.303 oal (first attempt at cb)

[daveefish]

i'm a rank beginner at cb, having never loaded ANY before now. have loaded a gazillion copper clad. i'm working up a load for a 2 groove No.4 savage that i've mounted an ati mount and an el cheapo 3x9 walmart scope on. my 56 year old eyes get fuzzy. got a big heavy box of 200 gr. 314299 from Dan Congiolosi today. here is an unknown for me... how do i determine an oal for a cb? thanks dave

[Bigjohn]

Dave; I have shot the 314299 through a No. 1 Mk III some years back. I seated the projectiles into the cases so the front edge of the driving bands was level with the case mouth.

These feed through my rifle without a problem.

John.

[Newfoundlander2]

[SIZE="3"]If you're concerned with accuracy as well as functionality you might want to peruse this article on seating depth http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/oal/index.asp

You should also slug your Savage's barrel as chances are it's gonna be on the generous side i.e over 314. Only one of the Savage's I've ever owned came in at 314 the rest were in the 317-318 range. Most wore two groove barrels but there were a few fivers in the mix. http://www.surplusrifle.com/reloading/slug/index.asp

If you slug your barrel with the above method make sure the ends of the dowels have NO SHARP EDGES!!!! Sand the edges of each section slightly otherwise you run the risk of piercing the slug and having it jam in the bore. A friend of mine had this happen and ended up with a destroyed crown and deeply scratched bore after hours of trying to remove the obstuction. Personally I prefer Cerrosafe but if you're careful the above method is just fine.[ /SIZE]

[richbug]

The short answer would be to load them as long as will fit in the magazine and see what happens.

[daveefish]

thanks for the replies! what part of the boolit is the "driving band"? dave

[Newfoundlander2]

Driving bands are the elevated "rings" on the bullets (boolit's) body that act as the main bearing surface. The driving bands are seperated by grooved sections (lube grooves) that are designed to hold lubricant.

[ttusmc81]

If you find extreme inaccuracy, or bullets tubling try a filler such as PSB or Cream of Wheat ( COW). I have a two grove which would not fire anything I tried without tumbling right out of the muzzle ( 25yds).

Reading posts on this great board directed me to try a filler. I tried two loads, 17.0 4227 and 26.0 IMR 3031 with a Lee 185312R sized to .314 with COW filled to half way up the case neck . Both loads gave me 1 inch at 50 yds. Cant ask for much more for plinking. Good luck and stay on the boards, lots of good info here!!!

PS I did not slug the bore but it's over size, the filler did the trick. TIM:-D

[Razor]

You might try making a dummy cartridge..
no primer, no powder..in a sized case
put your 314299 slug just barely in the case mouth..
single load into your chamber
use the bolt to seat and chamber the dummy round..
gently extract and measure the length..
(you should see some rifling marks on the base of the nose)
subtract .0001" and there is your COL..
HTH


Razor
:castmine:

[daveefish]

thanks razor. i followed your advice, but the boolit is not held firmly. it wobbles in the case neck. dave

[beemer]

Check to see if the front section of the bullet (the bore riding section) fits the bore. Drop the front of the bullet in the muzzle. A snug to tight fit is the best as this will suppout the bullet.I try to keep the base of the bullet in the neck of the case. My LB Enfield is a 2 groove and a little generous in the throat and bore so oal is not usually a problem, if it feeds it will usually chamber. It doesn't hurt if a lead bullet is touching the rifling. A .314 size bullet is what I use in my Enfields, the Long Branch is a little large but it does fine.

A charge of 20 grs. of IMR 4198 amd a little tuft of dacron fiber, about a half of a grain to hold the powder in place is usually where I start.

Welcome
beemer

[daveefish]

i seem to be shaving off a bit of lead when i seat the boolit in the case. jacketed never did that :) something is amiss. dave

[kjg]

here's a bit o help, you will need to expand the case mouth a bit, I went out and bought a lee expander die, it expands cases from .22-50 cal find its a good investment for under 15.00. kjg

[beemer]

There are several companys that make expanders. Lyman makes the M die that works very well, it opens up the entire neck to the proper dia. and flares it slightly to prevent bullet shaving. You have to have one for each caliber you shoot cast in. The 303 takes a .31 cal.
One of my friends put a rod in his drill press and used a file to turn a taper. He then adjusted the table to the proper height and used the press to flair the case( just turn the motor off ).

You can use anything tapered like a punch or a pair of needle nose plyers to flair the neck, just put in the neck and turn to start a flair. This is not very consistant but will work and keep you shooting till you find a proper die.

beemer

[kjg]

bemer is right on , the lyman are on the pricy side the lee I mentioned comes with a set of expander plugs, and is adjustable, Ive been using it to expand all my brass all .30 cals, as well as 8mm, ya might think I'm crazy but even steel cases. kjg

[MtGun44]

+1 on the Lee Universal Expander die.

Your jacketed bullets are strong enough to just force their way into the undersized
neck - which is undersized to ensure a tight grip on the bullet. For cast, you need
a belled neck to let the boolit start without shaving the soft lead alloy. If you
shave the boolit with the neck, the boolit will likely be loose and very unlikely
to be accurate.

Try 10 g Unique as a fun starter "popgun" load. You'll probably have to set the
sights up to 400 yds or better to get it to hit POA at 50 yds, but they are a hoot
to shoot and dirt cheap with home made boolits and only 10 gr powder, and this
load is usually pretty accurate with most any reasonable boolit and any 20th
century milsurp bottleneck cartridge.

Bill

[EMC45]

+1 on the Lee expander. I use it on all my cast reloads. I like the fact it is universal!

[daveefish]

i'll get the lee. i have lee pretty much everything. i even use a lee loader, the kind you have to whack with a mallet. believe it or not, it works great. dave

[kjg]

the lee loader ooooooh old school but good school. kjg