Favored weight for enfields??

[Jack Stanley]

I know with my Springfield 1903 and the Remington 1903A3 they seem to favor heavier bullets such as my small casting 314299 design .

What I'd like to know , is there a weight range that British Enfields both the number one and the number four both seem to like best ?

Thanks

[bob208]

i use the 311299 my mould drops them a little big. i use it unsized in my enfields sized to .312 in 7.65 .309 in my krags.

that bullet in my krag 99 carbine killed a 8 point with one shot.

[303Guy]

I just like heavy boolits because they look more substantial. I have a theory that the maximum velocity is fixed but the boolit weight is not so raising boolit weight increases the power of the cartridge. It also allows for a slower power that fills the case better. I do have a lightweight 180gr mold that I might just try again one day. Most of my rifles have a large throat and a longer and fatter boolit fills them better and gets the boolit closer to the leade.

[longbow]

Well, probably not the best answer you will get but...

I am with 303guy ~ sort of. I normally like heavy for caliber cast boolits for much the same reason. It just seems right and a big hunk of lead has its appeal.

Bearing that in mind I bought an NOE 316299 (200 gr.) that I size to 0.315 for my two No. 5's and my No. 4 (I have another No. 4 that will also be fed these when I get a chance). I figured that was a good weight but even better might be 220 grs. so I made a mould that casts about 225 grs. These heavy boolits shoot well and as 303guy says, you get more "oomph" and can use slower powders.

However, being the frugal sort I am, I decided that plinking with 200 gr. + boolits is a lot of lead and powder so ordered an NOE 0.314" x 129 gr. mould that casts at guess what ~ 129 grains. I have found that this boolit over 10 grs. of 700X is nice to shoot, accurate and cheap on lead and powder. Sort of like shooting a .22 on steroids. And when my "kids" (23, 25 & 27) get shooting, a lot of powder gets burned and a lot of lead goes down range so the 129 loads are cheaper than 200 gr. loads but still fun to shoot!

So, the short story is I now have two boolit weights that are my favourite for .303 British: 129 gr. for cheap plinking fun; 200 gr. for more serious work.

I have done the same with my .44 mag. I have several moulds in the 240 to 280 gr. range and a light one of 165 grs. Guess which gets used most now.

Longbow

[1Shirt]

Go heavy, 180 on the low side, up to 220. Even better if you can get a HP mold for the 220.
1Shirt!

[Jack Stanley]

Currently the only two molds I have that are likely to work is an LBT that weighs in at two fifteen and casts at .319" . The other option is a 311291 that casts at just over .314" . It's closed but the nose likes to get caugt up on feeding . I do have a 311299 that casts at .315" but with a nose of .299" it isn't likely to shoot well unless I have Erik add a "DD" band to the nose .

I'm sure the LBT will work , it is a bit of a pain to seat gas checks and size to .316 then use a push through sizer to bring the size down farther . It did run real well in a SMLE I had that had a huge groove diameter so the only difference here is getting squeezed down about five thousanths .

The rifle as best I can tell , measures at or just over .314" and it has shot good powder puff loads with Bullseye at short range . I tend to like heavier bullets and I really like the design of the 311299 . The newer 314299 I have works extremely well in my thirty caliber rifles and doing good in a number four with a smaller groove . It's just .................. I really like the number one ya know what I mean ??

Jack

[longbow]

I started with a borrowed Lyman 314299 that cast at 0.311"/0.312" so tad undersize for my 0.314"/0.315" groove diameter guns.

They shot okay but nothing to write home about.

I decided to buy a Lyman 314299 because there was little else available except maybe CBE which I don't think I knew about then. My new Lyman 314299 cast at 0.312"/0.313" so still too small. I decided to lap it out some and that brought it up to 0.315" and gave some pretty decent accuracy.

When NOE ran the first round of 316299's, I got one and it is great. I size to 0.315" and all my .303's like them.

I have only used them in No. 5's and No. 4's so can't speak for No. 1's but I can't see why they wouldn't be a good combination.

Unfortunately, it appears NOE is out of stock.

You might try CBE:

http://www.castbulletengineering.com/default.htm

Since CBE is a .303 "specialist" you will probably get a good fit to suit your needs. I do not have any CBE moulds yet but have read many good reviews and no bad ones.

Longbow

[303Guy]

... being the frugal sort I am, I decided that plinking with 200 gr. + boolits is a lot of lead and powder so ordered an NOE 0.314" x 129 gr. mould that casts at guess what ~ 129 grains. Exactly my thinking! And I tried it too. I did not try it in a good bore though. I'm going to. I have a can of bulky shotgun power that needs a use and this will be it.

A mold with a retractable pin for hollow nosing the boolit might be the way.

