Some Ammo Really Sucks...

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Be aware that some combinations of rifle and ammo will shoot proportionately WORSE at 25 yards than they do at 200.

It is all to do with the behaviour of the bullet as it leaves the muzzle.

There are a lot of factors at play, but the big one is that Lee Enfields were built to use ONE cartridge. that is, the "ammo of the day". Every time the ammo was changed, most notably, from the old heavy, hard-jacketed Mk6, to the superb Mk7, they not only had to change the sight calibration, but the entire bedding setup and even the magazine.

If your barrel is one of the ones that left the factory with a barrel at the "high" end of rifling tolerances, It would probably shoot open-based Mk7 to military standard,. If not, it would not have left the factory.

Solid-based boat-tails are not what the rifle was built around.

Furthermore, if a steady diet of Mk7 CORDITE ammo was consumed in service life, there WILL be measurable throat (leade) erosion. This will also not be conducive to "bumping-up" a boat-tail to a close fit in the rifling grooves..

PPU and Barnaul have both advertised (and made) 174gn FLAT-based ammo and projectiles, in both "ball" and "sporting" configurations.

Failing finding any of that, there are two options: Find a manufacturer who loads flat-based 174-180 gn bullets and stock up, or, roll your own.

Here in Australia, one very small local bullet maker offers a flat-based hollow-point that closely mimics the shape and BALANCE of the Mk7. These also perform well in Mosin Nagants, Schmidt Rubins and Type 99 Arisakas. Whether these are exported, I do not know.