Author Topic: light bullets in SMLE .303 (Read 2300 times)

swamphunter · « **on:** May 13, 2009, 01:49:51 PM »

I have a "sporterized" SMLE that I have had for 30 years. Around here almost everyone either has one or has had at least one. I have been looking for something tough and reliable to throw on the four wheeler when I head to the bush. We have lots of coyotes around here. I would like to get an SKS, but am having a little trouble finding one for the amount I think they are worth. I read that you can use light pistol bullets in the .303. I order some 100grain .312xtp's the other day, and am now looking at finding some loads. Does anyone have any loads they are willing to share? The powders I have on hand are: H380, H4320, H4895, IMR 4227, IMR 4759 and XMP 5744.
Any advice appreciated.
Swamp

S.S. · « **Reply #1 on:** May 14, 2009, 04:30:06 PM »

The lightest I have data for is a 123 grain but I will keep looking.

swamphunter · « **Reply #2 on:** May 15, 2009, 03:29:42 AM »

I found some 100gr. loads in Lee's Modern reloading second edition. It lists some loads for H380, H4895, H335 and H4350. Has anyone tried any of these? Anyone reloaded for .303 and have any tips. I will be neck sizing only, and have read that some people neck size to .308 as some bullets seat too loosely. Has anyone heard of this practice?
Thanks,
Swamp

John Traveler · « **Reply #3 on:** May 15, 2009, 10:46:27 AM »

Those short, light weight pistol bullets may not have enough bearing surface to give good bullet pull. I would remove the .303 expander ball and load the unexpanded case neck. An alternative is to replace the .303 expander with a .308 size expander. That should give you the tight bullet-to-case assebly you want.

silver surfer · « **Reply #4 on:** May 18, 2009, 06:18:35 AM »

Swampman I've reloaded for mine for 10 years or so with fantastic results. For those shortiies I would use a wad of dacron to make up for the lost space in the cartridge. I made up some .32 cal lead ball rounds for squirrels when I was Stationed in VA. I used 45 grns of Pyrodex and just neck crimps them. They were accurate and flat raunchy on small game

not to mention cheap to shoot. I know thats not what your wanting to do, but its fun anyway.
I would recommend the 150 Sierra Game King over a max load from Lee#2. I never got mine quite as fast as the Hornady Light Magnums @ 2850, but they were a little better than 2700 fps and shot just as well. I can guarantee that they will drop deer at 400 yards, coyotes turn into coats with them. Good luck.

swamphunter · « **Reply #5 on:** May 20, 2009, 03:44:49 AM »

Thanks for the advice Silver Surfer. Where do I get the Dacron? How much do you use, do you compress it or just fill the space? Also I was going to use Lee dies, do they size to .3085?
Thanks,
Swamp

silver surfer · « **Reply #6 on:** May 20, 2009, 03:25:09 PM »

Swampman,
Try a local hobby shop fpr the dacron, like a Michaels or Ben Franklins. If the dont have any I have used cotton balls for a substitute with equal results. I use 1 grn and place it between powder and bullet base. If you are going to use the shorties you might want to make up more space with more fluff. Please consult a reloading manual for safest results.

As for the Lee dies resizing, darned good question!

I have a pair of RCBS that I have had all along, I apologise but I just do not know the answer to your question. On the other hand the good people at Lee Precision Inc. will help you out in a jiffy. Just give them a call.

I will say in all confidence, that Sierra Gameking over a heaping helping of hot stuff will git'er done!

My all time favorite load for my rifle is the max load of AA2520 in 180 grns @ MOL with a Speer Hot-Cor Round nose. In my rifle it moves out at 2560 fps +/- 25 fps. The data comes from Lee#2. It has never failed and the best shot I have ever had a chance to make was with this load. I shot 2 times at a turkey, the first shot was at 330 yards, it jumped and ran, the second shot was at 278 (measured) yards. Its head came off. We (my buddy and I ) found the head and the comb on the top of its head had a streak in it. I have not sat down and measured for MOA, but it has my confidence. The bullet feeds great, the recoil is very manageable, and the bullet performs very well at those velocities. Of course, I cant say this will work for all rifles, but it is the cat's meow in mine.

