303 brit info???

[GunnyJohn]

Well now that hunting season is finally over for me, I have once again turned to casting for my winters entertainment.
Here's my ? I'm loading a lyman 311466 for my 303. The boollets are dropping .317 from the mold ACWW sized to .314 and gas checked. I plan to use 28grains of 5744. I am concerned about the seating depth of the boolit. My J-words give me an OAL of just over 3 inches. I'm just trying to figure out how deep to seat the lymans. I would also like to know if I should have any lube in the grooves outside of the case?

Thanks GunnyJohn

[atr]

I seat mine out until they touch the rifleing, that being the limiting factor is the magazine and you need to check your seating depth and make sure the cartridges work in the magazine. I have exposed lube grooves and the only thing I have to be careful of is wiping the exposed lube off in handling.

[JeffinNZ]

I have a 311466 that used to cast more like .312 inch. I had it opened up to throw at .315 which is much better for the Brit. Before you size to .314 it would be worth shooting them at cast cast .317 inch. If you can chamber it, shoot it. You may need to nose first size the first 2 o 3 driving bands .314 to seat the bullet out far enough to engage nicely; just like a tapered boolit. I like to have as much of bullet engaging bore/groove as possible.

28gr of 5744 seems a bit stout to begin with IMHO. I would start a bit more conservatively.