Reloading bullets
- Thread starter MattE93
- Start date
Well I was offered a store credit if I return the bullets, however, the store has no .303 in stock and won't for a month or two. Should I return for the store credit, or take this opportunity to spend $400 on a Lee Anniversary reloading kit, .303 3 die lee set, Hornady .308/.312 puller, and some .303 bullets? I was planning on getting reloading gear for christmas anyway and this might be a good time to start
I'm going to offer up an alternate POV.
IMNSHO I wouldn't mess with the ammo. It is for shooting, just put the target closer and fire it off. Alternately I'd certainly consider the return for credit.
You may want to buy some hunting ammo for your 303 and shoot it before investing too much in the project. Of course keep the brass for reloading later.
There is no end of information on reloading for the 303 Br. Its been my experience that for reloading 303 Br you need good brass if you expect multiple reloads.
A LEE Loader in 303 Br, a can of powder, a box of primers and a box of bullets will get you reloading. I've had good luck with Speer and Sierra bullets. Hornady were not as accurate.
Something you may want to keep in mind, the 303 Br is not the easiest to reload for. It can exhibit pretty much every nuance know to reloading, a real bag of snakes sometimes. Certainly not a caliber I'd recommend as one to learn on.
I never got to do it, but I think shooting cast would be a hoot in the 303 Br.
IMNSHO I wouldn't mess with the ammo. It is for shooting, just put the target closer and fire it off. Alternately I'd certainly consider the return for credit.
You may want to buy some hunting ammo for your 303 and shoot it before investing too much in the project. Of course keep the brass for reloading later.
There is no end of information on reloading for the 303 Br. Its been my experience that for reloading 303 Br you need good brass if you expect multiple reloads.
A LEE Loader in 303 Br, a can of powder, a box of primers and a box of bullets will get you reloading. I've had good luck with Speer and Sierra bullets. Hornady were not as accurate.
Something you may want to keep in mind, the 303 Br is not the easiest to reload for. It can exhibit pretty much every nuance know to reloading, a real bag of snakes sometimes. Certainly not a caliber I'd recommend as one to learn on.
I never got to do it, but I think shooting cast would be a hoot in the 303 Br.
If you do a Google search you will find out this Wolf ammo has steel core bullets and will not expand to bore diameter when fired. On top of this old Enfield rifles do not like boat tail bullets if they have a worn muzzle/crown.
If you want good ammo to reload then buy Prvi Partizan .303 British, the brass is made to military specifications with thicker rims, has a larger base diameter and is .010 thicker in the base web area.
I made the mistake of buying Russian ..310-311 bullet pulls with steel cores and they also key holed. In a worn bore and reloading I got the best accuracy with Hornady .312 flat base bullets.
If I choose to go the reloading route I was going to pull the crap Russian bullets and reload with Hornady .312 flat bases. Just don’t know if I should get reloading stuff now or take the store credit.
Maybe I’ll take the store credit and buy PRIVI with it, if they ever get it back in. Then I’ll get reloading stuff for Christmas. I have HXP, S+B and federal in .303 so I can reload those later plus the brass I’ll get from the privi.
Maybe I’ll take the store credit and buy PRIVI with it, if they ever get it back in. Then I’ll get reloading stuff for Christmas. I have HXP, S+B and federal in .303 so I can reload those later plus the brass I’ll get from the privi.
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Get the store credit and get Prvi .303 ammo for you Enfield, it is much better brass and not steel case.
Brassman66
CGN frequent flyer
Hammer style bullet Puller is sometimes the only option but really it is a PITA.
RCBS puller with collets is the way to go but a bit pricey and not really needed when you just start out.
Perhaps there is an experienced reloader with the necessary equipment nearby willing to pull the Bullets for you. (Beer for Bullets).
Cheers
I've been using the Lee anniversary kit for over a decade. It's a really good starting point. You can add stuff as you need it.
How did the brass get damaged? I've used kinetic pullers on everything from .23 to 458winmag and never damaged any brass. Were you tearing down milsurp ammo or what?
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
I've used a kinetic for many years. The only issue it has is that it's slow as hell on a bigger bunch.
OP why do you need a bullet puller?
YOU"LL FIND OUT Trust me!
But it's something that can wait until you discover you need it.
So one of your brands of ammo is keyholing, so the answer is to get into reloading?! That’s a bit of an over reaction but if that’s what it takes to get you into the reloading game, then so be it lol.
