cast for a 303 british

[rainyday]

a friend of mine has a 303 british and wants to start casting for it. the barrel has been slugged and measures .311 with a 5 grouve.

im looking for sujestions for what mold numbers to get. im thinking of a bullet weight of 150 to 170/174. maybe even as high as 180.
thanks

[rupe01]

This is just a quote, from one of our very experienced members, and i hope its OK to do this:

FYI; the cast bullet load data for the .303, the 7.65 Argentine, the 30-40, the 7.62×54R and the 7.7 Jap are pretty much interchangeable. What works in one works about the same in the others, all other things being equal.

Larry Gibson

Hope that helps you a bit. I have a 303 too but have been working away from home for way too long and havent developed loads for it yet. I hope Larry doesnt mind, but what he says carries weight.

[sagamore-one]

I also am going through the process of finding a decent mould for my #5 Jungle Carbine with a .312 x 303 bore. I found a handful of range brass and loaded them with 7 gr of Red Dot over a Lee 185 gr .312 boolit to fire form the brass. These dropped at .3135 and I ran them through a .314 sizer to seat the gascheck. Three 15 round groups at 25 yards averaged under 1.25 inches .Not bad for fire forming loads. I intend to refine my load with this boolit while I try to decide on a "better" mould.

[Maven]

"I'm looking for suggestions for what mold numbers to get. I'm thinking of a bullet weight of 150 to 170/174. maybe even as high as 180. Thanks!

rainyday, You should look up our member, JeffinNZ and ask(or PM) him this.

[longbow]

Not sure where you guys are getting such tight bored .303's. I have 5 Lee Enfields: three No. 5's and two No. 4's and all run about 0.314" groove diameter with 0.315"+ throats.

My boolits of choice are the NOE 316299 (202 grs.) and Mihec 316410 (130 grs.). Both cast just small enough at 0.315"+ from my alloy to fit my throat and so far both shoot quite well. I neck size only.

Both lighter and heavier than you are looking for and both fatter. You might get away with a standard .30 cal mould for 0.311". My Lyman 31141 (170 grs.) casts at just over 0.310" and is a great shooter in my .308". Light lapping or Beagling would make it fit 0.311" and maybe 0.312".

Anyway, that's all I've got, no other.30 cal moulds.

Longbow

[Old Ranger]

Try to find an older Ideal/Lyman 311299. I have a SC Ideal and a DC Lyman. Both cast at 314.5/315.- 314 sizer die just barely touches the bullet while lubing and seating gas checks. I use these bullets in several Lee Enfields, half a dozen Moisant Nagants, a Ross and a 7.7 Arisaka. Shoots pretty well in all of them.

[nekshot]

my 303's have made me 'WORK" with the boolit I have (assuming it fits the bore) rather than trying a few suggested loads and if they don't work run to get another mold or different boolit. I only have 2 boolits that fit my 303's. A lee 185 and I was fortunate to get a RanchDog 165 6 banger mold that I beagled 1 cavity to drop a real fat boolit. Thats all I have and so I have had to work powders and speed and seating depth to find the sweet spot. 3 of my 303's really shoot well, and one I gave up on because of rough spots in barrel. So I am saying this to encourage you to not feel like you gotta spend alot for many molds.

[calgunner]

Guys, I'm going to agree with what lownbow said. I have two #4's that shoot, one is a 5 groove that measures .3025 bore & .314 throat and the other is a 2 groove that measures .304 bore & .315 throat. From what others have said on the forum the majority of #4, mk#1 enfield's do run with oversize bores & throats. I'm not saying your wrong but I do suggest you verify your measurements. As for the molds I use, for the 5 groove I'm using Accurate 314299L and for my 2 groove I'm using NOE 316299 both loaded with IMR-4350 with dacron fill, Bruce.

[spfd1903]

My Lee-Enfield has a .3125 bore. I stick with the Lee C312-185-1R and the Lyman 314299 (drops about a 205 gr. Boolit). The Lyman has proven to be the more accurate of the two.

[frnkeore]

I'm guessing that he has a P14. Many of them where not used in the war and have pristeen bores. Mine is that way and I've seen many others as well as the 17's with excellent bores.

I'll sugest 18.5 gr 4759 and the older 311299 or newer 314299.

Frank

[sagamore-one]

You guys are spot on about the bore size, I mis-typed the dimensions. They are .314 x .303. I guess all the numbers like 312 - 185 goy me confused ..
Beg thousand pardons.

[Bob S]

the barrel has been slugged and measures .311 with a 5 grouve.

That would be very unusual. The nominal dimensions from the Enfield drawings are .303 bore, and .0055" groove depth. When you do the math, that means the nominal groove diameter is .314", and most that I have seen are bigger than that. Was the slug measured with a proper vee-anvil micrometer for 5-groove barrels?

The .311 groove diameter often quoted for .303 British is/was correct only for the original Metford rifling, gone since the turn of the last century. Old myths die hard.

Ideal used to make a 316xxx that was perfect for Enfield rifling. I have an aluminum mould of similar design and dimensions, as well as the original Ideal. These are the only ones that group well from my rifle, with a BSA barrel measuring .315 groove diameter. (I have the correct micrometer.) YMMV.


Resp'y,
Bob S.

[JeffinNZ]

My experience with the old colonial war horse is they tend to have a preference for heavier, longer boolits. Longbow's suggestion of NOE 316 299 would be a good bet. It's a factor of the dimensions of the throats and associated wear from Cordite use.

I get ridiculously good accuracy out of a CBE 205gr boolit over 14gr of 2400 powder. Shoot the fattest boolit you can chamber.

[frnkeore]