Much appreciated, Vince24.
I have read lots of stories about SMLE's and No.4 Rifles "changing" every time you strip them - very annoying indeed
Is your P14 drilled and tapped or are you using a non-drill mount on it?
I have done no load development at all in my .303's.
My No.4Mk1* was the first .303 I bought.
My first loads were 153gn cast Lee bullets making 700fps, then I played with the 100gn XTP at 1600fps and 2600fps.
The rifle came with over 400 old Super bullets, 173gn and 174gn SP's. I loaded both types up on 36gn of AR2206H and they both grouped very nicely for a .303, making 2150fps, so I just loaded a pile of them at that.
Then I tried the 150gn Hornady SP on the same 36gn charge and they shot even better so I stuck with it, and this is my preferred load for fun and accuracy, and price. The 150gn SP is also accurate on a Trailboss charge at 1500fps.
I also tried the 123gn .312" Berry's Copper-Plated bullet, unfortunately it doesn't stabilise in my .303's or 7.62x54R's, it would make a great cheap load (as it does in the M1903A3). I should try these on a larger charge of AR2206H as some more pressure might obturate them enough to better fill the bore.
The 174gn/36gn and the 150gn/36gn loads both shoot fine in both my No.Mk3*'s so I haven't bothered trying to develop anything better. I don't get much thrill out of shooting Lee Enfield Rifles, and accuracy is nothing like a modern rifle anyway, I just shoot them for pleasure. If I could get the 174gn SMK I'd be more inclined to try to develop a "precision" load. I was surprised that both SMLE's shoot the same load 150fps slower than the No.4 Rifle. The No.4 chamber is slightly shorter than my SMLE's, but my mate's SMLE is even shorter still.
When I discussed with LERA about joining them it was my intention to use the No.4 Rifle and the 150gn Hornady loads. Turns out they're not so much a Lee Enfield Rifle Association as an SMLE/MkVII association
So I have to use an SMLE, which is fine as I dislike the shape of the No.4 Rifle stock compared to the SMLE, it's just that the aperture sight lets me shoot the No.4 Rifle more effectively.
It also transpired that through LERA I met a bloke that lives five-minutes from me that attends their shoots, but wants to learn to load his own ammo. I have a lot of different bullets for the .303, and a few moulds, but LERA wants a 174gn jacketed bullet at close to MkVII velocity. I have a few different 174gn bullets, but not enough to do load development in three rifles, and resupply from Sierra, Hornady, Speer, etc looks spotty at best.
So I chased up Bruce Bertram and Scott Driver for bullets, both are local, and both can turn out more bullets if I need them (if they don't have any stock on hand). That's a big plus in this instance. Scott makes them to order, which means there is a lead time. So far I'm quite impressed with Bruce's bullets.
So far I've concentrated on chrono testing to get the velocities up around 2300fps. MkVII is supposed to make 2440fps out of an SMLE, but I don't have any to chronograph. If they did make that out of my SMLE they'd probably be pushing 2600fps out of my No.4.
Has anybody chronographed MkVII out of an SMLE and/or No.4 Rifle?
I have zero interest in playing with any bullet that is fussy about bullet jump, that's just annoying, in any cartridge. It's a reminder though that I haven't measured the lands in my mate's rifle yet. I've loaded 200rds of this 38gn load for testing in my SMLE. I log every shot that I fire so I'll monitor group sizes and velocities and see how consistent it is. I suspect it'll be just fine for military competition, so I'm not considering further development just yet. I'm hoping Driver's bullet will shoot just as well on the same charge.
I will also be trying this load in My No.4, but due to the shorter chamber I'll keep my S&B brass separate for it and save the PPU stuff for the SMLE's.
Vince24 wrote:Across the shooters in France, the 303 Lee-enfields have the reputation of being a bit fussy, like an old English car,
Fussy with screws torques, with the woodwork, with the powder loads.
And on that latter point, now that I have started to reload, I understand the reputation!
In my first 4 ladder tests of my reloader life (i.e. M38 in 6.5, 1903, Mauser FN in 30.06), I was doing increments of 0.5gn with very consistent good results, several powder loads giving the same good results for each rifle. I was just embarrassed in picking the preferred load.
And then I did a ladder test with my scoped P14 in 303 Brittish...:
AR 2208, from 38gn to 41gn
SMK 174gn,
OAL 3.075
Remington cases
100m (I usually do the test at 50m, but this specific rifle has a scope)
Oh my ... The inconsistency from one powder load to another in the 0.5 increments was just incredible!!!
And globally the outcome was really bad, until I went to the 40.5gn load, which gave unexpected excellent results on four shout group, and then 2 weeks later in 2 five shots at 100m: there was 4 impacts touching each other in one group and 3 impacts touching each other in the other group, with just 1 awfull flyer.
So I keep 40.5gn of 2208 in mind for this rifle, and will do furthers testings, maybe trying 40.3 and 40.7. maybe trying different bullet depths as well to get closer to the land.
But my feeling is that with 303 brits, you've got to load a lot of rounds in different powder weights, and do lots of tests!