Libercontrarian

Crushed between the wheels of capitalism and big government.

Today's First Reloading Session

Range Report May 24^th

Conditions:

1100 – temp 78° and sunny. Wind calm. Humidity 25%, pressure 29.91”

Loads:

Handloaded .303 from FTR Fazarkerly (SMLE pattern), rifle in new condition. Federal brass, Hogdon H380 powder (worked up 40-44 grain loads), Hornady SP 150 grain copper-jacketed bullets. Each round was 3.035” combined overall length. My chamber measures 3.058”. Primers are CCI BR-2 Long Rifle. Brass was trimmed to 2.211”. Every piece was hand measured. Cartridge weight variance was only 1.18 grains, bullet weight variance was +/- .4 grains. Hornady’s stats on these bullets:

Shooting experience, groups:

Distance 100 yards, iron sights (used flip-up (small) sight set two clicks below “2” mark

1. 40 grains H380: Shot 7 rounds into target:

2. 41 grains H380: Shot 7 rounds into target:


3. 42 grains H380: Shot 7 rounds into target:


4. 43 grains H380: Shot 7 rounds into target:


5. 44 grains H380 Shot 7 rounds into target (note this is a max load)

Results:

I will be using 44 grains of H380 to do the job. Stewart, Family Shooting Center ’s Rangemaster Extraordinaire, advised me to back the sizing die 1/8^th turn – this will effectively neck-size the rounds without resizing the case too severely, and thus may get some more life out of the cases. The .303 chamber is cut overly large, and cases tend to fire-form themselves to death. He suggested that I next work on the Over All Length issue, working up load groups to within .005 of my measured OAL. I am to then work on powder charge between 43 and 44 grains, as that may yield some more accuracy. Next comes primers.

Conclusion:

Reloading is fun. It’s exactly what everybody else told me it would be like, and the results are not confusing. I suspect that since I've never used handloaded ammo, over the years, I got flyers from rifles not simply because I was shooting poorly that day, but because the loads from military factories and from the ammo producers are machine-made junk – hand-loaded stuff works great for YOUR particular gun. It’s like having shoes tailored for your feet; they’re not a size 11, they’re a size 10.741…

Shooting a 2 MOA group out of an iron-sight gun is as about good as it gets – for this shooter’s 40 y.o. eyes.
Reminder: Click to #2 on the micrometer sight – it will raise point of impact; you should be looking at groups about 1.5 inches high, to zero @ 200.

What’s next:

44 grains works in this gun. I may attempt to load 43.2, 43.4, 43.6, 43.8, and 44 at the current COL to see if I get better results, as I would prefer to get the most accuracy at the lowest pressure I can – when I start changing the OAL to “fit” the rifle, the pressures can build up when you seat those rounds closer to the rifling. If the rifle shoots accurately at 43.6 grains, then maybe a change in OAL won’t cause an overpressure.
I will scope the rifle soon, and can possibly work out even better loads when that happens, including changing bullets and powders to see if I can pursue even tighter accuracy.

posted by: underwhelmed at May 24, 2005 20:50 | link | comments (3) |

Comments:

#1  30 May 2005 - 08:04

 

I strongly recommend a Lee Collet neck-sizing die for your .303. It resizes the neck only, and you do not need to lubricate the case.

Neck sizing the .303 does extend the case life, as does loading somewhat lighter than maximum. My Speer #13 manual shows 44.0 grains of H380 as a max load, but if that's what your rifle likes, then I'd stay with it, too. So neck sizing is strongly recommended. HOWEVER, I recommend that you neck-size a case and then make sure you can close the bolt on the case. The action of the Enfield is pretty "springy."

Damned good group, BTW. Not one of my Enfields shoots that well.

Anonymous

#2  30 May 2005 - 17:01

 

What happens with the Enfields is that since the bolt locks at the rear, it flexes in firing, allowing the brass to stretch more than a front-locking bolt allows. A neck-sizing die, over time, is definately worth it.

It definately likes the one load better, same as I found with mine.

I've got a friend who has a #4Mk1T sniper rifle. I think the big difference between it and a standard rifle is the trigger is heavenly, light and crisp.

Anonymous

#3  02 June 2005 - 06:13

 

Thanks for your comments and compliments. For a first-time reloading session, I think that I have found the sweet spot with this combination of brass, powder, primer and bullet.

I shot again yesterday, all at 44 grains of powder, extending overall length from 3.043" to 3.060", discovering the most accurate load in that string was the old load at 3.035". Every thing that I shot that was longer was putting larger and larger vertical strings on the targets.

I'll post later and show the targets, and you'll see the results.

underwhelmed

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