Reloading pulled 123gr .303 British - with a big difference

[rifleshot]

Hello there,

At the risk of this having already been discussed - (I couldn't find such a post) - I have to see if anyone else is doing this.

I met a gentleman who reloads - and what he's been doing definately caught my attention.

He pulls the 123 grain projectiles from Russian surplus 7.62 X 39 and uses them to reload .303 British for his Enfield. That, I am sure - is fairly normal practice. However, he takes the powder from the 7.62 X 39 casing, dumps it into the .303 British casing before he seats the surplus 123 grain bullet - and then proceeds to the range and has fired over 1000 rounds like this with good accuracy at 100 yards and no unwelcome / surprising / unfortunate results (thus far). He has a friend who reloads the same way and has fired multiple thousands of rounds in this way.

He doesn't have a weighed powder "load" - he just pours one casing of 7.62 X 39's powder into one empty casing of .303 British directly and seats the pulled bullet.

Does anyone else do this ? Seems like a very inexpensive way to plink with an Enfield.

John (Rifleshot)

 

[Andy]

Many people do that.

It's inadvisable to just reduce a load willy-nilly (the 7.62X39 has only about 60% of the case capacity of the 303 Brit), but the powder used in the 7.62X39 is fast enough (in the H4198-H322 range) that it's not unsafe, i.e. no "SEE".

It's better to be lucky than smart.

 

[Hotwheels81]

I have done it many times, not horribly accurate in my rifle but it does go bang and stay on paper.

I think I will pull a few hundred this winter and try a better powder in the .303 case and salvage the x39 powder for some brass case hunting loads under prvi soft points.

 

[rifleshot]

Hi again - thanks for the replies. Interesting - so this fellow is not the only one who has done that. Well, maybe I'll give it a go and see how it works out in my particular Enfield.
John (Rifleshot)

 

[bearhunter]

If you're a little worried, you could always get some Dacron fibre from the fabric shop and cut up little bits of it to stuff in over the powder to keep it from being to far away from the primer flame. Not that I think there might be a problem but it better to be safe than sorry and lower your chances of a "Squib Load." It might also make the groups a bit tighter and more consistent.

 

[CanAm]

I do exactly the same.

Make sure to use a forster or collet puller

 

[hunter64]

I do exactly the same.

Make sure to use a forster or collet puller

I run them thru a 7.62 x 39 seating die first, just enough to break the lacquered seal they put on the bullet, makes pulling them much easier.