Question on relaoding with lead bullets

Gnome75

Gnome75

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To start off I am fairly new to reloading and having been happily using a lee loader classic for 303 British. I have only used hornady interlock bullets because they are cheap. I don't hunt, I just plink.

I see for sale lead 303 bullets for sale at bullet barn with what I think is a gas check. They are way cheaper than jacketed bullets and would suit my needs since I only plink with my enfield.

My questions are:

1. The website says they are .313 dia. Can lead have a larger dia than jacketed because its softer?

2. My enfield can shoot .308 dia accurately (I know rare) will that cause problems using .313 dia?

3. Will .313 with a gas check even fit in my brass?

4. Is there anything special I should know about loading or shooting lead bullets?
 
They should work just fine.

Clean the rifle barrel very well before shooting. metal fouling does not help lead accuracy.

The barrel will last forever if you just shoot lead bullets. And 313 sounds like a real good size.

The case mouth should be flared slightly, so the bullet does not shave. I flare mine with my 8mm Mauser decapper expander button.

The Lyman M die would be best.

See if you can seat the bullet out far enough to touch the rifling, and try that.

You want a fast powder. Try 10 to 15 gr of a shotgun powder. Don't use a regular rifle powder. More expensive and probably less accuracy.

I had the best results using a heavy round nose bullet around 200 gr.
 
I like 27 gr of h4895 for light loads that are decent accurate at 50 and I use unique for the mouse fart loads for the kids, 12 gr I think. Kids can shoot em all day.
 
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The softer the lead, the less velocity you can drive them. Don't expect to get normal 303 velocities (2400+fps is a lot for lead cast, most people stay under 2000fps i think)
 
I have been using IMR 3031 lately. Will that not work well with lead bullets? I also use the lee dipper set instead of a scale so I can't measure in fine details

As long as it shoot straight I don't care how fast it gets there
 
I have put more than a few thousand Lyman 314299's through half a dozen Lee Enfields, as many Moisant Nagants , a single Ross and type 99 Arisaka. All were sized .314 and most were loaded over H4198. My barrels are all in very good or better condition. Excellant plinking accuracy and very little leading. My experience has been that most leading is caused by undersized bullets. Cast bullets are definitely the way to go if you want to do much plinking with military bolt guns.
 
I've gotten up to 32gr of 3031 with the BB 200gr, but accuracy really fell off at 30gr, have since settled on 28gr, also fine imr 4227 worked well with those bullets, think my go to load is 22.5gr
 
Guessing the 32 gr is a hair above 2000fps the 30 grain load averages out at 1925 according to the chronograph my friend brought to range
 
Probably best to load down to 1600-1700 FPS to prevent leading, even with hard cast and gas checks.
My Lyman Cast Bullet handbook doesn't list 3031 or other rifle powders for .303 BR.
They like Red Dot (13.0 gr), Green Dot(13.5 gr), and Unique(14 gr) as maximum for the 200 grain bullet and around 1500 FPS average.
Maybe 1600 FPS for the 180 grain bullet.

This seems like a good article on the subject:

http://www.303british.com/id37.html

Still no mention of IMR 3031, though other rifle powders are referenced.
 
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