Not quite the load I wanted

[Jack Stanley]

I have a pile of bullets I cast a long time ago for an Enfield I had that had a fat groove diameter to it . The bullets themselve unsized are .319" but the "new" Lithgow number one I have has a barrel that suggests .314" would be better . After lube sizing and gas check seating I got a bullet about .3145" and wanted to use 2400 to get it going about sixteen hundred feet per second or so .

Apparently this rifle doesn't like the taste of 2400 so I tried some Reloder seven I have . Accuracy with that didn't happen untill twenty-five grains of the stuff was in the case . I didn't chronograph the stuff but it sure feels like way more than sixteen hundred .

So I went back to the notes from the olf "fat" barrel that said twelve and a half grains of Unique was very accurate . so I tried that . Accurate it is but today a friend had his chronograph over and the loads clock at 1460 or so .

Alright , not what I started out for but I am easy to please

Jack

[runfiverun]

the chrono is about the last thing i get out during load work up.
i'll use it "just to see" or if i am getting some vertical stringing and want to fix the load with either a filler or add more powder.
then it's handy to find out where i am.

[Maven]

Jack, I don't have an Enfield, but 12.5gr. Unique is especially accurate in my Arg. Mau. and Finnish Nagant. True, the velocity isn't eyecatching, but it gets the job done.

[bruce drake]

Accuracy versus Feet per Second...tough choice but one you personally have to decide on in the long run.

For hunting, I'd punch up the velocity a bit more to ensure the bullet reaches the animal with enough "umph" to do the job ethically.

For Target shooting , well that's a different story. I've stood behind bullseye shooters during match and have watched them literally lob 200gr SWC boolits out of their 45s in a high arc out to 25yds and have seen them cut the X ring out of the target.

Bruce

[Jack Stanley]

The load is accurate just not all that fast but if I think of it another way . It is a heavy thirty-one caliber moving faster than many handgun rounds . Should the desire for whitetail deer come up I've no doubt a careful shot could bring the critter down .

I'm thinking more like load all the cases I have and use it for plinking .

Jack

[303Guy]

What is the boolit weight? You could try a load of AR2208 with some Dacron filler for powder positioning and try for 1900 to 2200fps.



Admittedly, that was only 45yds or so but my heartbeat shake alone would have produced that. That was an AR2208 load but the boolit was 220gr. Velocity should be around 1800 to 1900 fps.

The Argentinian Mauser (7.65x53) is a rimless equivalent of the 303 Brit. Same case capacity, ballistics (174gr @ 2460fps), bore size and bullet weight.

[Jack Stanley]

With lube and gas check it is one ninety-five(ish) in weight , Hardness is fourteen BHN .

Has anyone tried Blue Dot as a Propellant for the 303 British ?

Years back I think it was Reloader fifteen and a little bit of ground corn cobs compressed that gave excellent accuracy and almost two thousand feet per second . That was a Lithgow rifle with a .318" groove and in this case I'm squeezing the bullets to just over .314" for a different rifle . I'm gonna have to learn what this one likes and ..... doesn't .



For giggles , I tried the same Unique powder charge in my aught six with a 314299 sized to .311" . It grouped real well in the 1903A3 but I did have to give the sight three clicks left , that seemed a little wierd .

Jack

[madsenshooter]

I have used Blue Dot in the 30-40 Krag quite a bit. Work up from 16gr. Max should be around 21-22gr @ 1850fps & 34000psi. Blue Dot beats 2400 hands down in my Krags.

[Jack Stanley]

I picked up a jug of Blue Dot when I was at Knob creek last time , here's hoping it works better than the way 2400 is behaving .

Jack

[madsenshooter]

I'll be looking forward to another convert.

[Jack Stanley]

The next time I load the British cases , I'll give it a try . I was very surprised the 2400 didn't do as well as I've come to expect of it . I don't have to have red hot speeds just accurate and moderate and I am happy .

Jack

[303Guy]

Years back I think it was Reloader fifteen and a little bit of ground corn cobs compressed that gave excellent accuracy and almost two thousand feet per second . That was a Lithgow rifle with a .318" groove

I'd like to know more about that load!

[Jack Stanley]

A local gun shop was going out of business and their normally ridiculous powder prices came down when they had to start discounting everything in the store . I bought several pounds of Reloder fifteen thinking I could use it in cast or jacketed loads for something .

This same bullet I'm fooling with now was cast in the mold LBT cut for my fat groove Lithgow . When cast of softer allow it goes a bit over two hundred grains . I had the chronograph out and really wanted to make a good load up and starting loads of twenty-five grains smoked the cases like crazy . I don't remember what the top load of that was because accuracy that I wanted never came . ( my eyes were better at seeing the sights back then ) What I did notice was increasing the powder charge reduced the smoked cases somewhat as the powder level got closer to the base of the bullet .

I knew a little about fillers back then but didn't really want to use them . You know ...... the "dread" of ringing a chamber , no published loads and all . What I did know was that if a filler was to work it had to stay in place . So in my simple way of thinking a granular type of filler that was compressed a bit by the seating of the bullets might work . All I had to do was figure out how to keep my fingers and face in place .

The load I was using was going to need to be reduced so I cut the powder charge back to close to what I started with . I got out my LEE powder scoop set and selected one of the small scoops that would hold enough attrition milled corn cob to bridge the gap between powder and half way up the neck . When the bullet was seated it held everything in place just fine and I took the round outside to test . After all , I needed to see if it would leave a mushroom cloud over the back yard .

I survived the shot and the case was smoked but much less than the other starting load . Thinking then that if I tried a few for accuracy and go cautiously this might work , I loaded a few more rounds . As the powder charge went up accuracy improved but I kept cutting back the amount of corn cobs so the level remained about the lower third of the case neck . The base of the bullet was right to the bottom of the case neck it that helps any .

Somewhere about twenty-nine or thirty grains of powder and I think the scoop I was using for the corn cobs was 1.6cc things went right . Accuracy was two inches or so ( I didn't measure it ) but velocity was 1960 feet per second with highs and lows only single digits from the average . I figured I had got as good as I was likely to be able to shoot , the smoking of the cases had gone away and it felt like a real high powder rifle . No leading anywhere in the barrel and the only causualty of the test was the screen of the chronograph from the impact of high velocity cob particles . OK ..... live and learn .

Does that help ya any 303Guy ?

Jack