English Enfield 303 Question

[joeb33050]

A guy at the range has 2 Enfields, a Jungle Carbine and a long one. I know nothing about them. I'm trying to help him out with cast bullets, gave him some 314299s, he's loading them with 2400 and SR4759. They work well in the long rifle, go through the target sideways in the Jungle Carbine. The bullet nose is tight in the muzzle of the J. C. Is thee a different twist in the J.C. so that the 314299 is too long? He['s used 17/2400, and sideways.
I'm baffled.
??
Thanks;
joe brennan

[Maven]

Joe, You should ask this question of Steve Redgewell, the .303 maven and hell of a nice guy:

steve@.303british.com

[Four Fingers of Death]

Slug the bore, some of those ol' gals are real loose.

[JeffinNZ]

Joseph - you do surprise me!

That 1 - 10 twist will stabilise up to 250gr of cast.

I am shooting a 220gr bullet in both my .303's over 19gr of H4227/ADI2205 with GREAT success.

Mick is right - me thinks the groove is a shade generous. My .303 Pygmy has a groove of .317!

[joeb33050]

Joseph - you do surprise me!

That 1 - 10 twist will stabilise up to 250gr of cast.

I am shooting a 220gr bullet in both my .303's over 19gr of H4227/ADI2205 with GREAT success.

Mick is right - me thinks the groove is a shade generous. My .303 Pygmy has a groove of .317!

I'm still ot getting it. Is the J.C. 1 :10 twist?
314299 noses is tight in the muzzle.
Bullets going through sideways at 50 yards.
Same load in a long Enfield rifle works fine.
If the groove is way big it will lead, but not go through sideways.
joe brennan

[dromia]

All Enfields use the same 1 in 10 twist mainly LH but some latter barrels were RH.

Is it a genuine No5 with a genuine Enfield barrel?

He needs to do a chamber/throat cast.

Is the barrel in good condition overall not just at the muzzle?

He may actually have a tight barrel and the 314" is stripping.

Needs to know actual throat and barrel dimensions to fit a proper bullet to.

The 314299 with 16gns 2400 work fine in my No 5s.

[richbug]

My #5 MK1 throws every sort of lead bullet I have tried sideways. Makes it hard to hit anything beyond 25 yards(but when you do, you know instantly). Jacketed bullets shoot OK.

Bore slugs at .312"

Ive tried fast powders, slow powders, diameters from .309 to .314" gas checked and not.

I shot it in an IPSC match once, I had sideways bullets as close as 12"(the flash hider works good for removing target pasters too).

[sledgehammer]

I have heard that the flash hider will throw a cast bullet off by disturbing the gas flow around the bullet as it leaves the barrel. Don't know if it's true or not as I have never put any through a #5 J.C.
Might be worth asking around about?
Jon H in AZ

[curator]

Just because a boolit fits at the muzzle doesn't mean it will shoot accurately. Many #5s were shot with cordite and have eroded throats. If Lyman's #314299 is loaded to not touch the rifling, and if it is made out of too soft alloy, the boolit will bend as it enters the rifling, and hit the target sideways. Try making boolits of water-drop-quenched wheel weight alloy with 2% tin added. These will end up about BHN22-24. Size in a die that is at least .314 or even .002 larger to seat and crimp the gas check. Load them in a neck sized case to touch the rifling when you close the bolt, or even a light "crush" fit. These will shoot straight with 16 grains of Alliant 2400 unless there is something wrong at the muzzle end.

[wills]

http://www3.sympatico.ca/shooters/303Page.htm

If you have not already looked