New to reloading, need some help with a .303 British load

D-BOMB

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Hey all,

So I have been working on getting basically setup for reloading .303 brit. I went to get some powder, primers and bullets today and against better judgement listened to the staff member at WSS for what powder I should get.
I ended up with Hodgdon H4831SC, and after looking up the data chart on their website...low and behold there is no load data for that powder in .303 british.
I cant return it so am I completly hooped? or is there other places I can find data for this cartridge and powder?

I will be using 174gr Hornady FMJ boat tails.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hodgdon's claims ballistic equivalence between the two, with the newer powder having better temperature performance.
However, the shorter cut may allow you to get more in a case than before so you could essentially cram higher charges into a case.
You should be able to use existing H4831 data. Start with 43gns and work up from there. Max listed is 47gn.
 
I will be corrected if I'm wrong, but aren't those short cut powders designed that way to aid in metering?

My skinny hogden book has them both listed on the powder burn rate chart as being the same.
 
Hodgdon's claims ballistic equivalence between the two, with the newer powder having better temperature performance.
However, the shorter cut may allow you to get more in a case than before so you could essentially cram higher charges into a case.
You should be able to use existing H4831 data. Start with 43gns and work up from there. Max listed is 47gn.

There lies my problem, I can't find any data for H4831 period.
 
My Hornady manual (3rd Ed) shows a starting load of 42.5gr and a max of 46.2gr for the 174gr bullet. Having said that a faster powder like IMR4064 or H4895 would give better velocity
 
ht tp://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp heres their website i cant seem to find any data for that powder . there should be a data sheet on the bottle
 
Load data has been given so I'm just going to chime in with my powder choices: H4895 or H4350. Those two powders will do pretty much all the common rifle cartridges and are temperature stable(better for year round shooting consistency).
 
Personally, I prefer IMR 4320 for this cartridge. From what I've seen with a handful of powders, including 4350, the most consistent combination of accuracy and velocity, over a number of different .303 rifles, is IMR 4320. It works great with 150s and 174-180 grain bullets.
 
From the Hodgdon 2001 Basic Reloaders Manual:

180Gr Sie sp
Fed 210
COL 3.075"
24" Bbl

47gr. - 2238fps

Also, from Hornady 4th edition:

174gr RN
Fed 210
COL 2.975"
25-1/4"Bbl

42.5gr - 2000fps
46.2gr - 2200fps
 
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