Is it worth getting a Wilson cartridge gauge for .303BR?

[old tanker]

[B]... the Bullet Factory...

Curses! Seems either the website is down (404 error) or they have gone out of business. I was wondering if they might ship to the US. It would be even better if there was an international equivalent to the USPS Flat Rate box.

Information

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[Entry Level]

I saw on a post the 180 grain Sellier and Bellot fmj for the .303, does anyone know where I can buy these bullets? Thanks, Cheers

[Daan Kemp]

PMP in South Africa make 174 and 150 gr flat base soft point. Not sure diameter but the 150gr is .311". About R 500/100 from most gun shops. = $0.33/bullet

[CINDERS]

I think they may have gone out of business I sent them a message to TBF via the mobile No. they listed and no response as yet will wait & see. Bugger.

[Aussie48]

Bullet Factory shut up shop in October this year, had an email from him stating that he was too busy to continue at the present but is hoping to start up again in the not to distant future.

Dick

[ireload2]

A little more info about my .303 experience.
For many years there were no match or FMJ .303 bullets available through common channels in the US. Back then I was mostly a hunter anyway so I shot Sierra, Hornady and Speer flat base soft points with excellent accuracy especially with the Sierra 180 Spitzer and the Hornady 174 RN. Other posters on the net have reported the same results with the Hornady RN and the Hornady 150 spitzer flat base.

I have experimented with other cases in the .303. They were older .455 head diameter Remington .30-40 Krag brass, .405 Win brass and .444 Marlin brass. All worked better than the .450 to .452 head US made .303 brass.
1. But one of the Krag cases separated on the first shot because the shoulder was so short compared to the .303 chamber.

2. The .405 Win brass worked out the best but was a lot of expense and work. They took several passes to form. The necks were too thick so they had to be turned to fit the chamber. Some of the rims were too thick for my rifle.

3. The .444 Marlin cases were expensive and had to have the heads swaged to .459 to fit my .460 chamber. Swaging the solid .464 case head to .459 was difficult and I split 2 die bodies learning how.

If you really want to shoot .303s you need better brass, a better chamber and dies that match the chamber.
A new .308 groove barrel with a SAAMI minimum chamber that matches your FL sizing die is probably the best answer if you can spare a small fortune to have a dead barrel replaced with a new one. You could still shoot your rifle with a wide range of .308 bullets loaded in the .303 case.

[browningautorifle]

I often thought of just replacing a .303 barrel with a .30 cal barrel and reaming for 30-30 Winchester. You'd need to mod the mag lips but it would be doable.

[CINDERS]

The 444 Marlin that was a ball tearer both ends, owned one for quiet a few years sold it to get into H/guns should never have done that it was a JM micro groove I brought new in 1977. bugger!

[P246]

Criterion was making new No.4 barrels with .300/.308 dimensions. I shoot two a lot and if I burn one out my thought was to rebarrel that route. In North America there are plenty of options flat base wise in .300/.308. Currently using 174 SMKs and 180 FB. Both No 4s and only one No 1 shoot the boat tails very well. Most of my No. 1s spray them out the pipe. I ended up with a bunch of PPU and Winchester brass when an old friend passed. I’m FLR and getting 3 to 4 reloads, not great but good enough. I’m also annealing every reload to try and ensure I make that 4th reload.