Re-taming the 303/25.....an initial range test

[kombi1976]

I've owned my 1914 BSA ShtLE 303/25 rifle since I began shooting in 2002. It has a 25.5" Sportco bbl but the stock is far from salubrious. I remember an ex-professional roo shooter once told me that a strip of innertube and an old hack saw blade was the bushman's sporterising kit. I can well believe it! It only cost me $50 for the rifle and Bill, my dealer friend from Sydney who sold the rifle also chucked in a Bisley Deluxe 3-9x40 scope for free. Buying the Lynx mount and having it fitted cost more than the entire rifle.
That rifle has taken more roos for me than any other rifle and it also took the first 4 goats I ever shot. Since then I've moved onto more sophisticated and powerful rifles but if I did my part I knew it was always good for between 1 & 1.5 MOA@100m, not bad for an old military clunker.


Yours truly in 2004 with the 303/25, 4 of my own goats and one a mate shot near Byrock NSW.


A loaded 303/25 with a Hornady 120gr HP and a recovered bullet. For the record this bullet was too long & heavy, lost it's core and keyholed like mad. The goat still died though!

303/25 was a popular wildcat and was even factory loaded in the old days before Winchester and Remington laid waste to the local firearms industry here in Oz. It suited SMLE actions perfectly and could be produced simply by pulling the .311 FMJs from milsurp ammo, necking down to 25 cal and then loading an 87gr or 100gr bullet over the standard cordite load. As a rule the twist rate was 1:12" and this limited bullet weights to 100gr or 110gr at a stretch. But out of a SMLE an 87gr could be pushed to about 2700 or 2800 fps and those lucky enough to own a P14 or [gasp! ] a modified Mauser could expect 3000fps. Basically on par with a 250 Savage. There were local improved versions too but all in all the standard version was most popular and local companies like Riverbrand and Super Cartridge Co. factory loaded it, along with more unusual cartridges like 303/270 and 303/22.

So I was quite satisfied with the mild load that pushed a Sierra 90gr HPBT at 2640fps. It was easy on cases and on the shoulder and, most importantly, accurate. However I'd forgotten one thing along the way.....or I was yet to learn it in person. Wildcats, invariably, have slightly different specs for each chamber and set of dies made. I have a set of Aussie made Simplex Master FL Dies in 303/25. Anyone would think that Simplex and Sportco, a large producer of rifles here during the 50s and early 60s, would have some sort of congruity. But about 2 years back, even after FL-sizing, my reloads would not chamber. It made no sense to me. The brass was factory Super Cartridge Co. 303/25 brass or Rem & Win brass that was professionally formed and had worked before. With all ideas gone the rifle was stowed away with thoughts of selling it for whatever I could get gathering.

Finally I took my rifle to Bill in Sydney who, as a 'smith and gun guru of old, checked the cases and cast the chamber. The result? Turns out the FL sizing die is slightly larger about 10mm forward of the rim than the chamber. The cure was easy enough. Run it through a standard 303 Brit FL sizing die with the decapping rod removed. This knocks the case back to the proper diameter at that point.

That left me with 36 rounds of loaded 303/25, 11 of which the brass needed retiring (the Super brass was not really safe anymore). So over the past 24 hours I've spent my time pulling and lubing and resizing and cleaning and test chambering cases. I just finished resizing, cleaning and test chambering the cases. Mind you, I FL sized 3 of them with the 303 FL die (sans ball expander of course) and tested them in the chamber before doing the same with the other 42. It all went swimmingly. Well, with the exception of my son's help.

I got him to resize some of the cases but he kept pulling them from the pile that were already resized. And them when I got him to wipe the lube off the resized one he kept pulling ones that hadn't been resized yet. In the end I thanked him for his help......and then resized and cleaned the lot again myself, just to be sure.

All of them chambered fine and there were no hassles. I have 70 cases at least to work with, between fired stuff that to be resized, cases Bill resized for me, and ammo that had to be pulled and resized, until I can buy some more brass either Bertram factory 303/25 brass or 303 Brit brass to form. It'll be interesting to see how this rifle shoots as it's been a while since it saw the range.

[3leggedturtle]

This is a great write up   Had a friend in the 70's and 80's who made a dozen or so conversions on the SMLE action. 25- 45 cal wildcats.  Didnt have him make one for me; he passed on in '88, b4 i wised up    Always wanted one in 25/303 Its always  the simple things that cause the most grief.  Have learned to use  a micrometer on everthing    b4 trashing it too much      3leg

[kombi1976]

Thanks, 3lt. The 303/25 is a useful round in context. I don't think I'd ever deliberately build a rifle in a 303 wildcat but if a 303/270 in decent condition came up cheap I'd be really tempted. It duplicates 6.8 SPC, or should I say 6.8 SPC duplicates 303/270.
Oh, I really should say that my son is actually 7. I re-read my post and it did rather put him in a poor light. He's a good lad and already pretty mad about hunting.
I'll keep you posted on it's progress at the range. I mean to try and get out there this week some time and hopefully the results will be ok. 

