303brit & IMR4064

[1trkmind]

I am in the need of a good recipe of IMR4064 and a paper patched 314299 in a good (303-316)303brit with a little bit of a frosty bore. I am not sure to go high or low on the charge. 26gr. very seldom hits the target. Any advice would be welcome.

[longbow]

Personally I think you'd be better off with a 311299 if you are going to use a GG boolit. It is a long way to size down a 314299 so it can be patched back up.

Ideally you would have a core at about 0.303"/0.304" then patch up to groove diameter.

A better choice is likely the NOE copy of the NRA PP boolit design:

http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/product...r5352p2h9l2j91

it casts to 0.303" and is designed specifically for paper patching.

If you have access to a lathe it is easy to make a push out mould that will make a similar boolit. I made one for my .308 to cast at 0.301" and it worked great. I found it too small for my .303's so knurled to bring diameter up some which seemed to solve the problem.

My PP experience is pretty limited but to my knowledge you should patch so that the patched boolit is just into the rifling when the round is chambered and load to normal "J" bullet load data. You should also be using ACWW or harder alloy depending on just how fast you are pushing the boolits but for a 212 gr. boolit I suspect ACWW would be fine in the .303.

I got very good results with my .308 using my home made mould and as cast boolits at 0.301", and okay results with my .303 after knurling the boolits then patching. I have not really pursued paper patching though. There are lot of people here with way more experience and I am sure there will be advice coming.

Longbow

[beemer]

I was working with a 303 with PP till some things got in the way, now that I'm retired I need to start again. I used a Lee 180 that poured at .314 with ACWW and sized it to .308 patched back to .314. The patch should turn to confetti and not stick to the boolit. I lube with LLA, this lubes and seals the paper but does not penetrate and glue it to the boolit. I also have some Rooster lube that I'm going to try.

You just have to tinker with boolit size and paper thickness till you find the proper fit for your rifle. I have found that 4064 and RL-15 are good powders for the 303,start with jacketed bullet data and work up. One thing I found working with the Brit and the Russian is that PP loads give higher velocity than the same load with jacketed bullets.

Dave