Martini .303 Carbine loads

[craig61a]

About a year and half ago I bought this Martini carbine since I always wanted one and this one became available. I shot 20 and 22 gr of H4198 in it with 1 gr of PolyFil and a NOE 311407 sized .314". The groups weren't bad but at 25 yds there was quite a bit of drop. These were the first loads I put together for it, and now that I have a some experience with that I was thinking of maybe running a different boolit/powder charges.

I have a few Krags that my go to load is 35 gr. of H380 under a 30-180 boolit. Since the 30-40 case is very similar to the .303, and I have more H380 than H4198 I was thinking of using H380 in it. But I'm not sure if it would be wise to load 35 gr of H380 for the Martini - as it's not as strong an action as the Krag is.

So my question is would it be better to start with a charge of 28 - 30 gr of H380 for the Martini? I'm wondering how far I can reduce the H380 charge without having problems.

And now the photos...

[curator]

craig61a,

I'm surprised that several Martini enthusiasts have not jumped in to give you advice. I own a couple of .303 british Martini rifles as well as a couple of US Krags in .30 US caliber. I consider the load data to be pretty much interchangeable between .303 British and .30-40 Krag. I'm not sure the Krag is the stronger action of the two, either. I rarely use H380 as it is not generally available in these parts. I would advise starting out on the low side and work up your loads slowly. One thing I have found with my Martinis is: hot loads are hard to extract. Also, cases loaded on the hot side may need to be indexed to rechamber because the Martini's breech face is not exactly perpendicular to the bore/chamber. Stood next to one another on a flat surface and you can see the results. Keep the velocities on the tame side (1500-1800 fps with a 180 grain cast boolit) and you will get good accuracy and long case life.

[craig61a]

OK I appreciate the response. I found the 35 gr. H380 load on LASC recommended by Fryxell. I have used that with my Krags and got good results. I have researched it a bit more and I guess the recommended procedure would be to fill the case in question with powder to the level of where the bullet base would be and then weight it. Supposedly Hodgdon recommends not reducing some powders no more than 40% of that. Now I haven't found much data on H380, but some people seem to really like it. And as I mentioned I use it in my Krags with good results.

My concern is reducing the level of powder to a point where it detonates - now that opens a whole new can of worms - which is beyond the focus of my original post.

From what I've read H4198 doesn't have some of the other issues that others have mentioned when being reduced.

I may just work up from what I have already done with the H4198 and see where that I get with that. I guess the main reason I was considering H380 was the accuracy that others have achieved with it...

[Tatume]

The Martini action is at least as strong as the Krag, and is in fact a very strong action. The Martini primary extraction is weaker than the Krag.

[craig61a]

OK so based on a discussion thread on another board, the Martini is at least as strong or a little stronger than the Krag. And as far as H380, well I emailed Hodgdon and they don't recommend reducing H380, or any of their spherical powders. So I guess I'll just stick with H4198 for now and see what I can get with that.