Thread: best 303 ammo

Husky-whats it worth a packet? At the moment nothing under $45ish in my preference up to mid fiddies.

Norma has always been a premium brand in NZ, don't think you'll get it for under $60-70 a box.
As other guys said, you're probably stuck with Highland/PPU, Sellier & Bellot, or Belmont.

Winchester Super X 180 gr. PowerPoint would be worth trying.

all good people.
just done a price check on Belmont ammo-174gr at $49 a box.
Just to keep this going in another direction-22 inch barrel work ok- little shorter good or bad.

way back when Adam was still a cowboy and the humble 3o was the rifle nearly every one had as it was all you could get...... back before the world powers all took to squabbling .... ammo for the 3o was over 200 grns....220 I believe and didnt go fast...somewhere around the 2200fps mark sort of thing and it was just the berries for slaying big stags.....
guys using dirtyo6 used 200grn pills back then too with same results. scoped rifles were a rarity and most shots were 100-200 yards.....
you dont need light and fast to kill game,it just makes guesswork on trajectory easier and at sub 200 yards you wont have buggerall of that,at the sub75yard ranges most deer are shot at it wont matter a fig.... this coming from a .270 winchester user...my bush loads are 150 or 170 grn. even my humble wee 7.62x39mm is asked to poke out 150grn pills for bush work and deer fall over just fine and dandy.
I BELIEVE your 174grn ammo will suit your rifle fine and the open sights may even pretty much match it as that was the weight fmj military ammo became after they changed from the 220grn stuff
CH will propably correct me if Im wrong but I think it was the Boer war experience with our troops facing the 7x57 that decided the change as it was much flatter shooting than 3o with heavy pills???? powers that be looked into complete change to something similar to a .270win/280ross but war broke out and they continued with what they had.

as for barrel length...you will make ammo slower (and rifle louder unless you using a suppressor) shorter is easier in tight bush/scrub but the extra velocity MIGHT help out in open...swings n roundabouts ..... sure get it recrowned but leave length alone would be my advice if not dedicated bush hobbit,I wish my .270 was 26" barreled not the 21" it left factory with as it my open country rifle. my 7.62x39mm bush rifle is short for the bush hobbit type work it excells at.

The jungle carbine was 18.5 inches and lost about 10% speedwise compared to the rifle at 25 inches.
Depends on what you want I guess.

just for reference Rifle is BSA model E -their redo of the P14-new stock and barrel when they refurbished it. Rifle hasn't hit my hot little hands yet but just doing market research. and I cant afford to drop 50 bucks a packet x3 just to have a play
No open sights on it so not worried about matching them.
if I had a 308 I wouldn't go for 180 grain pills by first choice for much the same reason Im asking about the 150 in the 303. up to 200 would be fine but if there was one a little further then a little flatter would be good. if all I did was in the bush then either would work.
Both are big enough diameter to work at the ranges I want but the 150 a bit faster. Still no good if the don't perform. If some of you say to me brand X doesn't do the job then id stay away from that one.
Same thing for the barrel-If it could do with a recrown I'd consider shortening it if worth while and that's another reason to maybe start a little quicker-I wont lose quite as much velocity as its already starting out quicker
Moot point at present as I'm just not getting out. lack of coin and don't know anyone or the areas I can go is pretty much shutting me down-but that's not for this topic.
Edit: went to rip off city for something related and asked what 303 ammo they had-didn't think they had any and he said only had privi and Winchester when they did. All gone
As an aside an old friend of mine used his dads 303 for a few years until he upgraded. Not much ammo choice back then in our local stores -Winchester 180gr-two deer a year apart in same area and found both bullets when cutting it up. Done well.
more to pick from now though and some of it cheaper

Does anyone you know reload for 303? that might be the best option after you have accumulated some brass.
There are also custom loaders who do it on behalf Gunworks down there may be able to help in that regard.
Personally seeing what you have got, id go for 150 grainers, in that action it is possible to match 308 velocities.

