303 british

[Lethemgo]

Picked up a type 1 mk 3* from 1918. Going to reload some jacketed bullets to get her going and eventually move over to cast boolits. Got some loaded rounds from my buddy and some fired brass. Not set up with dies and all but plan to just neck size with a lee collet once I've fired in my gun. Did borrow some rcbs dies and going to full length resized fired brass from buddy for the first time and neck size from then until notice a need to bump back shoulder. This is all new to me and will be learning in the process. Just like to run stuff by the minds here and see what knowledge I can squeeze from learned minds.

[Scharfschuetze]

The usual proviso with Lee Enfields is to watch for case separation at the web of the case if you set the shoulder back too often. The shoulder in the rifle's chamber is usually farther forward than the shoulder in the sizing die so neck sizing is recommended and it looks like you already have that in the schedule for your rifle.

Before you use cast bullets, make sure the bullet is on the large side for a .31 calibre rifle. LE bores are all over the map for diameter. .314" is a good place to start, but I have a Lithgow No 1 MK III* that likes a .316" diameter bullet. SR 4759, 4198 or 3031 powders all work well in the 303 British.

My best jacketed loads have used the Sierra .311" 180 grain spire point hunting bullet when used for 4895 powder.

[leebuilder]

Make up a gizmo out of wire to check your casings. By that I mean a small hook like end to feel if there is separation, the shiny band at the base isn't always a prelude to separation, it varies from manufacturers. If you feel a divit in the case it's near done. If you compare a fired case to an unfired case you will get an idea what kind of chamber you have as the barrel may be a replacement.
I like .312 j things, 174gr and up 4895 or H335. For 150gr, 4831 or re 22.
My cast Boolits are all .314 and over the lee 185 is a great boolit to start with.
Be safe

[Outpost75]

The Hornady 174-grain round-nose .312" softpoint is a good game bullet in the .303. So is the 180-grain Speer.

While the Sierra bullet might be the better grouper in some rifles, it utterly failed me on moose. An OK "deer" bullet.

If GAME performance is the objective, I would prefer the Hornady or Speer bullets on anything larger than Eastern Whitetails... IMR4064, RL15 or Varget were the best powders to match the factory 2440 fps velocity. IMR4895 started giving me hard bolt opening above 2300 fps.

Absolutely you want to neck size only if you want brass to last.

If your barrel and origin of rifling are not terribly worn the 123-grain .311" bullets intended for the 7.62x39 work well in some rifles, but not all. Speer No.13 and later handbooks have data for loading these.

As for cast bullets I've had best results with the NOE clone of #314299 cast 50-50 wheelweights and linotype, sized .315" with Hornady gascheck, 50-50 Alox-beeswax and 30 grains of either 4064, RL15 or Varget with 1.0 grain Dacron fill.

[Texas by God]

Lethemgo- we are in the same boat. I got a pitted outside/beautiful inside BSA 1916 bubba recently.I'd like to know- what size Gas checks are used for .31 caliber boolits?
I'm going to do the ball seat/throat cast that I learned about here when I can. I have some Sierra 180s loaded from a previous .303 that are first up.
Best, Thomas.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

CBE has a good range of moulds particularly the 314.190 or 314.220

http://www.castbulletengineering.com...fle/31-calibre

[Outpost75]

... I'd like to know- what size Gas checks are used for .31 caliber boolits?...Best, Thomas.

Hornady .30s work fine.

[missionary5155]

Greetings Lethemgo
Interesting Handle ! Before I full length resized I would try those brass in your chamber. You may have a large enough chamber you only need to neck size to start with.
Would not be our first to know of another fat chambered Enfield.
Mike in Peru

[Texas by God]

Hornady .30s work fine.

Sweet. I have those already!

[curator]

There are some "stickies" on cast in the .303 british rifle. Fire-forming the brass with zero headspace and neck sizing will help significantly with case life. Using range pickup and once fired commercial brass pretty much limits case life to 4 or 5 reloadings with most Lee Enfields. Steve Regwell's website (303british.com) has lots of good information from a retired Lee Enfield Armourer. Also on his site an article expressly on cast bullets: http://www.303british.com/id37.html

Hornady .312/174 round nose flat base condumb bullet is far and away the most accurate jacketed slug in most Lee Enfields due to its diameter (.312) and its ability to obturate into oversize bores. Some LEs will shoot the typical .310 diameter boat-tails that other bullet manufacturers sell, but most will not shoot them accurately.

