Thread: best 303 ammo

What currently seems to be the best factory 303 ammo? The lighter 150gr stuff is advertised as going a bit quicker than the old school 180gr pills but do they and do they work any better? Unless someone gives me all the presses dies powder etc. for free I wont be reloading so please only consider factory stuff.
Also consider barrel length cutting back to 22" ish or maybe a little shorter ok?
Cheers.

your rifle will like one weight over the other by sometimes a huge margin....try both weights and see which gives best group then try different brands till you fine one you like....for bush ranges go 180grn and cheap or what ever box looks like it tickles your fancy......the deer wont know the difference.

i have tried a few factory .303 hunting types of ammo in my no4 and it seems to shoot the sellier&bellot 150grs the best.

I have found both the 150 and 180gn highland loads to be good. 180gn tents to work better with the factory open sights but if scoped 150gn would be my go to- if your rifle shoots it well. As has been said go buy a box of both and shoot some groups.

even if you never intend to reload keep your brass, people pay real $ for once fired 303 brass

Winny silver box if you can find it

Cheers guys- I never throw brass away mind you the way I'm going I wont be making much on brass-not getting out and cant afford blaze ups. This will be a scoped rifle BTW. Main reason I'm asking is whether the 150s shoot a little flatter.
in the old days there weren't much around to pick from- everything wuz 180ish. Now there is 150s I thought a few extra hundy fps and a little flatter might be the go -also newer designed projectiles might be better.

Greek HXP surplus is good quality brass, boxer primed. GunCity sells slightly tarnished HXP .303 ammo cheap-ish.

The HXP factory was set up and owned by Winchester. They supplied .303 to the UK for their Cadet Force, and the Americans bought 30/06 and .45ACP off them.

HXP .303 are boat tail FMJ, and some .303 barrels don't handle boat tails well, but if you want to use hunting bullets anyway then less of an issue.

Thanks Cordite-hunting only so not interested in the full batch stuff. I have probably 800-1000 rounds of 308 military in storage. If I was going down that route It would be cheaper to buy a 308. Mind you I also want to do that too lol.

haha with all that .308 ammo you need a L42A1....

Originally Posted by tonyd

haha with all that .308 ammo you need a L42A1....

drool

yup thought about those too but the 303 I'm getting way cheaper. there was a 308 enfield marketed in Australia a few years back but that seems to have been a debacle.

I would try Sellier and Bellot first, before trying more expensive brands.

PPU / HIghland is good brass for reloading, but it is still underloaded. The last lot of 180 grain .303 I chronographed came in at between 2100fps and 2200fps. This is essentially the same as using a .30-30Which is fine, but not what you are paying for.
(Which is ironic too, because PPU .30-30 is not underloaded at all, and has a higher velocity than Winchester and Federal.)

Norma, Norma and Norma!

very good everyone.
Haven't seen Norma pop up when I search 303 ammo for sale but I'm sure there would be nothing wrong with it.
Quick look show they reckon 2700fps from the 150gr load. hornady soft point too so not a bad projectile. Never anything wrong with norma usually and being European they usually load a bit hotter than the yanks. My search also popped up Hornady factory 150gr at a good speed with one of their interlock projectiles also advertised over 2700fps but that definitely doesn't show up in NZ.

Your local gun shop can order Norma in from NZ Ammo, or you can buy it online from their own retail branch - sorry cant remember what they call themselves. Just so long as you dont order it through that other bloody outfit, whats it called? yeah that H&F rip off place.