Lee enfield No4 MK1 F cast bullet need info and help

[84mmcarl-gustav]

Lee enfield No4 MK1 F cast bullet need info and help
Hi,got lee enfield no4 mk1 F 5 groove barrel,rifling is very good,shoot around 4 inches at 100 m(manufactured).Now tried cast,slug the barrel,i found .314,and i used Lee mold MOLD DC C312-185-1R
unique powder ,got 6-8 inches all over.so i get an other mold Lyman 314299 200 gr with 13 gr of unique,barrel was clean very good(cooper removal-lead).At 50 m hit target no grooping few keyhole.....After slug barrel again my reading was .315.LYMAN MOLD CAST AT .313.I made new bullet beagling bullet molds to .316 but bullet noze is bigger .303.
Now am ready to test again,I would like to know about the powder choice for 5 groove rifling,in the lyman book is a 2 groove rifle they used.Is the powder (unique)do not stabilized the bullet enought, thank for you helphttp://www.milsurps.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[kungfustyle]

Hello,
I had the same measurements with my smle and bought the 314299 from NOE. http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=31_278&osCsid=36s82lua2iebbem1nuvj3gndv6
I had about a 2 inch group at 100 yards using H4895 powder. Worked great. I have that same Lee mold and it works well with my Mosin, you can lap the mold and get it a touch bigger or just powder coat the boolits that you have. That should add about .001 or .002 to the boolit. It will shoot just got to make it a touch bigger. Are you stepping the powder charges to find the combination that your gun likes?

[84mmcarl-gustav]

Hi,yes am stepping down the powder,and i will tried powder coating as well,its qettin an obsetion,to make it shoot accurated,.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I don't want to insult your intelligence, but in slug from a five-groove barrel nothing is exactly the groove diameter or exactly the land diameter. You wouldn't be measuring the land-to-groove diameter? Some No4s (specially, I believe the earlier ones) are over .314in. A good way of getting a pretty useful indication of the bullet diameter needed is to drill or ream 5/16in. and 8mm. holes in a piece of metal to make a simple gauge, and check them with a reloading caliper.

[Outpost75]

If you have a thread micrometer or 120-degree V-block and measure your 5-groove slug, you will probably find it closer to .316" than .314". Try wrapping the slug with bond paper, measuring over the paper and subtracting twice the paper thickness to get a better idea.

I use the NOE clone of #314299 sized .315 with 30 grs. of RL15 in my No.4

[longbow]

I size to suit the throat and all my Lee Enfields (3 No. 5's and 2 No. 4's) are all happy with 0.315" boolts. Best I can measure, groove diameter is 0.314' but the largest part of the throat is a hair over 0.315" and a 0.315" boolit just fits in.

I started out much the same as you with reasonable groups from surplus military ammunition but very poor groups using the Lyman 314299 which cast at 0.312"/0.313". I lapped it out to cast at 0.315" which improved groups dramatically.

Later I bought an NOE 316299 which casts just a hair under 0.316" with wheelweights. I gas check and size to 0.315" and get good accuracy with them.

Also, I found that if I push velocity much I get some skidding in the bore so wound up oven heat treating to produce harder boolits. Not really a problem with light to moderate loads.

I use 18 to 22 grs. IMR4227 under the NOE 316299 boolit at 200 grs. which works well for me. I have tried Unique at 10 to 13 grs. with fairly good results but mostly use IMR4227.

I would try slugging the throat then lapping out the Lee mould to cast a boolit that suits the throat diameter. It is pretty easy to take 0.003" or so out of an aluminum mould. If that works then you know what diameter cast boolit you need for your gun.

Another option to consider is paper patched boolits. NOE has moulds for casting 0.303" boolits to suit Lee Enfields. These can be patched up to suit your gun's needs.

Longbow

[Scharfschuetze]

I also use the Lyman 314299 or the NOE 316299 moulds depending on the diameter of the Lee Enfield I'm loading for. It is a good design for any of the military 31 calibre rifles.

Powder for the 303 is pretty easy and I've always used SR 4759. Unfortunately, it is now out of production, so if you don't have a stock already laid in, you'll need to find another powder. IMR 4198 has a similar burn rate and will work well in the 303 British as will just about any mid burn level powder like the IMR powders: 3031, 4895 or even 4064. I've never tried 4227 or 2400 in the case, but they should also work well as pointed out in posts above. It's a very versatile case and accepts a wide variety of bullet designs and powders.

[runfiverun]

NOE makes a 316299 mold for a reason.

[84mmcarl-gustav]

Hi,did made a jig with O reamer(.316),and the slug i made earlier almost pass throw the jig so its around .3155.

[enfield]

Try the nose of the 314299 in the muzzle of you L.E. if it fits loose ( the bore riding section of the bullet ) then don't expect it to shoot very well. the 316299 from NOE is a better fit for most of mine.

[84mmcarl-gustav]

I made new bullet beagling 1 layer alum tape on the bullet molds (Lyman 314229) and than i sized to .316 now am getting 1 inches at 50m,for my rifle i will need a .316 NOE mold ,thanks for your input