303 british reloading advice

Reloading equipment, methods, load data, powder and projectile information.

303 british reloading advice

Post by 1959 » 29 May 2019, 3:12 pm

just after some reloading advice. Have a no4 mk1. am going to get a lee loader and will just be using rifle down the range. might get into military comp. does anyone have recomendations as to powder type and projectile type. ambition is to make it as accurate as possible, dont intend to hunt with it.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by Blr243 » 30 May 2019, 2:02 pm

I load for my 303. Only thing I can think of is sometimes the measured bore can be a bit oversize. So identification of that may affect your choice of projectiles
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by bladeracer » 30 May 2019, 3:43 pm

1959 wrote:just after some reloading advice. Have a no4 mk1. am going to get a lee loader and will just be using rifle down the range. might get into military comp. does anyone have recomendations as to powder type and projectile type. ambition is to make it as accurate as possible, dont intend to hunt with it.


There are a fair few bullet choices from about 115gn up to 220gn depending on what you prefer. I have had zero success with .308" bullets.
AR2206H and Trailboss are my favorites, but AR2209 is a good choice as well.

Accuracy in the .303's is more about the rifle than the ammo I reckon, get yourself some good books on accurising the Lee-Enfields. If your goal is accuracy you'll be looking at competition bullets, I prefer the cheaper stuff. DocAV does some monolithic brass bullets that replicate the MkVII I think. I have some but haven't tested them yet. Otherwise the Hornady 150gn SP is a cheap choice for putting lots of rounds down range, might be useful for setting up the rifle before trying to develop precision loads.

You can also get a drop-in scope mount that helps you refine your loads during development.

http://avbtechservices.com.au/projectiles/
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by No1Mk3 » 30 May 2019, 7:22 pm

G'day 1959,
Forget accurising your rifle if you think you may want to get into competition shooting with our club (Military Rifle Club) as we do not allow accurised rifles to compete in most comps, especially our monthly 3P comp. As for powder, most of us use AR2206H, with a few getting good results from 2208 especially with the heavier 180g + projies. What make is your No4? British, American or Canadian? The number of grooves may have an impact on your projectile choice with 2 groove barrels usually preferring a 150g flat base and many 5 groove preferring heavier. For best results you will need to go through the process of slugging the barrel and matching bullet diameters to suit. One "trick" of No4's is that some will not shoot well with flat base projectiles and some will not shoot with boat tails, so try both when you are load developing and see if your rifle is going to be one of the fussy ones. Our next comp day at Little River is June 2nd, if you are in the Melbourne area drop in and ask around the No4 shooters, we will be happy to answer any questions, Cheers.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by SCJ429 » 30 May 2019, 7:56 pm

I don't think he was saying that he wanted to modify the rifle in order to make it accurate. Rather he wanted a projectile and load data that he could use to make his rifle as accurate as he could.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by bladeracer » 30 May 2019, 8:09 pm

No1Mk3 wrote:G'day 1959,
Forget accurising your rifle if you think you may want to get into competition shooting with our club (Military Rifle Club) as we do not allow accurised rifles to compete in most comps, especially our monthly 3P comp. As for powder, most of us use AR2206H, with a few getting good results from 2208 especially with the heavier 180g + projies. What make is your No4? British, American or Canadian? The number of grooves may have an impact on your projectile choice with 2 groove barrels usually preferring a 150g flat base and many 5 groove preferring heavier. For best results you will need to go through the process of slugging the barrel and matching bullet diameters to suit. One "trick" of No4's is that some will not shoot well with flat base projectiles and some will not shoot with boat tails, so try both when you are load developing and see if your rifle is going to be one of the fussy ones. Our next comp day at Little River is June 2nd, if you are in the Melbourne area drop in and ask around the No4 shooters, we will be happy to answer any questions, Cheers.


I'm talking about setting up the rifle as it was done in the day, not modifying anything.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by No1Mk3 » 31 May 2019, 5:50 am

G'day bladeracer,
"Setting up -- as it was done in the day", normally involves altering the characteristics of the rifle from factory, as such this is considered accurising whether any part is truly modified or not and is prohibited by the rules. If 1959 just wants to make his rifle shoot better, fine, lots of good info on that, but he will not be able to shoot a comp with us after doing so. You would need to define exactly what you mean by "setting up", if it means floating, not permitted, if it means corking, like one of my Fultons No4's even though it is invisible externally, also prohibited, any trigger work whatsoever, not permitted, action shimming not permitted. The only thing you can do is re-new the draws if the action has come off the draws or there is uneven recoil pressure signs, or re-new the crown, even out the contact pressure of the fore-end to the socket, That's about it. Every other modification/alteration puts the rifle into H Class (Accurised). Cheers.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by 1959 » 03 Jun 2019, 4:02 pm

Thanks for the input. I just want too get the best groups. As far as mods it has a singer peep site fitted and I dont think the original site can be re fitted as it looks like a hacksaw has seen some use to the part where the original site used to live. therefore it might be inelligable for any comps. Just looking for a hobby, like too tinker.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by Oldbloke » 03 Jun 2019, 4:29 pm

Hi 1959.

