company! I have done very well at several Milshoots with cast bullets and so can you.

If you only need it to be accurate to 200 yds, you can do that with wheelweight alloy and without gas checks (and at about 1500 fps), but all of the good stock molds are gas check molds.

You can't beat what has been suggested, but the key point is to fit it to the bore and make sure it's at least 0.001" larger than the groove size.

You bring those guys out to the Winter Milshoot in January and I'll get you some 314299's made out of WW + 2% Tin to try ahead of time.
 
Andy said:
Several of you? In the Ottawa area? Finally some company! I have done very well at several Milshoots with cast bullets and so can you.

If you only need it to be accurate to 200 yds, you can do that with wheelweight alloy and without gas checks (and at about 1500 fps), but all of the good stock molds are gas check molds.

You can't beat what has been suggested, but the key point is to fit it to the bore and make sure it's at least 0.001" larger than the groove size.

You bring those guys out to the Winter Milshoot in January and I'll get you some 314299's made out of WW + 2% Tin to try ahead of time.
Click to expand...

Well, Andy, it is great that you chimed in here, many thanks. There has been some excellent advice from guys like Ben. And my own thoughts, which I was reluctant to put forward, are confirmed by you! Who needs
2,000FPS if 1,500 will do the job (out to 200 yds.) And while I did not mention it in starting the thread, the others were both out on Sept. 11th at the Milsurp shoot that Bruce and you so ably run!

You say that all of the good molds take gas checks. But, leaving off the GC should not impair accuracy at the lower velocity.

Aric84 and Louthepou, take note.
 
I had mentioned to Sly that I was shooting cast at the spring milshoot and they were doing quite well. I was using the Lyman 314299 cast from WW's, heat treated in the oven, quenched and gas checked. Lubed them with lee alox and was ran them ahead of H4895(cannot remember how much at the moment, but almost low jacketed speeds) and did not have any leading at all. Only reason I did not do better at the match was that my elevation was off, learned that lesson.

I've been contemplating trying to use lead shot for casting and since it is already alloyed and would still be significantly cheaper than buying jacketed bullets. I don't shoot rifle too much lately so the cost would not likely be very noticeable. Has anyone had any experience with this?
Looks like we will have a good group discussion at the next shoot.
 
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[I've been contemplating trying to use lead shot for casting and since it is already allowed and would still be significantly cheaper than buying jacketed bullets. I don't shoot rifle too much lately so the cost would not likely be very noticeable. Has anyone had any experience with this?
Looks like we will have a good group discussion at the next shoot.[/QUOTE]

If I am looking to make a "hard" mix of alloy. Chilled shot is nothing more than adding extra lead, in my opinion . I will add about 1/4 lb of magnum hard shot to 10 lbs of ww lead and that boosts the antimony level up and allows water quenching to around linotype hardness . YMMV
 
I'm still trying to find the CGN name of the shooter who came to the milsurp shoot, who won one of the Mosin's given by TradeEx, and who brought the door prizes from the Canadian Tire where we works. He also casts quite a bit, with great success, for his .303's.

Lou
 
i have an old belder and mueller 314 174 spirepoint mould. works great as long as vel is kept to 1500 -1800,any higher and leading starts.the only problem i had was cart length,closer to riflling the better.i never use gc s anymore ,extra that is not needed if vel. is kept down.
 
Hi Guys
I just wanted to let you know I can get these in from my US supplier.

LYMAN 303cal 200g #314299 (.314d) MOULD DBL CAVITY $72.00
Handles are xtra at $41.00

Regards, Henry
 
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