PRVI .303 174gr FMJBT Any good?

nelly

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Hey Gang,

Apologies if a repost - and if I am just way behind the times...

I just noticed that SFRC has PRVI .303 ammo in quantity.

Has anyone tried it out, and how did you find it?

Cheers,

Neal
 
It is good stuff. I got it at $18/box.

Tried her in my enfield. Cant say anything about accuracy as I was just fooling around with the stuff, but it cycled well and the quality of the ammo seems great too. Didnt gunk up the barrel too much. Its a great budget ammo for sure. You wont be making a mistake buying in bulk. I would, but Got Winchester 303 at the same price, so I bought a few boxes of that for now. Might get more of that privy once my stock runs out. Thanks for the post!
 
Partizan is good ammo but it's HOT.

Brass is good for reloading.

In most rifles with ENFIELD rifling (5 lands, 5 grooves, lands and grooves equal width: exactly the same as the superduper "5R" rifling, just left-hand) you will find that FLATBASE bullets will give the best accuracy. This goes for the P-'17 as well; it had Enfield rifling. Boat-tails are wonderful in Rosses and Mausers and Lewis Guns and the dear old Vickers.
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MOST of the American brands load their cheaper lines with flatbase slugs.

It's the boat-tails that cost more to make. They are, therefore, a "premium" projectile..... and you gonna pay for it.

One of the main reasons the US didn't formally adopt the 1917 as their standard rifle was that they had just adopted their M-1 cartridge.... loaded with a 173-grain BT slug. As long as they were using the old flatbase M1906, the rifles were pretty much equal.... and they had 2-1/2 million of the 1917s versus 1-1/2 million of the 1903. When they went to the BT bullet, long-range performance of BOTH rifles improved, but the 1903 improved more than the 1917. They did manage to forget the fact that the 1917 barrel would outlast the 1903 barrel about 3 to 1, just as a Lee-Enfield barrel will outlast a Mauser.

Of couse, part of it depends on your standards of accuracy.

BTW, an Enfield barrel shot with flatbase slugs will outlast an Enfield barrel shot with BT slugs. Not by a heck of a lot, but a thousand here and a thousand there...... and barrels cost money these days.
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Yes, some hunting bullets, mostly SP. I've yet to find a flat based spitzer FMJ bullet for a .303. I think there are round nose FMJ availiable though. When I start to reload, I plan to us flatbase hunting stuff.
 
India and Pakistan both still manufacture the old Mark VII three-piece FBSFMJ bullet for the .303. Likely they would sell them if somebody offered them money. PROBLEM would be transportation: lead is heavy, for some reason.

I am using the Sierra 180 Pro-Hunter, seated to the OAL of a Ball round. This crowds the leade just a bit, but the rifles like it. My load is 37 to 38 grains of 4895 for 2250 ft/sec: quite mild but wonderfully accurate. For a zippy deer load, try the Hornady 150 Spire Point with 40 of 4064, seated so the whole cannelure shows. My P-14s love it!

Hope this helps.
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Pakistan Ordnance Factories, Wah Cantt, Pkistan. Their website is POF-WAH.com, IIRC.

India still has a couple of ammo plants including, I think, one at Dum Dum. They have a website also.

Both armies still use the SMLE and the Number 4 for guard rifles and second-line regiments. The Paks especially do a lot of target practice and so they burn up a heap of ammo, need fresh stuff all the time.

Glad SOMEBODY in this world still can show a bit of class and haven't gone over entirely to plastic and stamped-tin.

I wonder just how many guys would go in on a group buy?

Have to get prices first. Shipping by sea is cheapest by far, although it takes time.
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@Cdn 303: generally the IMR, although the rifles also like the Hodgdon when it's all I have! It's a good load for any .303 and also works fine in 7.62x54R. Have fun!
 
I shot that stuff.... Its horrible IMO. I would never put that through
my 303 again.

Theres an indoor range here in edmonton that sells a ton of that,
i used it once out of curiosity. I had a box of remington UMC to start,
maintained 1 inch groups no problem.

Loaded that prvi crap... First shot was a misfire, primer popped. Thats
all i got. The next 19 rounds i was unable to keep a group tighter than
5 inches. Not to mention the odd round actually tumbled and made an
elongated hole and pulled way up high.

I figured 'Ok... so i forgot how to shoot or this ammo REALLY sucks'

I went back and bought a box of federal 180gr to make sure i was right
when i thought the ammo was crap. My groups went back down to an inch.

The ammo is garbage.
 
The next 19 rounds i was unable to keep a group tighter than 5 inches. Not to mention the odd round actually tumbled and made an elongated hole and pulled way up high.

That would be b/c the prvi stuff is Boat tailed. Enfield rifling was designed before the introduction of the boat tail bullet design. As such it is 'hit and miss' as to which rilfes will actually shoot it well. The problem is increased by having a 2 groove bore.
 
Cdn303 gets 100% on his exam!

Enfield rifling has a definite and pronounced preference for flatbase bullets. SOME rifles will shoot well with the BT stuff, but you need a minimum bore with no flaws. The vast majority of LEs, having gone through 1 to 3 major wars, are not perfect. And most were not ever minimum-dimension tubes: there ARE tolerances.

My test load will get roughly 1 MOA in just about any well-regulated rifle with a decent bore and without bedding issues which is why I call it my "test load". It is extremely accurate and also a test of the rifle's integrity. And it makes nice groups. It uses flatbase bullets, of course.
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'Chinchaga Bullets', in Peace River, Alberta, sells .303 inch, 176 grain flat base 6 S spitzer .311s in small plastic cases of 100. I have a few boxes stocked from the weekend show here in Edmonton and when I run out of Dominion Industries 1943, I will start loading up. It will prob do well in my No.5 and my LB sporter, but my LB full stock slugged .319, so I suspect I may be just reloading to continue four to five inch groups with that one.

- I suppose I could always cast or paper patch!
 
'Chinchaga Bullets', in Peace River, Alberta, sells .303 inch, 176 grain flat base 6 S spitzer .311s in small plastic cases of 100. I have a few boxes stocked from the weekend show here in Edmonton and when I run out of Dominion Industries 1943, I will start loading up. It will prob do well in my No.5 and my LB sporter, but my LB full stock slugged .319, so I suspect I may be just reloading to continue four to five inch groups with that one!

Anyone nearer to Belleville ONT would be much appreciated.....Quinte Outdoor Sports, maybe?

Not the same now Rick has gone, IMO.

tac
 
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