Another .311 SMK shortage?

[Sapper740]

A look through the new Natchez Shooting and Outdoors catalogue found only one .311" bullet offering, a 150 gr. TSX from Barnes and one Hornady .3115" 255 gr. subsonic bullet for the 7.62 X 39 cartridge. Nothing from Sierra, Speer, Nosler or Lapua for Lee Enfield shooters. Curiosity piqued, I went to the Sierra website only to find that their most recent run of .311 174 gr. SMKs was "Sold Out". I've talked to Sierra reps previously and they have told me that they are rushing to complete orders for the calibers more commonly seen in the U.S. but they do react to customer input and will make runs of the 174 gr. SMK when they believe the market needs them. In the interim I recommend you scour online sales and your LGS for remaining stock.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Related:

Hollow-pointed, closed-base boat-tailed bullets behave somewhat differently at launch than the open-based Mk Vll bullets of yore; i.e., the bullets around which the rifles and propellant loads were developed.

Any 174 bullet that departs in any way from the Mk Vll standard will have a trajectory NOT even remotely related to the graduations on the various sights.

Then there is the bedding which, once again, was arrived at to produce consistent results with ONE standardized cartridge.

Given the officially-acceptable rifling specifications of your basic .303 service barrel, it is a little surprising that the bore-riding Mk Vll bullets shoot as well as they do.

[Sapper740]

Bruce, true but does anyone make a cupronickel jacketed, open and flat base, 174 gr. spitzer bullet with a light weight material filling the ogive? We have to make do with what is available and adjust our sights to fit the ballistics of our handloads.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

India and Pakistan were both producing proper Mk Vll ammo last time I looked.

Proper bullets, but with the horrendous corrosive primers and the highly erosive Cordite propellant.

If anyone has the cash and some patience, I would reckon an order for a couple of million for global distribution might get a fair hearing.

As I have mentioned before, the same bullet will work nicely with several other cartridges: the THREE different 7.7 Japanese, 7.65 Argentine, 7.62 x 54R, and so on.

And,raw projectiles have a VERY long "shelf-life" and, being "free from explosives" can be shipped almost anywhere without too much drama.

So.......

[Sapper740]

Unfortunately, with the current regime in charge shipping ammuntion components would likely result in ITAR complications.