enfield 303 ammo

[Humpy70]

I have experience with Prvi Partisan loading 303, 7.5 Swiss and 7.62X54 and find it to be good quality brass. In the 303 how long it lasts will depend on how much it is resized each firing. I have two 303 FL dies and one sizes much tighter than the other and I don't use it for that reason. 303 chambers I have seen are quite large and depending on who makes the brass I have seen brass with base measurement of .449" to .453". I have measured fired cases running upwards of .459" thusly to take this brass back to .453 you are really working the brass and this is the death of brass as it work hardens.

The 303 chambers I have seen allow for considerable forward movement of the shoulder and it "fireforms" into the chamber. In resizing if you adjust your dies for FL you will roll this shoulder back and work harden it as well. What I do is set my dies so the shoulder is only moved .001" to .002 to increase the brass life.



Also stay off the hot loads as this is hard on brass.

If you stress relieve the necks every two to three reloads you can keep the neck/shoulder in a working condition to sustain multiple resizings. Rule of thumb is if you have case necks splitting you have not cared for your cases properly before reloading.

I start off using Winchester Primers and use them till the primer pockets enlarge and primers do not fit as tightly. Continued use of US primers will result in leaking gas around edge of primer and cutting into your bolt face. While you can't tighten up the primer pockets you can obtain Wolff primers (Russian manufacture) which are larger diameter than ours thusly seating more snugly in primer pocket restoring the seal and you can get more loads before the case is worn out.

How many times can they be reloaded? Depends on your chamber size, how much you resize, how hot your load is, how you stress relieve the neck/shoulder etc. There is some brass that you will do well to get 3 reloads from. Other brass maybe 10 to 12 reloads.

On custom chambers it is not unheard of to reload cases 100+ times. If I were plannng on shooting and reloading 303 for many years and bearing in mind there are no more new barrels for them you need to consider other options. Using a commercial barrel turned down to fit the No 1/No 4 barrel channel is one consideration. With this change you can do things like obtain a slower twist rate replacement barrel as some bullets will shoot tighter groups with slower twist.

I have a custom chamber reamers of min dimensions which I tend to call the 222 principle which is the case body as measured .200" up from the case head not expand over .002" on firing, the neck not expand over .002", the shoulder not move forward over .002" and the throat cut at min dimension as well.

In the case of the 303 one must also consider the fact that we will never see surplus 303 ammo again and thusly the throat of the reamer could be matched to available match/hunting bullets that will be loaded and a throat/leade matched to the new bullet ogive for best accuracy. Such a reamer will probably cost $225.00 in today's prices but this is offset by the extended brass life to be reaped for such chamber dimensions and moderate loadings.

I am aware of some folks who rebarrel 303s with 30 cal barrels and custom chambers that will give much longer case life and a vastly larger selection of available bullets for hunting and or match shooting and much better accuracy properly done. RCBS for years has had a FL size die available for 303 double stamped 308 for these 30 cal loadings. Obviously doing this ruins the collector value of these rifles but it just depends on what your intended use is.

[OxfordAndy]

I'm not a reloader nor have I ever reloaded anything but SURELY, the BEST reload for a .303" rifle, regardless of the cost, is the reload that gives you a bullet that gives the trajectory that matches the original spec of the factory spec ammo.

Without this, your reload is pretty well rubbish. I say this, not as a reloader but as one who's seen many many times on this forum, the plight of those reloaders who simply can't zero their rifles with the foresights available or the trajectory of the reload doesn't even remotely match the graduated scale of the backsight. Or even worse those who have No4T's whose telescopic scale doesn't even remotely match the scale of the telescope.

Steel helmet on and awaiting incoming.........................

+1

I'm not a reloader either and freely admit that the thought of it fills me with dread!

I've also spent far too much time chasing ammo to match classic rifles front and rear sight sight size/calibration.

If you are in the UK, my recommendation is to go back to the original specs for the ammo, get the details on the "spec" MV, the weight of the bullet and the length of the barrel and call John Carmichael at HPS (or maybe even the guys at Kynamco, although I have little experience of them).

John will take care of all the calcs and and he will make you up as many batches as you like.

I did this with my Mauser and haven't had any problem finding ammo that worked since!

Simple, painless and a lot less time consuming than sitting in a shed practicing the black arts!

