Thread: Anybody Loading for the 25-303?

I have one of these and I think it's a great cartridge. Mine is long barrelled Lithgow with plastic stock (I've now dumped the heavy fore-end and fitted a nice light weight wood one). All I did to the bedding was stick a piece of cloth under the knox form so the action would be tight. I once only fired a test group with it at 185m and was quite surprised to see a tiny 1½ inch group. I didn't even have a decent rest, just shooting off a fence post.

Performance of the 25-303 is almost the same as the 243 for the same bullet weights.

Anyway, I've only ever shot turkey and goats with mine. The turkey were interesting. I was using Nostler 85gr ballistic tips. The first turkey just expired without a flap or twitch, it's eyes half closed. I've never seen a turkey expire like that before, even when blown into several pieces with a 303 they still flap and twitch for quite a bit. Even at 200m the 303 is a bit overkill! The goats I shot with the ballistic tips were really shot! It was like a strike of Thor. 87gr bullets did a lot of damage too but 100gr bullets were moderate in their destructiveness, behaving more like a 308 or 303.

Ive had one sitting in the safe for about 2 years now and still haven't shot anything with it. Accurate enough, 1" groups at 50 yards. I think I am using a starting load of AR2209 and a 100gr Hornady SP. Nothing special but I'm sure it will do the trick when I get it out and about...

I'm using 42gr AR2209 with a 100gr bullet (Remington I think). I expected a velocity of 2900 fps but a single chronograph reading of 2828 fps is all I got. I suspect an erroneous reading due to poor light but will have to recheck with more shots to know for sure what it actually does.

That is pretty good speed for an old girl. I think I am using 38gr Ar2209. Just to be on the safe side...

303guy

The 250-303 is an awesome calibre to shoot, especially on goats and even deer.

I have some load data from Nick Harvey at home and will post it up when I get back next week if this helps.

In the meantime here's some data from The Reload Bench.

25/303

Cheers
Pete