Hope this helps.

swamphunter · « **Reply #7 on:** May 24, 2009, 03:26:42 AM »

Wow, that rifle is some shooter (not to mention the man behind it!) Is it an SMLE? Have you got a number for Lee Precision. I have been on their site and cannot find a tech line or e-mail address.
Thanks again,
Swamp

silver surfer · « **Reply #8 on:** May 24, 2009, 02:48:10 PM »

Swampman,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Request paper catalog 90495

4275 HIGHWAY U
HARTFORD WISCONSIN 53027
262-673-3075 Voice
262-673-9273 FAX
Just ask for the Tech. Dept.
I appreciate the compliment, but I had some pressure to perform that day. The guy I was shooting with was a student of mine, I was a Weapons Instructor for the Coast Guard for 15 years. If I had missed I would never have heard the end of that

.
As has been said a million times before, "Individual results may vary" but the loads listed in Lee#2 have served me very well. I hope this helps.

P.S. I almost forgot, my rifle is a 1950 Long Branch Mk4 Mod 2 bought at Rose's for $85. I'm pretty happy with her.

gstewart44 · « **Reply #9 on:** May 26, 2009, 08:14:33 AM »

Quote from: silver surfer on May 18, 2009, 06:18:35 AM

I would recommend the 150 Sierra Game King over a max load from Lee#2. I never got mine quite as fast as the Hornady Light Magnums @ 2850, but they were a little better than 2700 fps and shot just as well. I can guarantee that they will drop deer at 400 yards, coyotes turn into coats with them. Good luck.

+1 on the 150 Game Kings. I use that bullet and that load for my Enfield No4 Mk1 and get right at 2700 fps. my accuracy with this load is only about 2" at 100yds but I use it for wild hogs.

silver surfer · « **Reply #10 on:** May 29, 2009, 03:58:15 PM »

gstewart44,
Have you "slugged your bore" to see which size fits best? I know that certainly helped me in accurizing mine. My rifle likes the .311's, a Hornady .312 will shoot like poop every time so it pays to do a tad bit of research. I hope this helps.

gstewart44 · « **Reply #11 on:** May 30, 2009, 11:24:02 AM »

Quote from: silver surfer on May 29, 2009, 03:58:15 PM

gstewart44,
Have you "slugged your bore" to see which size fits best? I know that certainly helped me in accurizing mine. My rifle likes the .311's, a Hornady .312 will shoot like poop every time so it pays to do a tad bit of research. I hope this helps.

I slugged the barrel about 20 years ago when I first got it. I believe it was .3127 groove to groove. Where I hunt I rarely have a shot greater than 70 yds at the big hogs so I really havent been motivated to try and get the groups shrunk. I also tried a box of the Speer HotCor 123 gr .311 bulllets but they went all over the place.....very fast. I believe when I check the grouping it was 6+" so I never tried that bulllet again.

beerbelly · « **Reply #12 on:** May 31, 2009, 03:36:17 AM »

My # 4 MK 1 shoots the .312s great. I have been shooting Hornady 174gr RN flat base. My rifle will not shoot BTs at all. I have been wanting to try some 150 gr flat base, but as with many components I have not found any.
Beerbelly

swamphunter · « **Reply #13 on:** June 02, 2009, 01:44:35 PM »

I have heard of "slugging" a barrel, but have no idea how to do it. Is this something done by a gunsmith, or can it be done at home?
Thanks again for all the advice,
happy shootin,
Swamp

gstewart44 · « **Reply #14 on:** June 03, 2009, 04:44:34 AM »

