Ross 303 Calibre reloading

[douglass]

Hi all
just wondering if anyone has reloading information for 303 Ross, most of the handloads that i have used for smle and No 4 enfields dont shoot well in the ross, the only thing that shoots well is the priv stuff but its becomming expensive.
any info greatly appreciated
douglas

Information

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[brownie]

I have a Model 10 Ross .303 British cal. it has a replacement sporter stock and the barrel is free floated. the barrel looks like new inside. I separate my cases by weight. load is 180gr Sierra SP size .311, 40.8grs of 4064. winchester large rifle standard primers. this load shoots very well. 4895 powder works good to but not as good as 4064, in my Ross anyway.

P.S.
be sure your cases are properly trimmed, because the Model 10 Ross has very close tolerances on chamber size.

[douglass]

Hi there
thanks for that, i did shoot the 303 priv patrizan stuff and out of the 14 rounds used 7 had the mouth of the neck a slight flat mark on the rim, not sure if this would have been caused by landing on hard ground when ejected?.
all other cases (reloaded stuff) HXP cases look fine but looking at them again some were slightly marked as above
regards
douglas

[smellie]

Don't worry about a tiny little flat at the case-mouth; the brass at that point is very thin and distorts easily. If you analyse the extraction/ejection part of the loading cycle, you can see how this is very easy to get and how it becomes more common as bolt speed increases, same as with any automatic firearm.

My test load for the Mark III Ross uses Defence Industries brass. It is WW2 stuff, DI_Z_194x headstamp, Canadian made, full-dimensioned and with the rims ALL right at Max. It is also Boxer-primed and is nonocrrosive and nonmercuric and, once you get rid of that little primer crimp, it is superb brass for reloading. It is as good as ANY modern brass and better than most. In a solid, tight Ross, and with pressures kept sane, I have no idea as to its life; I have some here which has been through the rifle 15 times and does not yet need trimming.

I load Winchester or CCI primers, whichever I happen to have lying about at the time, and a 37-grain charge of 4895 power. Bullet is a Sierra 180 Pro-Hunter flatbase, seated to the OAL of a Mark 7 Ball round. I think this seating is important, as the differing ogive of the Sierra bullet thus crowds the leade just a bit. This load runs right on 2250 ft/sec out of an SMLE and almost exactly 100 ft/sec faster from the longer Ross barrel. The old-timers were right: a Ross Rifle DOES "shoot harder".

This is a mild load but a good one. I use it as my test load for any .303 rifle. Best targets my HMS Canada rifle ever shot were 3 in one day: called 2-shot groups at 100 yards, starting with a dead-cold barrel and with the follow-up shot within 2 minutes: a snipers or hunter's zero. Three targets in one day, all three coming in between 5/16 and 3/8 of an inch, iron sights, sandbags, sandbags and more sandbags, ammunition precisely as above except loading a mere 35 grains: super mild indeed. BTW, I can take credit only for one of those groups; one of those a Summer is about my limit these days!

I really think that seating a Sierra bullet a bit "out" makes a lot of sense. These rifles are nearly all pushing a century old and for many years they were disrespected because of the wartime propaganda. They were "rode hard and put away wet" and that is no way to treat a piece of precision machinery. To add injury to insult, they also were subjected to most of a century of corrosive priming and erosive Cordite propellant. By this time, it is entirely likely that there is at least some throat erosion; seating the bullets out will compensate for this to a degree. My rifles like it, anyway.

I do hope this is of some help. Let us know how you make out.
.

[douglass]

Hi there
thanks for that, i will certainly give it a try
thanks again
douglas

[Echo Bravo]

Mine also likes the Sierra 180 pro hunter bullets (flat base). I use WLR primers and varget. My col is 3.100".

The Ross is super accurate. More so than my 1950 LB No4mk1* with a nice fresh bore.