Lee Mold for .303 British

[Sloffie]

I see lee only makes one mold for the .303 British. The 185gr .312: http://leeprecision.com/mold-dc-c312-185-1r.html

I have a No4 MkII, a SMLE No1 MkIII* and a Magazine Lee Enfield (Long Lee) No1.

The No4 and SMLE have new barrels. The Long Lee has a very good old barrel.

Now based on what I have read, the chances are very very slim that the .312 bullet will fit any of these rifles. I fire jacketed .312's in my 303s with great success, but I know jacketed bullets are different to lead.

Am I doomed if I buy that Lee Mold? There is no other mold from Lee that I can buy for my .303's. The next one up is a .324 which is WAY too big.

I believe that I might have to paper patch... or I must get the alloy right so that the bullet will obturate to the size of the barrel?
At the moment I cannot afford a Lyman or RCBS mold. The Lee mold costs $39 (converted from our currency ZAR) and Lyman molds cost $100 each.

What should I do? [smilie=s:

[JeffinNZ]

Lee has yet to discover that a .312 mould is only a slightly over size .30cal and not a .303 mould. Check out Al's site NOE moulds (http://noebulletmolds.com/orders/catalog/index.php?cPath=31&osCsid=2cd6vlanvevemacarhr65efqd6). Go for a .316 diameter.

[Sloffie]

So a .312 Lee mold is no good for a .303 then? So there is no affordable mold on the market for a .303? Everything seems to be close to the $100 mark.

[curator]

The Lee mould for .303 is undersize for almost any .303 british rifle. However, Lee moulds are easily lapped a few thousandths larger or you could "beagle" it to cast larger (but slightly out of round) boolits. This often works very well. Another "fix" is to use a granulated plastic shot buffer as filler when loading this boolit. This will prevent gas blow-by and allow the slug to obturate without gas cutting. Do a search on this forum for much information on these techniques.

[725]

Sloffie,
Welcome aboard. First step would be to slug the bore and see exactly what you're dealing with. With any luck, your three .303's will be close in size and pose only one issue to resolve. Paper patching is an added step and is time consuming, but gets easier as the learning curve flattens out. Gives some outstanding accuracy, to boot! Research this site for what we call "beagling". Basically, as I understand it, it's adding a piece of metal tape to the face of the mould to make it stand off just a bit, which yields a fatter boolit. Hope others who actually know how it works will chime in. Another practice used sometimes is to pour a few boolits, add a stem to the base and use an abrasive to "open up" the mould by spinning. This I have done with some degree of success. Not big gains in size. I've used a variable speed drill, some abrasive paste called Flitz applied to the boolit and spun it in the mould as I held it closed. As I said, it made the mould a small degree larger. Research this site for a better description of the process. Best of luck, 725

[darkroommike]

I'm in a similar fix with my Mosin Nagant M44, the first step is to slug your bores.


do not assume that any of your rifles actually have a .312 bore
do not assume that ALL your rifles have the same bore
do not assume that ANY mold you buy will cast at the specified diameter (if you're lucky it will cast LARGER than spec)
INVEST in one quality mold, don't think of it as a $100 mold think of it as HUNDREDS of dollars in savings over factory loads
remember that your reloads will shoot better through your veterans than any factory ammo

[Sloffie]

I have read up on beagling. Think that is the way to go. I emailed LEE and they said pretty much the same... they said the .312 mold has a .312/.315 tolerance. I can then fine tune it with beagling or shimming.
LEE say you can just lube a piece of paper and stick it onto one of the faces.

I know a $100 mold is not expensive. I have bought a Lyman Maxi-Ball mold a year or so back for $80 and it is amazing. At the moment, me being a new farther, I have other costs to cover... you understand. ;)