.303 Pygmy

[JeffinNZ]

Hi all.

Today I collected a rifle from a senior shooting friend on 'apro' to see if I like it enough to purchase.

The rifle is 'MLE' or Magazine Lee Enfied (pre SMLE) actioned with 'agricultural' woodwork and chambered for a wildcat the owner came up with for shooting light target loads with 100% load density. He called it the .303 Pygmy. Below pictured with full size .303 British and a CBE 314 220 GC bullet in both.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Shooting%20stuff/303Pygmy.jpg

The case is 1.5 inches long, 0.43 at the neck, 0.9 in the body (from in front of rim) and has a 0.45 inch long neck for cast bullets especially. Case capacity to the base of the neck is 23.5gr of H4227 and 26.0gr of W748.

Really dinky wee round and I think it would be great for a young shooter or just plain fun for cast bullets.

Barrel is a 2 groove and is still being cleaned as I type by my electrical bore cleaning buddy. Will slug it later. Derek thought it was on the big side for .303 IE: .315 but that's no drama as I will find a bullet to fit if I don't have one.

Don't really need another project but it's just too dang cute.

[gunoholic]

hi jeff (tcbk)? i like the look of that. hope you have fun with it.
will we be reading about it in nz guns?
hi from the top of the south.

[JeffinNZ]

Good spotting my man. Yes, TCBK here. Will write up if settlement goes through.

Bore is .303, groove a rather stout .317.

Shooting on Monday all going well.

[lar45]

Looks like a variation on the 30 Herrett, it should be loads of fun. Do you have any load data for it? If you could measure the case water capacity, I'd be happy to punch some numbers into Quickload if you want.
I looked up the 30 Herrett and it shows a water capacity of 36 gns. I put in a 220gn bullet that is 1.27" long and a seat deapth of .45"(guessing on seating to the base of the neck). this showed a 103% load density with 23.5gns H4227, the predicted velocity from a 20" barrel was around 2050fps at 80,000 psi!
COTW shows some light bullets for the 30 Herrett with a 125sp loaded with 23gns IMR4227 for 2205fps(didn't say how long of barrel).(Quickload shows that to be around 43,000 psi)
For the 220gn bullet and H4227: 20" bbl:
17gns, 1620fps @ 32ksi
18gns, 1690fps @ 38ksi
19gns, 1760fps @ 43ksi
20gns, 1826fps @ 50ksi
FWIW

[Buckshot]

..................Looks like a rimmed 7.62x39 with a longer neck. The body may be a wee bit shorter? You mentioned 26.0grs of W748, and in the 7.62x39 I can 'just' fit in 28.0 surp 4895. So the extruded 4895 vs the ball W748 makes me think probably 24.0grs of 4895 would fit?

You should get in on the Fatter 30 GB going on right now. Spec'd to drop a .318" at about 180 grs or so. In any respects it's a quaint looking little cartridge and should be a lot of fun to work with.

.............Buckshot

[JeffinNZ]

LAR45: Many thanks. Will measure water and let you know. I only quote the H4227 as it was on the bench when I wanted an idea of what the case could hold. I have loaded a 175gr cast over 20 of W748 for a trial load similar to what the owner has used. Bullet is "as cast" at .317 in air cooled WW so should do OK.

BUCKSHOT: Good spotting. Yes, the owner said that he wouldn't have bothered going to the effort if the 7.62X39 had been around in the late 70's when he did this. Really only started seeing in NZ in the late 80's early 90's. The long neck is very good though.

Of course he used .303 British as they are two a penny here. My gunsmith has a 5 gallon bucket full of MLE/SMLE actions under his bench.

[castalott]

Hi Jeff! I bet that is fun to shoot....fun to 'accidentally' drop an empty at the local clubhouse....it makes you smile just to say it's name...


You might want to tell the guys the wife didn't check your pockets before washing and she ruined a perfectly good .303 by shrinking it!


Have fun Jeff....let us know how you like it..

[JeffinNZ]

You might want to tell the guys the wife didn't check your pockets before washing and she ruined a perfectly good .303 by shrinking it!.

Now THAT's funny!

[Bigjohn]

Jeff,
Interesting package, the sort of idea I like for shooting CBs, 100% load. I know many people who would try to talk someone out of making up a project like that because it's too specialised.

I really do not know if using the 7.62x39 cartridge would have been any improvement over the preformance of this cartridge. In other words, he may have got it right first time.

Please keep us informed,

John

[Bigjohn]

I 'punched' the figures into RCBS Load's Case designer and according to the print out the case should hold between 32 and 33 grs of water.

There are still some interesting items floating out there amongst the retired and retiring shooters.

I recently acquired some equipment for the estate of a former shooter/home gunsmith. He made case forming dies etc and barrels to suit the Martini actions. I have two here, one in .256 Win. Mag. and an unknown .30 cal in a former .303 barrel both fit the Cadet action.

Several others passed through my hands to other people including a .410 gauge Martini Enfield barrel. .22/310 Cadet.

I find the work these people have done very interesting in light of the era they lived in. I have not yet fully explored the 'goodies' I acquired but hope to document there details.

John.

[Four Fingers of Death]

That looks like the barrel has just been shortened and re-threaded to avoid reaming. Is that the case?