Light 303 load

[Jack Stanley]

Got some rain the other day which kept me inside so I spent the day in the dungeon fooling around . Found a mold I'd bought sometime back , a Lee six cavity marked 314-115 . I warmed it up with whatever mystery metal was in the pot and made a small pile of bullets .

They measured at .3145" or so and mostly round , they got two light coats of Ben's liquid lube and let dry well but no sizing at all .

The intent was to load them in my number one MkIII that has a groove diameter of .314" (ish) .

First try was a Lee powder scoop holding 6.6 grains of Bullseye . Seated to 2.610" using a Lee seating die , incidentally the Lee die was scraping off the lube from the front driving band . While all shots hit the black of a pistol target at thirty yards I was not impressed with the accuracy . One of the wise men I know suggested to turn down the powder charge a bit . OK , so I did .........................

Second try I did two charge weights 3.0 and 3.2 of Bullseye and failing to change only one thing at a time . I switched the seating die to a Redding and further sinned by seating the bullets to 2.560". Well forgive me or don't , it worked , The three grain load was larger than the 3.2 by enough to say that it would work for my needs .

The down side of the load is that it hits to the right of my heavy loads . Since I'm not going to bump the front sight back and forth , I'll have to just deal with it or wait for the donation of another rifle to the pile .

Maybe a good thing is , I have one of those Mosin zip guns that may like this bullets so all is not lost huh?

Oh and My thanks to the wise council of the frozen north

Jack

[Outpost75]

Jack,

Would love to know which bullet it was. I'm fortunate enough to have a tight-bore .303 which has a .313 groove diameter with .314 throat. I've been using the Accurate 31-134D sized .314" with 4 grains of Bullseye as a plinker and it has been splendid.

Attachment 202492

[Jack Stanley]

I think it was a group buy here from years back and I bought it used on the sale page . Looks for all the world like the thirty caliber 115 grain Lee makes , it just casts them at a touch over .314" is all .

Jack

[Kegcaissy]

I use the lee 90gr or an old ideal 115gr with the same kind of recipe and it's a fun plinking round a the range!

[Multigunner]

One thing to look out for if a .303 barrel has seen a great many rounds of milspec ammo is a build up of carbon and additive residues in the chamber neck.
This forms a hardened coating that reduces the internal diameter, and since its as shiny as steel its not discernable to the naked eye. This may cause no problems with standard often undersized bullets but when slightly larger diameter bullets are seated the neck may be too tight.

I had to make a scraper from a piece of brass tubing to clear out a mound of this stuff. When scraped out it looked like pencil lead shavings.
One might use a .32 cartridge case to make a serviceable scraper. File saw teeth in the open end and expand the mouth till its a tight fit, repeating the process as the coating is scraped away a bit at a time. You can tell by the feel when you reach bare steel and brass won't cut steel.

[Jack Stanley]

This rifle will easily chamber ammo using .318" bullets .

Jack

[Outpost75]

This rifle will easily chamber ammo using .318" bullets .

Jack

If THAT IS the case, try one of the .310 Cadet Greener heeled bullets with 3-4 grains of Bullseye!
http://www.castbulletengineering.com...-triple-cavity

Accurate makes one too and you can tweak diameters to fit chamber cast and fired case!
I use a .315" heel in fired, unsized case, with .320 stop ring in my Long Branch.
Attachment 202546

[LAGS]

I have often taken a chamber reamer and lightly turned it by hand to remove the chamber build up in LE's and MN's
On the MN's in perticular, it made the bolt opening after firing much easier.
I did not cut the chamber, but only got out the carbon that was causing the issues.
But I too realize that not everone has chamber reamers that they may need like I do.
But if you have a severe case of fouling, it may be prudent to rent or borrow a reamer.
As a back up, steel wool wrapped around a wooden dowel, spun on a drill motor will get a lot of it out.
This discussion for the LE Light Loads will also work in the MN's or 30-40's

[Texas by God]

If I can find it, I have (had) a Lee 314 tl 90swc mould that I want to try in my 1916 BSA with a little Bullseye or Red Dot. It worked in a 7.7 Arisaka I played with a few years ago.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Jack Stanley]

I doubt I'll get a mold special for this rifle . The LBT that drops a larger bullet works well as does and oversized Lyman 311299 . I just wanted to se of I could make the light weight bullets work cheaply . Adding a check doesn't make it cheap so I'll try the mold with the Mosin and go back to the heavies for the SMLE .

Jack

[Larry Gibson]

If you run across some Speer or Hornady swaged lead .32 cal HBWC pistol bullets they are a hoot over 3.2 gr BE. The Hornady 9o gr SWC swaged lead .32 cal bullets are even better as they will feed from the mag.

Lee's TL314-90-SWCs work for me also. With range scrap they drop at .316 from my mould. A light tumble in LLA, let dry and they are ready to shoot in my .303s.

[Scharfschuetze]

If you run across some Speer or Hornady swaged lead .32 cal HBWC pistol bullets they are a hoot over 3.2 gr BE. The Hornady 9o gr SWC swaged lead .32 cal bullets are even better as they will feed from the mag.

Lee's TL314-90-SWCs work for me also. With range scrap they drop at .316 from my mould. A light tumble in LLA, let dry and they are ready to shoot in my .303s.

I'll second that info on the swaged Hornady or Speer .32 cal bullets. They are also the cat's meow in my 30/40 Krag (.310" bore) too, particularly for rabbits and for youth shooters.

[wellfedirishman]

I have had excellent results and accuracy with Trailboss for reduced loads in 303 Brit and other military rifle cartridges, using 30 Cal cast bullets. Best accuracy was with heavier cast bullets 180-240 grains.

[Jack Stanley]

I was much less than impressed with Trail Boss when I tried it , not going back to it anytime soon .

Jack

[leebuilder]

Got the NOE 314 115 rg2 mold last week and managed to load up a few with lube and PCED a few.
Best so far
PCed and sized to .314 under 3.5 gr of red dot in an old savage two groove no4 mk1☆
Even found two heads the hollow point was undamaged after passing through 3/8 plywood and a bit of peat.
Gonna try them in a Mosin next.
Be well