lee enfield 303, 200 grain boolits

[loogie33]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am wondering if anyone has any experience loading these? the bullet diameter that i bought is .313. I have been looking for loads with these bullets using h4350 as i have 2 lbs of this and would like to use it. i found one reciepe using a 220 grain cast bullet and 41 grains of powder. will this be ok for a 200 grain?

any info would be appreciated as I am new to boolits

Thanks

[docone31]

I cast 180gn. I size to .314.
You might look into paper patching. I paper patch my Enfields with great results with full tilt loads.
.313, might be a little light. When I patched to .3135, I got 6' groups. Clover leafs at .314.
You could "Beagle" the mold, then size to .314. Popgun loads might work for you.
Others will pipe in on this. Lots of us have cast and succeeded with the Enfield.

[runfiverun]

4350 is not a good reduced load powder
you might want to back down the velocities to about 1800 or so and go from there.
but not with 4350

[dromia]

Welcome aboard loogie33!

If you want to get top velocity as you appear to by wanting to use H4350 then boolit fit and alloy strength and elasticity is crucial.

Have you slugged your chamber throat and bore to see if your boolit diameter/fit is good?

Doing that will answer your questions.

A faster powder and aiming for lower velocities will be somewhat more forgiving but potentially accurate.

[superior]

I just loaded up some experimental 314299's with 44 grains of IMR4831 for my No1-mk3 with 18.5 inch barrel. I'm betting I'm in for a lot of flames! I'll probably be able to shoot and cook my deer at the same time. The way I see it is, it'll be hard to over pressure anything and I just might get lucky in the accuracy department. I;m thinking 4895 will be my best bet, especially with the shorty barrel. So far I've perfected loads for the Lee 185 and TL-160 at target and hunting velocities. My challenge now is the 314299. I want to get the velocity cranked up to around 2000fps with decent accuracy. Good luck!

"Better is the enemy of good enough"

[303Guy]

Hi there, loogie33. I'm new to cast boolits too. 41gr H4350 under 200gr cast sounds OK to me. But you will likely need to patch them. I have used slightly reduced loads of an almost identical powder. You should probably not go lower than 36/37gr under a 200gr boolit. I have just shot off a few 245gr paper patched boolits over 37gr of my powder (AR2209) which would equate to about 38gr H4350. In PMP cases, pressure was a little high, probably too high. (PMP cases have a smaller capacity than most). Accuracy was good. Zero leading - clean bore.
Have a think about paper patching. It's more fun than you might realize. :drinks:

[JeffinNZ]

My SMLE loves a 220gr cast bullet over 41gr of H4350 for 2000fps neat.

[armyrat1970]

A lot of post here about paper patching. I have never paper patched a bullet for handloading. Just curious. I assume it is for a tighter fit of the boolit in the bore? And why the need for paper patching if you can find the right sized boolit or even resize them to the right size? A cast boolit that is oversized should not need paper patching. And if that is the case with a sized boolit, why size at all?

[303Guy]

armyrat1970, when one sees posts like;
My SMLE loves a 220gr cast bullet over 41gr of H4350 for 2000fps neat. - then one wonders! And JeffinNZ has posted his results with those loads, so ..... !

However, after having fired off a good few trial paper patched boolits (most of them unsuccessful) then pushing my regular cutting fluid soaked cotton ball through the bore and it comes out clean! ..... Mmmmm!

I was driving those PPB's at regular J-word velocity and pressure. My one test showed primer flattening (not extreme) and that was my most accurate load (soft alloy too). My boolits are tapered so I have taken to sizing them in a tapered boolit mold to ensure consistant size so as to be able to seat and chamber the rounds. But I have also gotten nice groups with plain, straight sided g/c boolits, just at lower velocity. The paper does allow for very neat seating in an unsized neck. So neat that I cannot dissassemble my loads that did not cut it! (Not without using a puller).

[runfiverun]

the paper is a substitute for copper.
if everything fits and works correctly, you can get the same velocities you can with a copper jacket.
however in doing so, your alloy will have to be hard enough to work with the pressure generated.
you can push pure lead to higher vels but as your vels/pressures increase your bhn will also.
same as cast but is just a faster route to get there.

[303Guy]

... your alloy will have to be hard enough to work with the pressure generated.That could be the reason for the poor results I got with some of my loads. But as I said above, my best load was with the highest pressure. My alloy is mostly lead pipe with no heat treatment. It was a heavy boolit so velocity would have been lower. This boolit is so soft it bends at low velocity into wet rags.

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/MVC-077F.jpg

My understanding is that with paper patching, one can drive a softer boolit to higher velocity. Some folks seem to be getting exquisit accuray from PPB's. I'm not there yet.

My objective is to take as cast boolits, patch them and load them with just that one squeeze to set the patch firm.

[armyrat1970]

Soooo I assume since I don't cast with pure PB I should not need to paper patch as all of my casting is with WWS or #2 with sometimes a small mix of range scrap. Thinking of mixing WWS and #2 at 50/50 for my pistol loads and straight #2 water dropped for rifle. If I use straight Linotype I don't mix it for rifle for the 8x57 but have to figure something out for my 30 Carbine.

[TomcatPC]

Hello

I have asked this same question on two other forums, only I was asking about 210 grain cast bullets. I'm still fairly new to reloading, and have quite a lot to learn.

I was able to buy some .303" 210 grain cast bullets at a local shop yesterday. Do to my current cash situation, I am trying not to go out and buy any more powder than I have to. Currently I have a full 1 lb "tub" of Hodgdon H-4350.

Would the 41 grains of Hodgdon H-4350 also work with a 210 grain cast bullet?
One thing I am confused about, I have seen more than one "4350" listed. I have seen IMR 4350 and Hodgdon H-4350. The powder mentioned in this thread...is it the Hodgdon H-4350? I'd rather ask and look like a total dufus than not...LOL.
Thanks
Mark