[JeffinNZ]

My belief is the longer, heavier boolits suit the throats of the military rifles better. Shorter boolits don't have the reach to really engage the lands/throat/leade.

[Multigunner]

The 1:10 twist of the standard Enfield rifling was developed when the 215 grain bullet was the only loading for the .303.
The 1:10 twist of the Springfield was developed when they used the 220 gr bullet with the 1903 .30 cartridge.
Both retained this relatively fast twist when they went to lighter bullets. When the 150 gr or less weight was settled on for the 7.62 M80 Ball the 1:12 to 1:14 twist came into use, though some 7.62X51 and .308 rifles use the faster twist rates if heavier bullets are expected to be used.

For Cast Boolit loads it would seem that the heavier bullets at medium velocity hold more promise.

[Jack Stanley]

I bought the LBT heavy weight years ago thinking it would fit better . Now the rifle with the fat groove is gone and I have this mid bore to feed . So ...... I have some of the fatter bullets I ran through a push through sizer loaded and will try them out soon . These bullets have a .307" nose section and they still fit the chamber of the "smaller" bored rifle . It will be interesting to see how these shoot , I have the bullets already cast from years ago . The only downside would be if I run out of thirty-two caliber gas checks .

When you talk about lighter bullets I have an RCBS mold of about a hundred grains that casts just over .314" . That might work with a tumble lube of some sort if I needed to go that way .

I'll see how this LBT does and when the bullets already cast are gone . I can decide if I need to send this way oversize Lyman 311299 to Erik and get a fat nose band for it . The lure of buying a new mold just for this rifle is calling though [smilie=l:

Jack

[303Guy]

Do you really need a gas check? And would it matter if the gas check was undersized as in 30 cal? To me the gas check is there to protect the base of the boolit, not to seal the bore. One can slightly expand the mouth of the gas check to get them onto a bigger base. Another possibility is a wad under the boolit. With a lighter boolit there is enough room for a wad. I'd look at 'gluing' the bad to the boolit base with something like a smear of stick lube. But whatever one does the wad must not be able to drop back into the case! Dacron filler to ensure it doesn't maybe?

[Multigunner]

A plain base Boolit with an over the charge card wad might give better accuracy in very oversized , worn or eroded bores. The glazeboard wad used with milspec ammo loaded with cordite made all the difference for the .303 by reducing blowby at the begining of bullet travel.
Not sure I'd want to experiment with a wad over other types of Smokeless propellants unless the load used a very light charge.

[Jack Stanley]

With this particular rifle I had leading problems with low velocity soft lead and no checks . It wasn't the load because it worked fine in another rifle , what it turned out to be is a pit just ahead of the origin of the rifling . The only pit in the barrel and it has to be there :sad:

While I was able to make a powder puff load that worked without leading , right now I'd like to make these heavies move at seventeen hundred or so . I have probably another sixty pounds of these bullets already cast and the thought is to use them up in this rifle and another Russian zip gun that has a large groove . When these bullets are gone I need to decide if sizing the bullets down five thousanths and using a thirty-two gas check is better than getting a different mold . that's why I was wondering if the rifle in general has a weight preference . I've only shot about fifty pounds of alloy in this type of rifle and I'm sure there are guys that know way more than me about them .

Yesterday I went out with four different powder charges of Alliant 2400 and twenty-one grains with an overall length of 2.965" seemed best . Maybe today I can get out and try it again .

Jack

[303Guy]

I'd try fire-lapping that bore. That will remove the sharp edge that's damaging the boolit. The next step would be to find a powder that produces a gentler launch. Then I would be using a fibrous filler to prevent gas leaking at that pit. I use a a fibrous filler anyway cause it seems to just work. I've used H4350 with wheat bran filler and now I'm trying W748. The bore is pitted all the way down - badly pitted. But then I am paper patching.

[Shooter6br]

Get an Accurate Mold clone of 314299. IT CAST AS ADVERTISED.Great in my 1917 American Enfiels with orginal 5 groove barrel

[calgunner]

Agree with 303Guy & JeffinNZ. Both of my #4's shoot well with heavier booits. Started with Lyman 314299 and did fair. Currently I'm using a NOE 316299 with H4350 and this combination is shooting a much better groups at 100 yards.

[1Shirt]

Not mentioned also in the Krag, and like the 03's, the 17 Enfields, and the 303's they all seem to have long throats, and like heavy long boolits.
1Shirt!

[Jack Stanley]

I do like the 314299 design the particular Lyman mold I have casts just barely larger than what my number four needs . Size and lube job on that just barely touch the bullet , it works great in the 1903a3 as well when sized to .311" I am definately leaning toward that design but if I go the new mold route it will need to fit this particular number one .

I've got several examples of Verals work in different calibers and like them a lot . However , you guys kept posting pictures of the accurate molds:roll:porn pushers !!:mrgreen:

Jack