Thread: How short on a 303?

Heys guys,

Want to follow this up. I have just switched jobs so have time on my hands again to get out hunting and follow up on all my ramblings...

Please let me know if I have anything wrong regarding my rifle as my Enfield Fu is weak.

So big thanks to @gundoc who shortened my PH Deluxe in 303 to 16", threaded and mounted a rail on the gun.

I have put a Sig Sauer W3 3-9x40 on with sun optics alloy rings and have been reloading with some 150 grain Hornady interlocks with 40 gr of WW748, BM2 and AR2208. I used the hornadys as they were in my projectile box and are .312" which is good for the old girl. I used some once fired PPU and S&B some of which was donated...yeah there were dramas.

I tried some 212gr cast lead from @shooternz with 30gr AR2208 but will need to up the charge as the LabRadar was set to Rifle and couldn't aquire (below 1800 fps IIRC). Groups were 4" plus so need to crank them up a bit or try some W748.

So factory S&B 150 gr is shooting one ragged hole at 50m and 1" or less at 100m which I was pleasantly suprised by. Av Vel from the 16" BBL and ASE Utra 2325 fps.

WW748 4" groups and 2010 fps @ 100m
AR2208 3" groups and 2310 fps @ 100m
BM2 1-1.5" groups and 2380 fps @ 100m



Nice and handy



I suffered from the classic case head separation and managed to remove it with some CRC Penetr8 and a 28 ga brass brush on a short rod.

Apparently this issue is widely known and can be avoided by only reloading brass fired in your gun and by running a small wire or paperclip into the fired cases to 'feel' if there is a rim / doughnut developing when the brass flows forward.

I have heard neck sizing should prevent this (to a point) and have on hand a 30 cal neck die and that will work well enough on the once fired brass to try to prevent this problem, I don't think 6 thou will be an issue... The R hand loaded round has been neck sized by the .308 Neck die and you can see the base of the bullet at the neck / shoulder junction. This was a test on a shagged bit of brass with a rim on the inside to see if it works.

Will see how they go...

F