I recently bought some Hornady 174g .312 round nosed bullets for my Enfield. After loading 5 rounds and checking to see if they feed and chamber correctly I discovered that they wont feed through the rifle. The round nose hangs up on the feed path. Is this typical or am I doing somthing wrong?
Round nose bullets in a Lee Enfield
- Thread starter lorne19
- Start date
I just bought a box of the 174gr Hornady's and haven't tried any yet but I have been using Speer Hot-Cor 180gr bullets and haven't had issues yet. They have no crimp groove and I don't have my OAL handy but I'm seating around 1/3 of the bullets length. I've fired around 30 of the Speer round nose bullets and haven't had any jams or misfeeds.
I bought a box of 2400 of the 174RNs and have used them in a number of #4 Lee Enfields. I suggest you load some long, test them, and then seat them deeper and deeper until they feed ok. Mine are loaded at 2.950", just about the same length i laod the pointy bullets.
Sounds a bit odd. My JC and Nº4 seem to feed them OK. OTOH, my P-14 really doesn't like them and I haven't found a way to make them feed in that
Stuart
The Hornady 174gr round nose is my favourite bullet for my rifles in .303British and my reloads with these bullets feed or have fed properly in two No.5s and three No.4s I own or have owned. That suggests the problem is either with the way you make them or that one rifle (magazine), so you should be able to fix it.
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
I've been using that bullet for years in several Lee Enfields, #3's and #4's, as well as the old Ross rifle. I've never had an issue. Very effective on game BTW.
as mentioned above, this could be a magazine issue.
as mentioned above, this could be a magazine issue.
I have been using that bullet for years in 5 different Enfields with no trouble at all. Actually, I have used Remington 180gn PSP, and Sierra 180 gn RN as well with no problems either. You might also try to ease the feed ramp angle a bit. Had a 'smith back in NS who had done that to a couple of rifle.
- Location
- Somewhere on the Hudson Bay Coast
Back in the stone-age I discovered that round nose bullets could have feeding issues in some rifles. I had similar issues with Remington's factory 180 gr scalloped round nose Kore-Lokt loads. As often as not, coming off the right side of the feed ramp, when loading with the cartridge high right in the magazine, the exposed lead would bite into the port (left) side edge of the entrance of the chamber. When the cartridge was in the left high position of the magazine, it tended to feed straight in. The original 215 gr bullet had a longer ogive then its lighter counterparts, as did CIL's 215 gr KKSP, which probably accounts for the difference in feeding. I don't know if there's much to be done if you already seat the bullet to the cannelure; there isn't enough shank below that to seat the bullet out. My solution at the time was to switch to a pointed bullet, and after that to a .30/06.
Round nose in lee
AS Jeff points out, 215gr. i was shooting several old boxes of PETERS 215 with no trouble. when i used my SAVAGE (enfield)#4 mk3* i shot 180 gr. remington round coreloks. never had any trouble. you will have to find what YOUR enfield likes.
AS Jeff points out, 215gr. i was shooting several old boxes of PETERS 215 with no trouble. when i used my SAVAGE (enfield)#4 mk3* i shot 180 gr. remington round coreloks. never had any trouble. you will have to find what YOUR enfield likes.
Northman999
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Yukon
Yup.
IMO feeding problems on Lee Enfields are about 99% mag related.
That's the thing about LE mags; they can be both a blessing and a curse. Relatively easy to adjust if there is a problem, but much more prone to having such problems than most of it's contemporaries...
Buckbrush "Ganderite, 2400? C.I.L. closeout perhaps?"
No. The manufactures sell in large brown boxes to ammo loading companies. I was the technical director of an ammo company and added my needs to company orders. We used to buy bullets by the ton. (50,000 at a time.) And powder 1,300 pounds at a time, cause that is all my pickup would hold. Powder came in 20 kg drums.
No. The manufactures sell in large brown boxes to ammo loading companies. I was the technical director of an ammo company and added my needs to company orders. We used to buy bullets by the ton. (50,000 at a time.) And powder 1,300 pounds at a time, cause that is all my pickup would hold. Powder came in 20 kg drums.
