Fun with the 1903A3

[Jack Stanley]

I've been working on a load with a 1903a3 using bullets from an old 311466 mold and LBT lube . I've never used Hercules 2400 in this combination before so why not huh? I started at nineteen grains and got good results at twenty-one grains though I got to admit the starting charge wasn't bad either .

I got to looking at the pressure and was amazed it was so low and I got to wondering . With the pressure that low and the moderate brinell hardness these bullets were , could I get away without using the gas check . To answer that I got some that hadn't been lubed or checks seated just yet . Added some liquid Alox then ran them through the star lube sizer at .311" adding lube to the three bottom rings .

I charged a few cases with only eighteen grains or 2400 and seated bullets to the same length that had already worked well . No leading and accuracy was pretty good so I loaded a ten more and fired them as fast as I got a good sight picture . No leading still and two rounds slipped into the nine ring of an SR1 target at a hundred yards . Not bad at all I'd say , to bad I can't shoot that good offhand !!

Jack

[ROGER4314]

Wow! Neat idea! I have one 1903A3 rifle left (sold some) that is a two groove veteran of countless 200 NRA matches and a host of John C. Garand matches. I just got a Lee 30 caliber 150 gr GC mold in from Midway and got the gas checks, too. Holy cow....another project!

Flash

[Old Iron Sights]

The cost of gas checks adds up. I'm thinking a lot of my plinking rounds could do without. Is hercules 2400 similar to Alliant 2400?

[Jack Stanley]

The cost of gas checks adds up. I'm thinking a lot of my plinking rounds could do without. Is hercules 2400 similar to Alliant 2400?

Yep ... I've been calling it Hercules for so long I still forget they changed the name .

As for plinking loads , it depends on what your barrel will take but mine sees thousands with just a moderate charge of Unique . Trying this without checks was just to see if I could get away with it , I didn't check velocity but I'm pretty sure it's faster than nine grains of Unique with the same bullet .

Jack

[GARCIA]

Hi guys!
Another shooter of the 03a3 here.
Went out last week and tried 25.0gr of RX7 and a 170gr gas checked bullet (30-30 bullet w/flat nose) out of my rifle.
Was very surprised with it. Used the 25yd target to see where it hit and was very surprised. Fired 3 rounds but only was able to see one large hole. Had to go down range to check the target to make sure of what I had done. Needless to say I was very surprised!
Spent the last of my rounds shooting at clay pigeons at the 100yd berm and hitting them.
Love my old battle rifles!!!

Tom