[Jacko]

Evening Kombi,

I am constantly tempted with the numbers of 303.25's I see about the place dirt cheap, often with aftermarket sporter stocks. They are so cheap sometimes it could well be worth buying one just to clean up the stock and keep the action for another project as often the barrels have seen the ravages of berden primers and cordite.

You sound like you have a lot of fondness for your old Rifle, and I could not help but smile with your Son "helping you". My Daughters have outgrown "helping me" Not sure if I'm sad about that or not  . Definetly all the Rifle needed for the average Aussie game animal.

regards Jacko

[kombi1976]

I managed to book the range this afternoon and took a few rifles out with me. My 303/25, my K98-action sporter in 8x57JS and my Anschutz 22lr. The Anschutz put 3 well inside an inch with Remington subsonics but then that was expected. The other 2 rifles were, well, a mixed bag. You'll understand why.....

I set up targets at both 100m and right out at what must've been 220m. I was hoping to see how the rifles would group at close and long distances.

First up was the 303/25. Here I am getting ready to shoot:


The 303/25 presented problems from the beginning. The first round wouldn't chamber. I managed to chamber and fire the 2nd but it shot REALLY high. Then the case jammed! Fortunately I had a cleaning rod so I could knock it out. I looked at it closely, couldn't work out the problem so I selected a second round and fired again. Again REALLY high and the case jammed. It wasn't making any sense until I knocked the case out. Then I realised the necks were really dirty and rough around the mouth. Clearly they were too long. A dumb mistake that I should've picked up. Just goes to show how not shooting for a while makes your loading go to pieces. So I looked through the rounds I had to see if there were any that were visibly shorter. Thankfully there were 5. I fired 2 of them at the lower target and again they shot really high although relatively close together. They also were tight when ejected and they showed signs on the neck and mouth too.

Note the close but superhigh points of impact.

With only 3 more left I attempted a three shot group at 220m. I didn't get a chance to investigate until the end of the session as my scope was only a 3-9x.

The second was the Mauser. I should say that a casehead seperation had jammed the remainder of a well used Prvi case in the chamber and Bill, my mate, had kindly removed it for me. Here's my eldest son Bryn with the Mauser helping out....


I had a few rounds for it, some of the old Prvi Partizan brass with Hornady (I think??) 175gr SPs. The powder must've been AR2208 (Varget) but I'm unsure of the charge. The other load was 49gr of ADI AR2206H (H4895) behind a Hornady 150gr SP in brand spanking new Rem brass. Recently it had shot poorly but I gave the barrel a good scrub last night in the hope of better accuracy. First cab off the rank was the 150gr load. It was not too bad on the shoulder and put 3 close together.....a 1.10" group @100m. Close enough to MOA for me and it left me another 3 of that load to try at 220m.
The second were the 175gr loads. They were noticably heavier on the shoulder with only a t-shirt on and I was soon wishing the stock had a proper recoil pad! The 1st shot printed about 4" high which was fine. The 2nd however was about 2" away. This was a cause for dismay......especially when I pulled the case and found the head was beginning to seperate! I gritted my teeth and hoped the rest would pull through and not seperate. And the following 4 didn't. As a result shot 2 can only be called a flyer as the other 5 printed an impressive 0.83" group @100m.

Quite respectable groups.....apart from that annoying case head seperation.

After a brief break to collect the .22lr target and let the Mauser's 26" heavy sporter bbl cool I ponied up for the last 6 shots; 3 150gr and 3 175gr all at 220m. I had high hopes for the 150gr load and prayed that no more 175gr Prvi cases would split near the head. Unfortunately all of them did..... Thank goodness for a double front locking Mauser action.

On examination the 220m shots were not brilliant. The 303/25 clearly needed properly trimmed cases although it did manage a 2.26" 3 shot group. The 150gr load quixotically was HUGE and odd. Shots 1 and 2 were on the same horizontal line and only 2.74" apart, but shot 3 was about 6 inches high directly above shot 2. I can only think that I flinched or bumped or the rest moved. Not a good result however.


The 175gr 8mm load faired worst as the cases had all split halfway around the head. It produced this odd string diagonally up.


There are definitely some silver linings to what could've been a really disastrous range test. I know that the established 303/25 load works. The cases just need trimming. Eventually they'll need replacing too but for the moment a trim back to the correct length of 2.218" will rectify the problem. The big issue is that 303 Brit is 2.222" and many people forming 303/25 don't trim it back far enough.

The 150gr Mauser load also seems good and 0.1gr of powder more or less will probably see it tighten even more. The 175gr load was the stand out though. Once I pull the remaining loads and weigh the powder charge I'll be able to try it in new Rem brass and it will probably be a cracker of a load. It does, however mean, that I have to throw ALL of the Prvi 8x57 brass I have. That includes at least 50 primed cases. It's a waste of primers and I'll have to soak them in water for a little while so they're inert before they get binned as I don't trust that brass at all anymore.

I'll try and put together so more ammo for both and do another test next week some time if I can. That should be more indicative of their capabilities.