[higgins]

As mentioned above, first try the fired brass in your rifle to see if it will chamber without FL sizing - no need to overwork the brass from the beginning.

When you FL size, do not screw the die down to the shellholder (and even a little more) as is often recommended for bottleneck cases. Find a case that will not chamber in your rifle. Start with the FL die out further than normal, and turn it down about a quarter turn at a time until the sized case will just barely fit in your chamber without forcing the bolt handle; when you get there you will know it. Then lock down the die.

[longbow]

My experience so far with 5 Lee Enfields:

- all mine like 0.315" boolits and all run about 0.314" groove with one slightly tighter
- My guns shot military surplus ammunition fairly well. I bought some Federal factory rounds that did not shoot well at all so I tried pulling bullets then knurling and re-seating. That tightened up groups a bunch. Not sure why milsurp ammo worked reasonably well but Federal ammo not so much.
- Regular dies size the neck too much since they are set to size for 0.311"/0.312" boolits where I am using 0.315" boolits. This tight neck was sizing boolits down and working brass so, first I made a 0.313" expander button which solved the tight neck sizing the boolit then moved on to a Lee Collet Die and made a mandrel of 0.313" which solved the working the brass too much, then found that you don't actually need a mandrel... but I still use mine
- NOE 314299 or NOE 316299 shoots well in all my guns. CBE also has a variety of moulds for .303 as Bad *** Wallace mentioned. Lee Enfields tend to like fat boolits! And yes, they also tend to have fat chambers.
- a fun boolit to shoot is the Mihec 316410 130 gr. HP. My mould is PB but I can push them fast enough to vapourize a gallon milk jug of water at 50 yards. They don't feed well but single loaded they do shoot well.
- regular .30 cal gas checks work fine but I made my own gas check maker and use those, they are sized by my 0.315" sizer.
- When I pushed velocity much beyond medium velocity loads I was getting skidding in the rifling so had to oven heat treat boolits to solve that. Light to moderate loads work fine with ACWW.

Longbow

[Lethemgo]

I tried to chamber some of the fired brass but not all. Some seemed fine but a couple were harder to close and open bolt. Probably will try them all and see which ones are harder closing. Or do you think it's better just to resize them all first until fired in my rifle. What would be the best for the first firing. So now I'll purchase the collet die and probably a mold. Also need a rear sling swivel that is missing. All matching serial numbers just missing the swivel. I know guys like pics so I'll get some up I know I like to see other guns and what guys find.

[longbow]

I would resize them but only until they just fit. No point in working the brass any more than necessary.

Also, probably best to anneal the necks and shoulders before resizing then fireform to your chamber. After that just neck size until they are hard to chamber.

[EDG]

Lessons for shooting the .303 Lee Enfield

1. US made brass is much smaller than the Lee Enfield chambers at the head.
The chambers run about .460 at the big end just ahead of the rim. US made FC, RP and WW brass all measure .450 to .452 so you get a minimum of .008 diametral stretch on the first firing. If you FL size the head back you will have head separations in 1 to 4 reloadings.

2. US made brass and ammo is short at the shoulder by as much as .060" resulting in the case shoulder being blown forward when fired. If you push the shoulder back on fired brass you speed up the rate of case head separations.

The US SAAMI drawings for the .303 Brit round follow us civilian manufacturing practice. Only a few us made commercial rifles were ever chambered for the .303 British and they were all manufactured before WW1. British military manufacturing practice resulted in chambers way larger than necessary for civilian use.

3. Recommended brass - Use only Prvi Partisan - PPU brass. The PPU brass measures .454 to .455 at the head. PPU brass is also much longer to the shoulder and this reduces stretching significantly. If you have the means, make a die to hydroform the PPU brass shoulder forward so you can set the shoulder for the first shot with your reloading die. This will also cut down on case stretching.
To provide more uniform distribution of the case stretching wrap the case head with one full wrap of Scotch tape. The uniformly wrapped tape will make sure the case head is in the center of the chamber so the stretching in front of the rim is uniformly distributed.