A bit off topic.
Lee loader will do the job. But you might be better looking at a set of RGB lee dies and a used press to get started or a kit
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by Stoney » 04 Jun 2019, 6:09 pm

A Lee loader and AR2206H mate.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by Cooper » 04 Jun 2019, 8:28 pm

I use the Lee loader/ Lee collet die in the press and 2208 and Trailboss in 303.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by rigby308 » 13 Dec 2020, 4:43 pm

Hi just joined and hoping someone can give me some advice. I still own my first centrefire rifle, a Parker Hale Deluxe Sporter .303 based on a Longbranch No 4 Mk1 action. I recently decided to dust it off and load sone reduced loads for Fallow hunting around Bathurst. I am a novice reloader so would appreciate some advice.

I loaded up some 180gr Speer RNSP using 34gr of 2206H, giving a tad over 2000 fps (basically a 30/30 equiv) Took it to the farm and tried it at 100m. Surprisingly, it gave me a 3 shot group of just over 1" , repeated, then on the third group it through a high flyer, litterally 3" higher than the group, repeated, did it again. Windage is perfect, just throws elevation. It concerns me a little as i like to have reliable hunting accuracy. Took the same load to St Marys 50m indoor range today, same thing. Nice 1/2 " 4 shot group, but with one with a 3" high flyer. Its got be beat. It seems like a load with hesps of potential, but the rifle seems to consistently throw the high flyer, usually just the one. Any thoughts ?
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by snag » 14 Dec 2020, 6:44 pm

My .303 loads are 174 grain FMJ over 43grains of Win 760 for combined Services comp, 174 grain FMJ over 38 grains of AR2208 for my Martini Enfield and 150grain soft point over 38.5 grains of AR2208 for mucking around. These are mild loads, but I've managed to pick up a trophy or two in competition. With these old battle guns, fastest isn't always bestest.
The pen may be mightier than the sword, but personally I prefer the .30/30 Winchester.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by in2anity » 14 Dec 2020, 9:58 pm

Rigby, it sounds very much like a king screw problem. It’s well known to cause verticality. Your timber has likely shrunk and the trigger guard is not bearing correctly. You can solve this by shortening the crush collar aka king screw bushing. Have a look at my post here viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14098 especially the follow up i.e. "PART 4: THE KING SCREW" bit further down, where I discuss what I did with my king screw bushing.
Last edited by in2anity on 17 Dec 2020, 10:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
At what point does lack of maintenance become patina?
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by Farmerpete » 17 Dec 2020, 7:57 am

Remember reading through a brittish forum when I was looking for the same thing,
A guy tried a lot of different combinations and settled on 180 grain projectile with 41 grains of 2208, I've been using it since and it's done well enough for me
Last edited by Farmerpete on 19 Dec 2020, 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by in2anity » 17 Dec 2020, 10:04 am

Farmerpete wrote:180 grain projectile with 51 grains of 2208

Farmerpete do you mean 41 grains. I doubt 51 grains would even fit, let alone be safe.
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by Oldbloke » 17 Dec 2020, 9:19 pm

Must be 41gr.

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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by Farmerpete » 19 Dec 2020, 12:51 pm

in2anity wrote:
Farmerpete wrote:180 grain projectile with 51 grains of 2208

Farmerpete do you mean 41 grains. I doubt 51 grains would even fit, let alone be safe.


Sorry I didn't reread before posting and my fat fingers hit the 5 I'll edit the original post now
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Re: 303 british reloading advice

Post by Oldbloke » 19 Dec 2020, 5:24 pm

Farmerpete wrote:
in2anity wrote:
Farmerpete wrote:180 grain projectile with 51 grains of 2208

Farmerpete do you mean 41 grains. I doubt 51 grains would even fit, let alone be safe.


Sorry I didn't reread before posting and my fat fingers hit the 5 I'll edit the original post now



I have that issue too. Along with
"auto correct"
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