But seriously though, back to your OP, you’re getting into reloading to really just answer a question for yourself about the bullet size. So all you really need is 5 or 10 rounds, right? That’s lot of money invested if it turns out the bullets aren’t the issue.
You can make a small batch very easily. All you’re going to need extra is a bullet puller, and you can grab one from your local gun store for about 30 bucks (hammer type). They work fine, but are slow. Watch some YouTube videos to see how hard you really have to swing them. (Harder than you’ll think they’re capable of). Stuff a piece of foam in the bullet end to help protect the the nose of the bullet if you’d like.
Collect the powder and carefully put it back into the case. If you don’t have a small enough funnel, just make a little paper one.
If you have some bigger bullets on hand, great. If not, you could just sacrifice a few other loaded rounds with the right size, and pull them too, just make sure the weights are identical. (Same grain)
Then you can seat the new bullets into the charged cases by using a couple of blocks of wood in your bench vise. Drill a 5/16 hole in one where the bullet can be cushioned and kept straight. Just slowly close the vise and gently push the bullet in. No need to resize or crimp as the case hasn’t been blown out like it gets when firing, and you’re stretching it by seating a larger bullet. Use your caliper to ensure it’s the exact same length as the original rounds were.
Then go to the range and see.
... but don’t let me get in the way of a perfectly good excuse to get into reloading lol ;-P Have at ‘er!
But seriously though, back to your OP, you’re getting into reloading to really just answer a question for yourself about the bullet size. So all you really need is 5 or 10 rounds, right? That’s lot of money invested if it turns out the bullets aren’t the issue.
You can make a small batch very easily. All you’re going to need extra is a bullet puller, and you can grab one from your local gun store for about 30 bucks (hammer type). They work fine, but are slow. Watch some YouTube videos to see how hard you really have to swing them. (Harder than you’ll think they’re capable of). Stuff a piece of foam in the bullet end to help protect the the nose of the bullet if you’d like.
Collect the powder and carefully put it back into the case. If you don’t have a small enough funnel, just make a little paper one.
If you have some bigger bullets on hand, great. If not, you could just sacrifice a few other loaded rounds with the right size, and pull them too, just make sure the weights are identical. (Same grain)
Then you can seat the new bullets into the charged cases by using a couple of blocks of wood in your bench vise. Drill a 5/16 hole in one where the bullet can be cushioned and kept straight. Just slowly close the vise and gently push the bullet in. No need to resize or crimp as the case hasn’t been blown out like it gets when firing, and you’re stretching it by seating a larger bullet. Use your caliper to ensure it’s the exact same length as the original rounds were.
Then go to the range and see.
... but don’t let me get in the way of a perfectly good excuse to get into reloading lol ;-P Have at ‘er!
Get yourself a Lee Loader, the little low speed ones (www.budgetshootersupply.ca/product/lee-classic-loader-303-british). Cheap, functional and should work fine for what you need to do. Pull the bullets, expand (or at least bell the mouth), seat and re-crimp.
I've seen the shoulders collapsed on a couple different calibers because the dies weren't set up properly with cases of similar shape to .303. I believe it's less likely if you have the case supported properly by the die body.
If you have crappy ammos and the casings aren't reloadable, then ditch them. Shooting crappy ammos isn't fun, and I don't think anybody is into shooting for the unfun part. If you can return them and get your money back, do it.
For your idea: Even though I have all the equipment to reload, I wouldn't get into switching bullets in crappy steel cases unless I had NOTHING else to do with the ammos. I'd MUCH rather return them, buy good brass cased ammos (or just good brass), and load/reload that brass. You're lucky enough that the store will take them back, so dump them. Whether you want to spend the store credit on reloading equipment or PRVI ammos is up to you, but personnaly I always say that the first step into reloading is collecting brass. If you don't have brass available, then the reloading equipment is useless. So if your stash of 303 brass is large enough, buy the equipment, otherwise, buy the ammos.
For your idea: Even though I have all the equipment to reload, I wouldn't get into switching bullets in crappy steel cases unless I had NOTHING else to do with the ammos. I'd MUCH rather return them, buy good brass cased ammos (or just good brass), and load/reload that brass. You're lucky enough that the store will take them back, so dump them. Whether you want to spend the store credit on reloading equipment or PRVI ammos is up to you, but personnaly I always say that the first step into reloading is collecting brass. If you don't have brass available, then the reloading equipment is useless. So if your stash of 303 brass is large enough, buy the equipment, otherwise, buy the ammos.
