Thread: Resurgence of interest in the old "Three Oh"?

I have a nice Martini action, its old/new barrel is waiting down South to go to a better place ,,,,,,, I think !

I just got the sight on the other yesterday, I'm now pissed off I missed a huge can of ADI 2201 from ancient times as I have been using up a small can I have & it is great for the Old girls !

Originally Posted by Scout

I have a nice Martini action, its old/new barrel is waiting down South to go to a better place ,,,,,,, I think !

I just got the sight on the other yesterday, I'm now pissed off I missed a huge can of ADI 2201 from ancient times as I have been using up a small can I have & it is great for the Old girls !

@@Scout That MG barrel is just waiting patiently to be whittled down to go in an ovate sewer pipe !

Many is the time I have looked at it and though you have so much tonnage stranded all over the world you won't miss one 303 barrel !
But I don't currently have a nitro proof action I can spin it on to

Originally Posted by Scout

I have a nice Martini action, its old/new barrel is waiting down South to go to a better place ,,,,,,, I think !

I just got the sight on the other yesterday, I'm now pissed off I missed a huge can of ADI 2201 from ancient times as I have been using up a small can I have & it is great for the Old girls !

Greetings @Scout,
If I may offer some words of caution about AR2201. AR2201 was replaced by AR2206 around 40 years ago. The Oz Army found that AR2201 produced variable port pressure in the 5.56 and had a poor shelf life especially at high temperatures. Mulwex developed AR2206 which was the first of what was later labled by Hodgdon Extreme powders. Mulwex never manufactured AR2201 as a canister powder for direct sale to the public only offering it to ammunition manufacturers like CAC which packaged it and sold to the public. For this reason load data is variable. I don't doubt for a minute that you are getting excellent results from some carefully stored AR2201 but you may wish to consider using AR2206H which should give as good or perhaps better results in your old girls. This is what I do in my old soldiers. To me using AR2201 with an unknown storage history creats an unneccesary risk.
Regards Grandpamac.

@grandpamac lol yes I reckoned it was way old powder & that's why I didn't take the opportunity of the 5lb can but wish I had now, as this stuff has been working great & it was in a CAC can as I remember .

When I was after data they said the military found it wanting in 7.62X51 - 308 used in the SLR as I remember but I think fine used in shooting boxes, rocks & cans, in my hunting loads I will use another fresh powder as a side bar the most accurate load in a couple of these Oldies has been using .308 bullets in fresh 303 barrels !

Thank you for the note on the powders use grandpamac, much appreciate the knowledge !

Originally Posted by Scout

@grandpamac lol yes I reckoned it was way old powder & that's why I didn't take the opportunity of the 5lb can but wish I had now, as this stuff has been working great & it was in a CAC can as I remember .

When I was after data they said the military found it wanting in 7.62X51 - 308 used in the SLR as I remember but I think fine used in shooting boxes, rocks & cans, in my hunting loads I will use another fresh powder as a side bar the most accurate load in a couple of these Oldies has been using .308 bullets in fresh 303 barrels !

Thank you for the note on the powders use grandpamac, much appreciate the knowledge !

Greetings @Scout,
Thanks for your reply and kind words. I would be most interested in some more detail on your .308 projectiles in the .303 (.314) barrel. I had read of people using partition projectles in this way. One of my .303 rifles has a mint two groove barrel and shoots the .303 174 grain RN very very well. It also shoots the .303 Norma 150 grain BT quite well but 150 grain .308 projectiles not that well. I thought about getting some 170 grain .308 flat points for my .30-40 Krag Martini to also try in the .303 but have not done so yet. The Martini shoots the 150 grain RN projectiles so well in spite of a really long throat. All the loads for these rifles use AR2206H.
Regards Grandpamac.