Does anyone you know reload for 303? that might be the best option after you have accumulated some brass.
There are also custom loaders who do it on behalf Gunworks down there may be able to help in that regard.
Personally seeing what you have got, id go for 150 grainers, in that action it is possible to match 308 velocities.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Does anyone you know reload for 303? that might be the best option after you have accumulated some brass.
There are also custom loaders who do it on behalf Gunworks down there may be able to help in that regard.
Personally seeing what you have got, id go for 150 grainers, in that action it is possible to match 308 velocities.

Ask @shooternz who casts, lubes and sizes 212 grain gas checked .303 boolits. Sells them at competitive price on TM.

Marty henry-good point and otherwise a really good idea.
I grew up on the coast, spent 10 years in Oz and then moved to Canterbury where all the missus family is. I know bugger all people over here at all lol so that's a no go. But I did get some gear years ago from a fella here in Christchurch for my 416 and some loaded bullets for my 243. I looked him up and he is out of business so no good there but something to consider.
Only thing is I need some brass to start with. It would almost be cheaper to start from scratch then shoot a bunch off just for new ones but its still a cracking idea.
I still have to shoot it to see how it goes so get some from that but the 243 stuff I got years ago, the reloader supplied everything.
Cordite-they would be nice big bullets but going slow yeah? I'll look them up for reference if nothing else.
Appreciate everyone's patience
edit: checked up shooternz profile-he's in Tokoroa, that's not that flash for getting ammo down here is it? How does that sort of thing go for TPT or are you just referring to the projectiles alone?

Yes it all revolves Round brass. Privi is excellent brass for reloading and the cheapest factory ammo around. Cheep doesn't mean poor quality though. Gunworks may sell unprimed brass but youll need all the gear or access to someone with it. If you only intend to shoot 100 or so a year factory may be the cheapest option after all

Originally Posted by csmiffy

Marty henry-good point and otherwise a really good idea.
I grew up on the coast, spent 10 years in Oz and then moved to Canterbury where all the missus family is. I know bugger all people over here at all lol so that's a no go. But I did get some gear years ago from a fella here in Christchurch for my 416 and some loaded bullets for my 243. I looked him up and he is out of business so no good there but something to consider.
Only thing is I need some brass to start with. It would almost be cheaper to start from scratch then shoot a bunch off just for new ones but its still a cracking idea.
I still have to shoot it to see how it goes so get some from that but the 243 stuff I got years ago, the reloader supplied everything.
Cordite-they would be nice big bullets but going slow yeah? I'll look them up for reference if nothing else.
Appreciate everyone's patience
edit: checked up shooternz profile-he's in Tokoroa, that's not that flash for getting ammo down here is it? How does that sort of thing go for TPT or are you just referring to the projectiles alone?

@csmiffy

Fifty rounds .303 212grain off shooternz for $15 via TM, $5 postage. No special post/handling required.

And yes, just referring to the projectiles alone.

The max of Trail Boss I can get behind them in my .303 cases is 14.1 grains so what the heck that's what I put in. No chronometer. Pleasant to shoot - kind of unexpected with such heavy slugs, but it's more from the Trail Boss safe loads I think.

As they have gas checks they can be pushed fast, but at lower velocities (as for .22LR supersonics) lead fouling is kept to a minor non-problem level.

I still use my 1944 shortened 303. It was my old pig gun back in the 80's, Back then I had a gunsmith shorten it as much as possible but still stay legal. At 100m with a Weaver 2.5x it shoots Highland 150's into a 3 inch group (3 shots) at 100 metres. I'm pretty happy with that considering the short barrel and low power scope.

The Highland is accurate, but I found that the bullets can be too hard for goat/fallow sized animals. I lost a couple of nanny goats that were hit through the chest and then walked into high fern. It took me about 10-minutes to get to where they were and apart from where they were hit; there was no blood trail. Couldn't even find them! I'm 100% sure they were dead; but no trail.... Even fallow hit through the shoulder in open-ish country went a fair distance. The Highland ammo maybe more suitable for red deer sized animals? My mate had the same experience with Highland 140grain 7mm08....

I think it may be the case that the Highland is harder than it needs, but is also going slow, not enough to expand properly