You can avoid all of this and just shoot your rifle normally. You will have separated or partly separated brass in one to 4 reloads. Neck sizing will extend case life some.

[Lethemgo]

Looking at the brass I have most of it is hxp. Greek my buddy told me he bought it years ago still has a stash to shoot I'll have to talk he out of some. So what he gave me is once fired. Quite a few normas in there and the rest is mixed rp win fg rem and they do all measure .452. The hxp and norma both measure .454

[W.R.Buchanan]

I'll second the PPU brass idea. Try SGA Ammo in Oklahoma.

Randy

[303Guy]

I have cases that have been reloaded countless times. I lose mine to the long grass - never to head separation. But then I do something unusual. A trick my armour cum gunsmith uncle told me about. I don't dry my cases. I leave a little lube on them. In fact, I deliberately lube them. Not too much mind you. The cases still need to grip the chamber walls but they also need to progressively elongate from the shoulder back to the web. If not, the web gives way and that's when head separation occurs after two to four firings. I also don't load to near max.

I also found I got better accuracy this way by keeping case to chamber wall grip more consistent - or at least that was the hypothesis. Something improved accuracy.

On PPU cases - I don't seem to get those dreaded 'doughnuts' with them. Those and PMP cases.

[am44mag]

The usual proviso with Lee Enfields is to watch for case separation at the web of the case if you set the shoulder back too often. The shoulder in the rifle's chamber is usually farther forward than the shoulder in the sizing die so neck sizing is recommended and it looks like you already have that in the schedule for your rifle.

Before you use cast bullets, make sure the bullet is on the large side for a .31 calibre rifle. LE bores are all over the map for diameter. .314" is a good place to start, but I have a Lithgow No 1 MK III* that likes a .316" diameter bullet. SR 4759, 4198 or 3031 powders all work well in the 303 British.

My best jacketed loads have used the Sierra .311" 180 grain spire point hunting bullet when used for 4895 powder.

Out of curiosity, what bullet are you using to get .316"? I have an Arisaka Type 99 that likes the same thing. I've been sizing down .324" bullets to get mine shooting.

[EDG]

I agree with you on slightly lubed cases. I just don't mention it here because some ".303 Brit know it all" will have a hissy fit claiming it over loads the locking lugs etc etc. The truth is if your rifle action has to depend on the friction of the case in the chamber to remain in safe working condition you better hang the rifle on the wall. Advocating using the case body as a mechanical brake is a joke.
If you want your cases to last a long time polish the chamber to be very smooth and use a little lube on your cases. Now I expect someone to flip out and say that will overload or damage the Lee Enfield action. Considering that most Lee Enfields get cleaned and put away standing up most will have some oil or lube in the chamber left from the cleaning process. This lube and wet ammo in rifles fired in the rain constitute same kind of lubricated cases. If your rifle cannot handle it you should hang it up. For the last 25 years or so I have always applied a light film of oil on new brass that I am fire forming. This lets it slide in the chamber more easily rather than stretching. This oiling and precision case forming results in 100% yields and long case life. I have done this with close to 2 dozen rifles and I have never harmed a single one of them.
If any one thinks this is a real problem should look at the Japanese Nambu Type 96 6.5 and the Dutch 6.5 Schwarlose machine guns since they have cartridge oiling system built into the guns.

I have cases that have been reloaded countless times. I lose mine to the long grass - never to head separation. But then I do something unusual. A trick my armour cum gunsmith uncle told me about. I don't dry my cases. I leave a little lube on them. In fact, I deliberately lube them. Not too much mind you. The cases still need to grip the chamber walls but they also need to progressively elongate from the shoulder back to the web. If not, the web gives way and that's when head separation occurs after two to four firings. I also don't load to near max.

I also found I got better accuracy this way by keeping case to chamber wall grip more consistent - or at least that was the hypothesis. Something improved accuracy.

On PPU cases - I don't seem to get those dreaded 'doughnuts' with them. Those and PMP cases.