oksmle
01-11-2007, 03:21 AM
A while back on a particular thread, during our usual wandering away from & eventual return to the main topic, I mentioned a .303 load I was working on in which I used no lube. I received a couple of PMs & a couple of phone calls from folks asking me to report on my findings. I told them I wanted to fire about 800 rounds to satisfy myself that what I was experiencing wasn't a fluke. Yesterday I fired number 770 with the intention of going to the range this weekend & running the last 30 through the rifle. Since it looks as though Oklahoma will be covered in ice this weekend, & I don't have time to get to the range before then, I thought I'd go ahead & let you know my findings.
The rifle is a "scratch-built" No.1 Mk III SMLE I assembled from parts left over from other stuff I had worked on. The barrel is new surplus & instead of simply screwing it into the receiver I took one turn off the breech end & finished the chamber to minimum SAMI specs. Then I eased the throat just a tad to make it easier on cast boolits. After working on the trigger it breaks right at 4 pounds. The first 50 rounds (which didn't count in the 770) were fire lapping rounds.
The Load: NEI #72 cast of straight WWs at .313", & weighing 163.0 grs. Annealed Hornady GC sized at .314". 23.0 grs Surplus 4895 dropped from my RCBS powder dispenser topped by 1.6cc PSB dipped with a Lee dipper. This is a lightly compressed load. Remington 9 1/2 primers & a light Lee crimp. OAL - 2.936". The front driving band just barely touches the throat when chambered. Sixty new Remington cases reamed, turned & prepped then dedicated to this rifle. After the first firing they weren't even neck sized thereafter. Just belled a bit to accept the GC snugly. After 30 or 40 rounds I noticed a leading condition devloping at the junction of the lands & grooves. My cleaning was two dry patches run through the bore after however many rounds I fired that particular day. Sometimes it was twenty & sometimes sixty. But the condition never got any worse & I never picked up lead on my patches. The only way you can see it is to shine a flash light at an angle across the muzzle. And the top of the lands & bottom of the grooves are clean with no lead accumulation at all.... Maybe because of the fire lapping.
The largest ten shot group fired measured 2.772" & the smallest (fired yesterday) was 1.324" (with an internal six round group of 0.635").
I'm not suggesting that everyone who owns a SMLE should try this load, but it will probably be the only load this particular rifle will ever see.
oksmle
The rifle is a "scratch-built" No.1 Mk III SMLE I assembled from parts left over from other stuff I had worked on. The barrel is new surplus & instead of simply screwing it into the receiver I took one turn off the breech end & finished the chamber to minimum SAMI specs. Then I eased the throat just a tad to make it easier on cast boolits. After working on the trigger it breaks right at 4 pounds. The first 50 rounds (which didn't count in the 770) were fire lapping rounds.
The Load: NEI #72 cast of straight WWs at .313", & weighing 163.0 grs. Annealed Hornady GC sized at .314". 23.0 grs Surplus 4895 dropped from my RCBS powder dispenser topped by 1.6cc PSB dipped with a Lee dipper. This is a lightly compressed load. Remington 9 1/2 primers & a light Lee crimp. OAL - 2.936". The front driving band just barely touches the throat when chambered. Sixty new Remington cases reamed, turned & prepped then dedicated to this rifle. After the first firing they weren't even neck sized thereafter. Just belled a bit to accept the GC snugly. After 30 or 40 rounds I noticed a leading condition devloping at the junction of the lands & grooves. My cleaning was two dry patches run through the bore after however many rounds I fired that particular day. Sometimes it was twenty & sometimes sixty. But the condition never got any worse & I never picked up lead on my patches. The only way you can see it is to shine a flash light at an angle across the muzzle. And the top of the lands & bottom of the grooves are clean with no lead accumulation at all.... Maybe because of the fire lapping.
The largest ten shot group fired measured 2.772" & the smallest (fired yesterday) was 1.324" (with an internal six round group of 0.635").
I'm not suggesting that everyone who owns a SMLE should try this load, but it will probably be the only load this particular rifle will ever see.
oksmle