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

Haha seems all the good flat base are round nose.
Pity powerpoint arent available to reload

That's more my selection bias, I like heavy round nose bullets on game; they are also very accurate.

Been mucking around with my 80 year old Isophore MKI No III for a while and recently got hold of some PPU 180 gr SP bullets. I loaded some up with 39 grs 0f Win 748 which clocked just under 2300 fps. I also have recently found some Staball 6.5 which is suitable for the 303 along with a raft of other calibers ( burn rate similar to AR 2209) so is a useful powder. These were loaded at 46 grs with the 180 gr PPU.( 47.8 grs is Max )and clocked in at 2341 fps av which isn't to bad a speed. My rifle has a 25 inch barrel.


Anyway today I took it out for a bit of a shoot, my rifle has open sights, V rear and a straight blade up front. I set up a target (4 inch squares ) at 60 yards, I have great difficulty using open sight now and even with glasses on the rear sight is a bit fuzzy making precise aiming hard.
I shot three rounds of each of the 180 gr loads and 2 rounds with some 150 Hornady loads I had on hand and was pretty pleased with the result.
Load one with 39 grs Win 748 / 180 gr PPU put three shots into 1 3/4 inches, load two 46 grs StaBall 6.5 / 180 gr PPU did 2 inches and the 150 gr Hornady with 42 grs RL 15 went into 3.5 inches.




For an 80 year old rifle and some tired eyes shooting it it was a pretty good result I thought.

Good shooting for old eyes and rifle,i wouldnt want to be your target at a hundy.Yrs ago i worked with a guy who use to be in his fathers fencing gang around TeAnu and up the milford road abit(1950-60s).They always shot deer where ever they had smokos.Thing was they never left their smoko wagon to shoot deer.Deer were always in range of their 303s.They made more money selling meat than fencing.

Good idea from SCout re shooting .318 bullets in a worn or large bore


Just make sure your seating/crimping die has enough clearance for the oversize bullets- mine didn't.

Here is the military ball load I have been shooting, its Greek 174 grain FMJ, loaded with 42 grains of 2208. Shot this group below at 100 m with the military open sights, two inch group which I consider good enough for government work. Velocity clocked at 2525 fps (which is just slightly over book velocity.)
(To be honest I just wanted a cheap load to shoot, but I am also satisfied that deer die just as well with FMJ bullets too...)




Here is a better shot of the rifle itself, standard Lithgow SMLE with a good bore:

Originally Posted by Sideshow

https://auctions.holtsauctioneers.co...185990&image=0

Here ya go boys drool over this….

1980....hmmm suspect thats a century out LOL.

Try again, please, with the image, @JohnDuxbury

At 2" you're getting better accuracy out of the pulled + reloaded HXP than I ever got from HXP factory loads.

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Pretty low estimate on price and glaring typo 1980 probably should be 1890 ?

Not with the charger bridge, that was introduced in the 1900s. Beauty all the same.

My 1916 girl regularly shot like this when I sighted it in with PPU 150's . I think it all comes down to how poked the barrel is. Also; I used a 3-9x scope. My eyes aren't good enough for irons or low powered scopes! It'll be interesting to see how it shoots when I start handloading

I hit the big six-oh in Feb so am thinking about what trip I should take the rifle on as a celebration...

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

My 1916 girl regularly shot like this when I sighted it in with PPU 150's . I think it all comes down to how poked the barrel is. Also; I used a 3-9x scope. My eyes aren't good enough for irons or low powered scopes! It'll be interesting to see how it shoots when I start handloading

I hit the big six-oh in Feb so am thinking about what trip I should take the rifle on as a celebration...

Attachment 211688

That's dinner plate accuracy, as in, venison on the plate.

Originally Posted by Cordite

That's dinner plate accuracy, as in, venison on the plate.

That's around 2" group, the dark square outlines are 1" The stick-on dots on the target are the small ones

Try 180s

Originally Posted by Jhon

Try 180s

Or even better try 190s
These powder coated, gas checked and sized .314 weigh exactly 190 grains

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Or even better try 190s
These powder coated, gas checked and sized .314 weigh exactly 190 grains


Attachment 211868

Attachment 211869

Looks like your casting and coating techniques have really improved. Does the gas check help?