Here's a link from the Handirifle section of GBO that has lots of good info on bore slugging:

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,131280.msg1098488081.html#msg1098488081

Curtis · « **Reply #15 on:** June 05, 2009, 03:11:07 PM »

Quote from: swamphunter on June 02, 2009, 01:44:35 PM

I have heard of "slugging" a barrel, but have no idea how to do it. Is this something done by a gunsmith, or can it be done at home?
Thanks again for all the advice,
happy shootin,
Swamp

Swamphunter, I slugged three barrels a few weeks back using Tim's instructions in the above link provided by gstewart. It was my first try at slugging and I found it pretty straighforward although I was a little uncomfortable starting the slugs. It took lots of force to get them started and I was afraid I'd slip and mess up something. Oil up the bore and the slug and it'll go.

Curtis

silver surfer · « **Reply #16 on:** June 06, 2009, 12:53:25 PM »

Sorry for taking so long to get back, but life dictates our free time, don't you know... The instructions in "FAQs'" are right on the money, but be very cautious about how much oil you use. Be sparing, otherwise the thickness of he oil can give you a false reading. I don't beleive that this will give you a reading that will be excessivly dangerous, but it will effect the accuracy of your bullet diameter selection.

In other words, your bullet will be to small for your barrel (thus losing velocity) , but thankfully will not be to large (thus increasing chamber pressures). I know all this hooplah sounds scary, (and it is) but if you follow the basic tenants of your reloading manual (short of an act of GOD) your going to do just fine. There is a lot of great advice on this sight on how to do all manner of accurizing, from reloading, to stock bedding, I would recommend you study it, and then ask the thousands of informed questions that will soon follow.

BTDT. With that as I'm sure you have seen some posters are pretty arrogant. The unfortunate interaction with these posters can certainly turn one off from asking questions. This is the time when one has to rely on ones own investigative properties. It is unfortunate, but a reality all the same.

Your rifle will most likely be everything you expected. With some customized hand loads it would probably exceed your dreams for a "Milsurp". Mine has exceeded any (and I have shot thousands) rifle that I have every gotten behind. Yes mine shoots some "Home Growns" but they are right in line with the Data printed in a generic loading manual no tricks, nothing fancy. I hope this helps.

Mikey · « **Reply #17 on:** June 07, 2009, 01:59:46 AM »

Surfer: I modified your post to delete some language but left it mostly unchanged. Let's be a bit more careful.

Swampman: The 303 Brit is a great cartridge and the rifles built for it are one of my most favorites cups of tea. You will find significant variation in bore diameters in these old warhorses and if you want the best accuracy you can get from that old 303 I suggest you slug your bore - it is very easy.

As to the use of lightweight bullets - I believe the lightest weight slug that would shoot accurately from the 303 is the 123-5 gn slug, due to the amount of rifling it can engage - this may even be the same bullet as shot from the 7.62x39 and the SKS. The 303 will reach out much further than the SKS but the SKS is also a great choice for a woods rifle. It could be the SKS bullet mics out to .310-.311 but your 303 bore can go larger than that.

I slug most of my bores the easy way - I load a very low powered round with a lead slug, possibly 2-3 gns of powder - just enough to get it out the barrel and into some newspaper or old towels and then mic it. It works for me. HTH.

silver surfer · « **Reply #18 on:** June 07, 2009, 02:17:00 AM »

I slug most of my bores the easy way - I load a very low powered round with a lead slug, possibly 2-3 gns of powder - just enough to get it out the barrel and into some newspaper or old towels and then mic it. It works for me.

I did that years ago with a muzzle loader (in the house mind you

). My wife had a slobbering fit!

That was 15 years ago an dshe will still go beserk every time I mention it

.

Mikey · « **Reply #19 on:** June 07, 2009, 02:22:06 AM »

Ow! Ow! Ow! (lolololol). I don't think I would mention that again - I'm laughing so hard my side hurts.