Reloading for 1903 springfield

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Originally Posted by M95Dennis

Just getting started reloading for my 1903. I have Imr 4064 and 150gn flat based spire point factory seconds. Any tips or experience to share. Should I keep to listed OAL. I have a redfield peep sight on it and wanted to go for accurate loads . It has a 1944 1903a3 2 grove barrel on it. Yes it was sporterized when I got it but barrel wasn't cut. With some factory loads it seemed pretty good. I won't be using it for hunting so was interested just in target shooting.

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The biggest problem I had in the 150gr weight range was finding a good flat based bullet that was long enough to load to factory ball round OAL. The Hornady 150 Interlocks, and the Sierra 150 Pro Hunters will allow this. Most if not all 150gr BT projectiles won't.
You can try seating out to the lands, but you might reach the point where the round won't fit into the mag box anymore before that happens.

After all that, you may just end up where I did...right at factory ball round length.

I now use Speer 165gr HCSP's with either IMR4895 or 4064 @ 2700 fps as my general use round for the 03A3 and M1 rifles.

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Originally Posted by WarPig1976

I Back off 10 or 15 thousands.

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Agreed. A range that I use myself with good results. Since any setup has some tolerances (bullet shape, measurement accuracy, seating die action) it is illusory to think that one can hold the spacing between bullet ogive and land contact constant to 1/1000. In other words, trying to get too close will result in pressure variation as a simple result of the seating depth variation.
BUT,
if there is not enough of the (more or less) cylindrical portion of the bullet within the neck of the loaded cartridge, then there will be inadequate expansion of the neck on firing before the bullet comes free, resulting in a gas loss around the neck that will be visible as a dirty deposit. So optimum seating depth is often incompatible with the use of boattails.

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Originally Posted by jakester

After all that, you may just end up where I did...right at factory ball round length.

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- Which seems to me to be a good indication that there is no significant throat wear in that rifle!

When I started loading one of my mentors told me that loading for a pistol is simple rifle ammo is a totally different can of worms. For pistol a bullet has to travel 6 inches of less before it leaves the barrel most of the time. I did have n eight inch barrel on a .44. but for the rifle add several steps like trimming the neck length and making sire the primer pocket is kept clean. Each rifle shoots different so start in the middle of the range say 44 to 51 grains depending on the book I started at 47 with max in the book 51 and then I would load 15 to twenty rounds at 46.5 and 47.5 and another twenty at 46 and 48 and then 45.5 and 48.5 (if you get my point) and then it's set down at the bench and snuggle in. Shoot 5 rounds and record them try a different loading and shoot 5 rounds until you find the load that works best in YOUR rifle. What do you do with the extra rounds? I would shoot them or you can pull them apart and reload them to what works best. Either way have fun.

---------- Post added at 04:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:07 PM ----------

Hey EX Crab they were still using the Lee Enfields ?:eek: Or the Nave Lee Enfields? :madsmile: Did you serve with Teddy too?:bow::cheers:

---------- Post added at 04:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:07 PM ----------

[/COLOR]Hey EX Crab they were still using the Lee Enfields ?:eek: Or the Nave Lee Enfields? :madsmile: Did you serve with Teddy too?:bow::cheers:[/QUOTE]

I was joking, slightly. Although the L1A1 was the service rifle in my time, we still had derivatives of the Lee Enfield in service. The L42A1 was an LE rebarreled to 7.62 Nato with a modified mag, it was used as a sniper rifle. The L39A1 was a rebarreled LE but with the old 303 mag, it was used as a target rifle.