.303 bullet weight

[aussiebo]

Hi all,I have a BSA 1906 mk1 and will be shooting around the 50-100 metre mark using fast burning powders and I was wondering which boolit in your opinion would be better a 210gr or a lighter 150gr cast.The mold will be PB and fired around 1200-1300fps.
Thanks, Bob

[Stoats]

Lighter. The heavier one risks not going fast enough to stabilise all the way to the target. One of the Lee 155 or 160 gn 2R bullets will go splendidly for you over 6-7gn of fast pistol powder.

[leadman]

I have better accuracy with a boolit around 200grs. I have shot these down to around 1,200 fps and they stabilized with no problem even to 200 yards.
A lighter boolit can work and depending on what you are doing might be acceptable to you. It will save some on lead.

I don't recall the twist in my Enfield #4MKII but my other guns are 1 in 10 twist. If you measure your guns twist and find it around 1 in 10 a heavy boolit should be ok.

[pdgh59]

I have had good experience with a CBE .314 mould at 190 grains. A Mk1 would have been sighted for Mark 4 or 5 .303 ammunition that shoots a lot lower than Mk7.

[JeffinNZ]

Without exception I find longer bullets do better in the .303 Brit. I put this down to longer throats/leades worn by Cordite. You will NOT go wrong with a CBE mould. I have numerous now. The 314-220 is a great bullet. Likewise the 313-215 and it's fatter .316 brother.

[303Guy]

Hiya Jeff, how are you?

I think what was meant is that the heavier boolit might not stabilise at subsonic velocities. I think they will from what I've done and heard said. But supersonic is not that hard to achieve. I have had accuracy using a 147gr boolit in a very oversized bore and throat but that was paper patched and subsonic. Some throats can handle lighter boolits by omitting the portion that would extend beyond the leade. I'm not sure about higher velocity with them though. I have the idea that lighter boolits might be OK for lower velocity if they fill the throat.

[aussiebo]

Thanks for the input guys,
I have decided on the .316 220gr PB (it was that or the .316 145gr PB).yes it will be a CBE mold,I have several and can't fault them.

[BruceB]

I spent a lot of time in "butt parties", patching and scoring targets for shooters using the .303 #4 Rifle with service ammunition.

The service load is a 174-grain spitzer departing at (nominally) 2440 fps.

That load is still supersonic at 800 yards, and definitely SUB-sonic at 900 yards. This is obvious due to the different sound signatures of the bullets at the various distances.

At 1000 yards, where the bullets have been subsonic for almost two hundred yards, they are still perfectly stable in flight. This statement is based on the fact that the bullet holes in the 1000-yard targets are perfectly round and show no evidence of instability.

[jr86]

I like the lee .312-185 boolit GCed with 17grs of AA#9 (2400 also works).

Im casting with soft range scrap with no sizing. It gives me 2 something inch groups at 100 yards for the most part. The rifle is a Enfield No1MkIII* FTRed in 1953


http://i885.photobucket.com/albums/ac51/newguy331/IMG_1439-Copy_zpsa24c5068.jpg (http://s885.photobucket.com/user/newguy331/media/IMG_1439-Copy_zpsa24c5068.jpg.html)

[MT Chambers]

I'd go with the heavier CBE designs, but matching the bore size and bore-rider size is still the key.

[303Guy]

Welcome aboard, aussiebo (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?36400-aussiebo). :drinks: (I just noticed your post count - sorry, missed it at 1 :oops:)