Thread: 303 accuracy

so sounds like you should go back and re read origonal post.....thats good accuracy ...very good in fact.your P14 is a mauser which is definate advantage...but even your 3" groups is a very dead deer.
great you have managed to find something that works. definately a different rifle you have,something to treasure and hand on.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Bowmore 10 year is terrible stuff, took me half a bottle to realise I didn't like it. Glenmoraigne quinta Ruben 14 is the answer.

Laphroaig for me!

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Bowmore 10 year is terrible stuff, took me half a bottle to realise I didn't like it. Glenmoraigne quinta Ruben 14 is the answer.

Lol it was either bowmore 12 or the Ardberg, sort of have a liking for the Caol Ila, but given your a man good taste in rifles i shall hunt down this variant of the Glenmoraige that you speak of, not sure if you purchase through Whiskey and More but some very good pricing…… but we digress

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

yes I got that message...have 4 grns 2219 under 50 of HRBP.....will see how it goes when get chance....

just in case anyone reading this is confused...its a 45/70
and it goes bang rather nicely with that load....395grn cast burrows 2" into dry macrocarpa and becomes a smashed up blob..barrel looks cleaner too.

Originally Posted by NikP

I inherited a sporterised P14 with left handed stock and a heavy barrel from my uncle. As a lefty it suited me but I couldn't get it to shoot that well. 21/2 to 3" groups at 100 was the norm. However I persevered and experimented with loads and finally came up with a round which (as long as I'm doing it right) shoots sub 1". Shooting Hornady .312" 174 grain round nose interlock over 45 grains of ADI2208 - averaging about 2540 fps. Still not great accuracy with any other rounds but that combination certainly does the job !Attachment 171204

This is way over the max load which is 41/42 grains of 2208. Please don’t take this as criticism as it might be ok in a p14 which is a stronger action than the Lee Enfields, but definitely at the very high end in terms of pressure in a long tom, smle or no 4 action.

Cheers

Pattern 14s particularly the Winchester ones were for many years one of the actions of choice for custom magnum rifles. Very strong. Only downside may be not the greatest gas handling.

My 2 groove 1942 Longbranch No4Mk1* is stupidly accurate, even with an average worn barrel.
Using the Greek HPX surplus, I pulled the projectiles, resized the cases, put in new Fed primers and 37.5gn of ADI 2206h.

The first four shots at 100m were less than 1".
I then pulled the 5th shot to make it a 1.9" group.

Very useful thread tertle - have long had the itch to get a couple of 303s, and wondered about realistic accuracy expectations. Good stuff.

You can have fun with any caliber, but it is often when you step off the beaten track and experiment with older or less common options that a rifle/caliber becomes very interesting. Learning how to get the best from say 303s or lever 30-30s etc can take you on a very interesting learning curve - they're a journey.

Over a long shooting career I have found it is often most interesting to experiment with calibers/makes many internet 'experts' reject. Good sometimes to take the road less travelled... Old 303 is prime example - I would guess it has still shot more deer in NZ than any other single caliber.

Originally Posted by Arthur McBride

4 grains of 2219 is a small amount of a very slow powder, I would try some 2205, say 9 grains and 60g of 3F. I would be interested how that went.
(What is HPBP?)

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used 2219 BECAUSE it is listed as powder for 45/70 and I dont have another use for it....

60 grns is the MAXIMUM HRBP I can fit in a RP case...not being compressed into pellets its less dense.

Im putting in 30 and packing it down with 223 case then putting 20 in...compressing again then the last 10grns....in order to get 60 in...and 60 grns is enough... the 50grns over 4grns AR2219 seems to be working ok.....will stick with it for a bit and see...if I want hotter load will just go to 45grns of 2208 thats hot enough....
the internet tells me when the US army captured muzzle loaders from native braves,they pulled rifles and measured charges that were normally used on buffalo and 50 grns was average powder charge.....

395grn cast and yeah velocity isnt going to matter at 50 yards.......the smokeless load SHOULD be close to 1600fps

I had one for a number of years, was a "bitsa" I cobbled together over a period of time. Basically was a nice PH conversion that had a BSA Target barrel. Dont know what the "target" thing was meant to mean as the profile was the same as countless other 303's I'd seen. No open sights, trigger was one of the ones that swung off the action rather than the floor plate and had a screw for adjustment. I had a PH base fitted to it, and most of the time it had either a Weaver 4X or a Nickel 2.5X on it. Over the same period of time I collected up all the 303 ammo I could lay my hands on, a right royal mixture of different loads and manufacturers. But I was buggered if I could get that thing to shoot! An A4 piece of paper sized group was a good one, usually bigger. But it was a nice rifle to shoot, comfortable, fitted, nice trigger etc etc. And I didn't give up, so one day I sold all the ammo I had accumulated and with the money was able to buy 2 boxes of Norma 150gn. Totally different rifle!, would shoot 1.5moa each and every time, and frequently way less. And that was 5 shot groups too, not 3.
Last 9 shots I fired in anger with that rifle resulted in 7 animals, one of those shots was to finish off an animal my mate had wounded, and one of those shots was at about 350. Should've never sold that rifle, but I did.

Originally Posted by mudgripz

Very useful thread tertle - have long had the itch to get a couple of 303s, and wondered about realistic accuracy expectations. Good stuff.

You can have fun with any caliber, but it is often when you step off the beaten track and experiment with older or less common options that a rifle/caliber becomes very interesting. Learning how to get the best from say 303s or lever 30-30s etc can take you on a very interesting learning curve - they're a journey.

Over a long shooting career I have found it is often most interesting to experiment with calibers/makes many internet 'experts' reject. Good sometimes to take the road less travelled... Old 303 is prime example - I would guess it has still shot more deer in NZ than any other single caliber.

I have to be honest, ive been really culling some of the collection, re investing that money into other hobbies , BUT in doing so I have put two rifles aside that i may keep as Lee Enfield projects as they both have the bones for something “nice” that with a bit of work here and there could be accurate within the bounds of a non floated, two piece stock, an old wippy barrel etc etc one is even a potential L42 clone! But again I will be realistic in its abilities! But they will be both fun projects, i have to admit I’d really like to get one of them up and running! A mold from Jeff, a weekend casting and powder coating…….then in the truck for an adventure…….think I could find an accomplice or two!