PRVI .303 174gr FMJBT Any good?

[smellie]

The Hornady 174 is the right weight but the wrong shape. Its profile is very close to the old Mark II/Mark VI bullet except that they wre 215 grains.

The Hornady bullet, being short for its weight, is difficult to seat far enough FORWARD to get the bullet to its correct position in the leade.

Hornady could DOUBLE their sales of .303 bulets if they would only make THIS bullet in a 215. I have a whole rack of LMs and early LEs that would really appreciate it.

THEN they could start to make money by putting out a 174-grain POINTY bullet.

Their 150 is already superb, especially in Rosses and the P-'14.

We will be more than happy to buy the things; Hornady makes excellent bullets. But will they listen?
.

 

[macadoodle]

I just seat it farther forward, close to the OAL, below the interlock ring. Does seem odd that they are mixing the 215 shape with 174 size.

 

[bigedp51]

Cordite powder throat erosion and boat tail bullets do not go well together. This is why machine guns were restricted to Mk.8z ammunition only to prolong barrel life and accuracy.

Prvi Partizan "cases" are the best "modern" commercially manufactured cases you can buy. The Prvi cases are .010 thicker in the base web area than any .303 cartridge case made today. "BUT" your boat tail accuracy will depend on the condition of your Enfield barrel.

NOTE: WWII Winchester .303 ammunition was loaded with double base BLC2 ball powder and was not to be used in aircraft machine guns.

The Mk.8z ammunition was loaded with a "rebated" boat tail bullet to improve accuracy and barrel life.

Sorry for the long posting, but this is what happens when your retired with nothing to do and all day to do it.

 

[flying pig]

I wonder if hornady will be selling the bullets from their 303 174gr FMJBT military match ammo they were talking about on gunboards a while ago seperate of their complete cartridges. On another note does anyone know if u can get the bullets federal uses in their ASC or AS 180gr cartridges or what diameter they are? All 3 of my Enfields love those projectiles and loads.

 

[Cdn303]

Yes, it really sucks when bullet manufacturers make what they think is correct, (ie pretty much whatever they feel like ) when a little bit of research would show what is correct. smellie and bigedp51, thanks again for the information

I am sure if you were to ask them they would say it has to do with ease of manufacture or some other BS. (see side note)

Maybe we should start a petition, and circulate it around the surplus rifle forums. Maybe when they see that thousands of people would prefer historically accurate bullets, they might change their tune.

SIDE NOTE
A while back I had sent an email to hornady asking if they would ever produce a slug to enable shotgun hunters to reload their own sabot slug shells. What I got back in return was a rather elaborately written email saying NO. They had cited (not an exact quote) 'when we feel that it is safe for hunter to do so'. So I guess the moral of the story is big corporations don't care about the individual (who knew). That is what got me thinking about the petition idea.

 

[scott585]

POF-WAH says they wont sell to non-LEO/MIL end users