303 Brit with light boolets

[leadman]

I haven't tried the Lee 160gr TL boolit in my Enfield but have used it in my 1891 Argentine Mauser and Mosin Nagants. In the Argentine Mausers it shoots very well with 12 grs of Unique. In the MN I use 20 or 21 grs of Alliant MP300.
In the very worn or corroded barrels a 1 gr tuft of poly-fil helps with accuracy. I have an old 1917 Enfield 30-06 that takes .315" boolits but you can barely hit a 4' 100 yard target without the poly-fil. About 4" to 6" with the poly-fil.
I have a Savage Enfield that is pretty worn and a very good condition #4 MKII I will have to break out soon and play with.

[bruce drake]

When I first started reloading for my Enfield #4, I was using .312" Hornady 100gr and 85gr hollowpoints over 11gr of Red Dot for plinking and rabbit loads, I learned that 1) those hollowpoint pistol bullets were very accurate out to 50 yards and also very destructive to rabbits and other small game. But in the L-E's magazine, I had to seat the bullets out far enough for the cartridge to stay in the magazine and yet I still I had a jump to get to the rifling in that rifle.

[Outpost75]

Coming late to the party here.

Gallery and small game bullet I have used with good success in 7.62x54R and several .303s is 31-134D from Accurate with 6 grains of Bullseye, TiteGroup or WST:

Attachment 246779

[303Guy]

Intuition tells me that should be a good boolit for a LE. I have been thinking about just such a geometry. I've had silly accuracy with a short paper patched boolit that would come close to that shape. I had no problem with the magazine. Boolit weight was something like 141gr or 147gr.

I'm planning on reproducing the boolit without the patch although the patch does make for easy seating in an unsized neck. The idea is to have the fat nose seating into the throat taper while the neck hold the boolit in line with the bore. While it's quite quick and easy to patch the boolits, it's a lot quicker and easier to shoot 'em plain cast. Not sure I'll get the same results though - only one way to find out. I should add, the patch stays on with these light loads.

[gpidaho]

I'm pretty late to this party myself but, I have used the Lee TL314-90-SWC powder coated to get all the girth I can in my 303. . It works great in most 30cals. over a small amount of TiteGroup. Gp

[Alferd Packer]

If you really want to shoot lite loads, try shooting buckshot round ball loads. They can be coated with LEE liquid alox and left to dry on wax paper overnite.
Size the ball to .314 and load over 3 grains of Bullseye or 4 grains of Unique.
Lacking a sizing die you can just force one into the case neck pushing in with a piece of wood.
Any lead that is shaved off won't hurt a thing.
Just wipe it off with a rag , chamber the round and shoot.
The remaining alox on the ball will be enough to protect from leading the bore.
If you can't locate any buckshot or round ball, then get some 32 caliber pistol bullets of the lead variety. You can lube them the same as the round ball using the LEE liquid alox.
You can also use Crisco cooking shortening to grease the lead bullets as well.
Always push a greased patch back and forth thru the bore to lightly lube it before shooting the lead bullets.
This will help prevent leading and keep the fouling soft and easy to clean out.
Never shoot lead bullets thru a clean dry bore.
Always get it lightly lubed first.
Any lead pistol bullets from 77 grains, 85, 90, 100, 115, to 120 grains will work just fine. If you want to flare the case neck a touch, you can use a pair of needle nose pliers, or if you have a .223 case, you can tap it in the case neck lightly to flare it.
Accuracy good to 50 yards anyway.
Load 150 grain lead bullets over
7 grains of Unique to shoot 100 yards.
You should find the article by Ed Harris on here
A ton of info there for you.
.

[303Guy]

The thing with round balls that worries me is that jump from the neck into the throat. But then again, being round, they might just align and go on their way quite fine. Can one patch them into the neck? If they were small enough?

[PositiveCaster]

Late to the party as well, the OP originally asked for loads with bullets under 200 grains. I load the Lee 185, tumbled in Lee alox over 12.0 grains of W231. Never chronographed it, but it groups in 2-2.5 moa out of my MkIII Lithgow Enfield.




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[303Guy]

I might have one or two Lithgows. Two actually but one is chambered in 25/303.

[Alferd Packer]

Don't forget those hot glue bullets that are primer powered.
They are fun loads too.
They can have a bit of lead added and a grain of Bullseye or any fast powder and used for small game when they are cast using your larger size bullet
mould.
Directions for use are in a large thread elsewhere on here.