[Alan de Enfield]

The Kynamco is a 'copy' / duplicate of the MKVII ammunition and is even called "Kynamco MkVII"

Flat Based 174gr FMJ Bullet
39.3 gr Powder charge
Primer Boxer
Muzzle velocity 2489 ft/sec
Muzzle energy 2400ft/lbs

[Nickjc]

Do we know what powder primer combination is being used?

[Alan de Enfield]

Do we know what powder primer combination is being used?

I dont know.

The only additional info is :

S&B cases (rubbish for reloading)
Its inexpensive
It shoots well and consistently.
POI is about 2" higher (at 100yds) than Prvi

You could email them : kynamco@aol.com and see if they would be prepared to divulge the info.

[RobD]

Alan, it's not listed on their website. How "inexpensive" is this ammo?

[Alan de Enfield]

Alan, it's not listed on their website. How "inexpensive" is this ammo?

I knew someone would ask - I put down 'inexpensive' as I couldnt remeber what I paid for it.
I remember that Prvi was £38.00/100 and it was less than that - I've got a feeling it was £15.00 per box of 50.
I've not been up to the club since Feb this year so I dont know if they still have any or what price it is now.

[TGBMaverick]

I knew someone would ask - I put down 'inexpensive' as I couldnt remeber what I paid for it.
I remember that Prvi was £38.00/100 and it was less than that - I've got a feeling it was £15.00 per box of 50.
I've not been up to the club since Feb this year so I dont know if they still have any or what price it is now.

I tried to acquire some from them in July this year but unfortunately they did not have any more 174g RG in stock only the Sierra (as I was interested in comparing them to the PPU rounds).

They sent me a price list - details below:

KYNOCH .303 AMMUNITION (Prices as at April 2010)
303 Mk VI 215 gr Woodleigh bonded core bullet for hunting £2.24/rd + VAT
303 Mk VI 215 gr Solid bullet for practice 65p/rd + VAT
NOTE The solid shoots to the same point of aim as the soft nosed so you can use the solid for practice
303 Mk VII 174 gr RG FMJ Bullet 42p/rd + VAT
303 Mk VII 174 gr Sierra Matchking Bullet 59p/rd + VAT

They said they were having problems sourcing components which was why they were out of RG but as soon as they could get some more they would load them. I havn't been in touch with them since the summer so do not know if the situation or prices have changed.

[smellie]

Original specs called for the composite, 3-piece 174-gain Mark VII bullet to leave the rifle at a nominal 2440 ft/sec. In actual Service ammunition, MVs as low as 2390 were accepted; this is a 50 ft/sec 'window'.

This was arrived at by 'splitting the difference' between the loading which gave the best accuracy (circa 2250 ft/sec) and what they felt was the hottest loading which was marginally safe in a worn-out rifle with an absolute-minimum barrel.

I handload for the 2250 ft/sec mark because this is what the rifle likes. So, if you are on a range and shooting at 300, you might have to set the rear sight for 325; that is what the adjustments are for.

We all have computers these days. The maths is not all that difficult. If we know the ballistic coefficient, muzzle velocity, sectional density of the projectile..... and we know the ambient humidity and atmospheric pressure..... it should be no great trick to work up a curve, place it over top of the "ideal" curve.... nd know exactly where sights must be raised, and by how much.

The problems are not in obtaining the military-spec velocity. This can be done with available powders: 43 grains of H-4895 will do it, and do it safely. I got this load straight from Hodgdon. They don't print it because they are worried about some of the ropy old rifles out there in Bubba's hands. They WILL tell you what to use to get military specs if they think you aren't a member of the "500 ft/sec Extra Club".

The problem is obtaining the correct Mark VII bullet. This bullet is still in production in India, Pakistan and perhaps some other places. It has not been produced in this country for many years and is not available here. I have a small quantity from the final day of production at Defence Industries; I am hoardng the majority of them for making up drill rounds. Perhaps somebody could phone India and we can all arrange a bulk purchase......

Of the commonly-available bullets, I am using the Sierra 180 Pro-Hunter in my Lee-Enfields and seating it out to mimic a Mark VII Ball round. This crowds the leade just a bit but produces tight groups at 2250. Nice thing is that it doesn't overwork the brass.
.

[viking guy]

This is a little off topic but may be helpful. The greek milsurp 303 British if headstamped HXP usually early 70s. Clean(minimal fouling) and very accurate thru my Ts. Pretty pricey right now but if you run into some give it consideration. Non corrosive.