The No.4 Mk2's are the later ones that are easy to tell by looking at the stock bolt at the end of the fore-stock just in front of the wrist, it will be a small bolt that is adjustable and removable with a screwdriver while the No.4 Mk1's will have a riveted metal clamp in the same place. Also the Mk2's have the trigger mounted to the receiver instead of the trigger guard like the Mk1's do.
Who has slugged their .303?
- Thread starter migrant hunter
- Start date
Quick and easy way to tell Mk1 from Mk2 is pull trigger guard off. If trigger is pinned to trigger guard, its a Mk1, if its pinned to the receiver , then its a Mk2.
Paid $165 for my #4. can you rebarrel for that ?
Ken
Paid $165 for my #4. can you rebarrel for that ?
Ken
migrant hunter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Alberta
It's a mk1 then, thanks, at least I learned something. I have load development to do for a bunch of other guns, so I'll keep an eye out for a mk 2 sometime in the future.
Had a 2 groove long branch that I couldn't shoot cast bullets in at all. They just keyholed. I tried cream of wheat filler in the cast and that helped but it was hard on the brass. It shot jacketed bullets fine though. I never got to slug the barrel. Maybe 2 grooves aren't the best for cast.
...my no 1 is .312 on the grooves (5 - enfield mfg.)...my no. 4 is .314 on the grooves (2 - long branch mfg.)...no. 1 is more accurate than no. 4...tried 3 copper and 2 cast bullets with 5 types of powder/loads...about 2.5" at 100 yards for both...
...also shot some .308's out of it but with poor results as expected...
...le's vary widely in their bore size...
...i cerrosafe mine (stuff never wears out)...makes more sense than pounding a piece of lead into my muzzle...er that's my gun's muzzle!
Lee Enfield's are like Mosin Nagant's, their bores vary by a huge margin over .308 to .317 or more. I have found that some of the Pakistan made Lee Enfields No.4 Mk2's have very tight bores around .3095 on average, also had and seen Savage made Mk1's and late British Enfields with tight bores.
I've slugged all of my milsurps... mainly out of curiosity.
My 5 groove No4Mk1 (1948 faz) is .3115 at the grooves.
My Winchester P-14 is also .3115, and my ERA P-14 is .315. Both shoot about the same.
Like the others have said, use a flat based bullet.
My 5 groove No4Mk1 (1948 faz) is .3115 at the grooves.
My Winchester P-14 is also .3115, and my ERA P-14 is .315. Both shoot about the same.
Like the others have said, use a flat based bullet.
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
mine is .315" in the grooves(I did not measure the lands as I don't really care about that part for what I need) I shoot a .316" cast bullet you can get a custom mold cut oversize if needed from places like cast bullet engineering or you can get any production(lee,lyman,rcbs) molds driving bands cut over size from hollowpointmolds.com .002" larger then you groove diameter is what's recommended
- Location
- Sadly south of highway 40
I slugged my No.4 Mk.1 and it's slugs at .313
bdft
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Because, theoretically, the bore diameter between the lands is supposed to be .303. The diameter to the depth of the grooves varies as has been previously stated to .318 and beyond. No reason why a .311 bullet wouldn't grab .308 lands unless you hand a really hot load.
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
id much rather just use a proper sized grease groove bullet it is a lot faster
I looked up the chamber casting and would prefer to use a lead slug.... only I can't seem to find where to buy one! Any suggestions?
antiqueguy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- windsor ontario
lead round balls work well find one oversize for your bore(something slightly over .320" will work)
Where do I find the balls though I've searched several sites.
To answer your question here's my 303 bore slugs, just did them a few weeks ago.
1915 Ross MKIII- .311"
1900 MLE -.314"
1916 No.1 Mk3*- .315"
P14- .312"
1942 no4 mk1 AGP target rifle .311"
I shoot almost exclusively cast bullets. I'm shooting Lee cast 180 grain bullets out of the .311" bore rifles sized to .312" which is 1 thousand over bore diameter. Accuracy is amazing. The rest shoot jacketed well but tumble cast sized to .312".
The MLE and no1 both shoot .315" bullets well.
Now all of the above stated I can solve your problem quite easily.
First off buy a lee 170 grain .323" mould and some .32 cal gaschecks made for 8x57. Then buy a lee sizing die slightly smaller like say a common .314". If you can find one slightly larger then .314" that's even better like one for 8x57 .318 bored rifles.
Now if your bore slugs at .318" then first try to size them to .318".
Now here's how I do it. I use a 8-10" piece of 1/4" wooden dowel and wrap it with some 180 grit sandpaper. Then take your sizing die and remove the lock nut. Next insert the sandpaper wrapped dowel through the center of the sizing die. Next role it like a rolling pin on a benchtop or something similar.
The rolling action will sand the sizing portion of the die and slowly open it up.
After a few mins run a .323 bullet through the die and measure it. Keep sanding until your die is opened up to the right size. After awhile they will size to .318", when you hit that point gas check some and load them up.if they don't shoot with amazing accuracy or lead then increase the size to .319".
Only issue I see with the large bullets is you may have an issue with the throat size of the barrel and also trying to seat the bullets into your resized brass maybe tough.
If your brass is being sized too tight for the large bullets then a flaring die may be in order. If you don't have a flaring die then try a tapered punch, dies the trick for me.
Sounds like a bunch of work but I've done it for oddball calibers and now have made my custom sizing dies for cheap cheap. Took me about an hour to open up the last die about .020" which is quite a lot.
1915 Ross MKIII- .311"
1900 MLE -.314"
1916 No.1 Mk3*- .315"
P14- .312"
1942 no4 mk1 AGP target rifle .311"
I shoot almost exclusively cast bullets. I'm shooting Lee cast 180 grain bullets out of the .311" bore rifles sized to .312" which is 1 thousand over bore diameter. Accuracy is amazing. The rest shoot jacketed well but tumble cast sized to .312".
The MLE and no1 both shoot .315" bullets well.
Now all of the above stated I can solve your problem quite easily.
First off buy a lee 170 grain .323" mould and some .32 cal gaschecks made for 8x57. Then buy a lee sizing die slightly smaller like say a common .314". If you can find one slightly larger then .314" that's even better like one for 8x57 .318 bored rifles.
Now if your bore slugs at .318" then first try to size them to .318".
Now here's how I do it. I use a 8-10" piece of 1/4" wooden dowel and wrap it with some 180 grit sandpaper. Then take your sizing die and remove the lock nut. Next insert the sandpaper wrapped dowel through the center of the sizing die. Next role it like a rolling pin on a benchtop or something similar.
The rolling action will sand the sizing portion of the die and slowly open it up.
After a few mins run a .323 bullet through the die and measure it. Keep sanding until your die is opened up to the right size. After awhile they will size to .318", when you hit that point gas check some and load them up.if they don't shoot with amazing accuracy or lead then increase the size to .319".
Only issue I see with the large bullets is you may have an issue with the throat size of the barrel and also trying to seat the bullets into your resized brass maybe tough.
If your brass is being sized too tight for the large bullets then a flaring die may be in order. If you don't have a flaring die then try a tapered punch, dies the trick for me.
Sounds like a bunch of work but I've done it for oddball calibers and now have made my custom sizing dies for cheap cheap. Took me about an hour to open up the last die about .020" which is quite a lot.
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I never even thought of those! I have the standard cleaning rods you buy at bass pro.
My 2 groove is .305/320. Good with copper clad ammo but not so with cast. But 32 cal wadcutter's work great in it
