.303 advice

[ovenpaa]

I know you love your rifle, but I bet it won't be too long until you have one of those huge F class beasts, with a scope you bought second hand from NASA

You mean like this one :lol:



This is my F Open rifle chambered in 7mm Christel which is a wildcat running 300 SAUM brass necked down to 7mm with the shoulders blown slightly.

[Trident]

I like the sound of that course of fire at 600 yrds - like agony snaps, but on a much grander scale :) need a bloody good rifle for it though...do you use your A1

As far as I know there is only 1 class (any rifle)for the McQueen at the major meetings. But as putting scopes on Gallery rifles has become so popular, the NRA have created an 'open sights only' class (can't remember which meeting/s) for gallery. Maybe if enough people said they'd shoot in the class, the NRA would run a 'pre 45' McQueen...the Trafalgar would be the perfect meeting for it, as most of the classic guys are at the 200 yds on Century, right next to where they run the McQueen....

I would say a 4(T) would be ideal for the class :mrgreen:

The major meeting, the Imperial, has 6 McQueen Classes, listed in the NRA 'Bible'.

The pre '45 class is:

McQueen C (Classic)
Entrance Fee £7.00.
Open to Historic (Issued) Sniper Rifles. Any rifle and sights
prior to 1945 designs: the sights and mounts must be
in the spirit of the original. Any position, including
Hawkins.
Ammunition Any (see Para 256).
First Prize The Falklands Heritage Cup won in 1992 by the
NRA Goodwill Team to the Falkland Islands and
presented in 1993, and £10.00.
Subsequent Prizes List C.
Conditions
As for McQueen A (Precision) but magazines may be used.

[Dougan]

I know you love your rifle, but I bet it won't be too long until you have one of those huge F class beasts, with a scope you bought second hand from NASA

You mean like this one :lol:

That's slayed me :lol:

I have to admit, I don't understand all the technical description...but I'd love to try it.

[Dougan]

Hi Trident,

Thanks for the info on the McQueen classes - I havn't been to The Imperial for ages, and havn't got a copy of the NRA Bible....but I'll get one and check it out

Cheers,

John

[Steve]

This is the next calibre i will reload so have been reading this thread with intrest.Been building up a stash of Privi cases fired by my rifle and also have some S&B too.

[Dougan]

Hi Steve,

As you're up for this soon, there may be a little useful info. And also, more queries and questions.... :)

Got away from work early today, and loaded my first .303 rounds (ready for testing tomorrow..weather permitting).

Over the last week I've being weighing and sorting a bag of 500 bullets (about halfway through) - I've ended up with 5 categories: About a quarter of them are within 0.1gr of 174gr (which I'll keep for best), then 2 categories within + / - 0.6/0.7 gr. And 2 others more than 0.7 out each way. Some were way out (worst so far at 172.2gr) and have been use for making dummies/setting up the dies.

Prepared the cases - thanks for the tip about putting a PB brush in a drill...just the job

Priming - no problem...lee tool excellent.

Powder - Poor preparation ...I was given an old Redding powder thrower (which I'm cleaning up) but hadn't got round to mounting it on anything yet. As I was only doing 15 rounds, I decided to put the powder in the pan manually - this is time consuming and tricky. I also hadn't got a funnel to put the powder in the cases..again, tricky :roll: Fortunatly the one thing I did have was a powder trickler (would definatly recomend one of these). So if like me you've only used an 'autodisk' before, i would give some thought to how you get the powder from the tub to the case in the most effective way....

Seating - It was the first time I'd used the old 'rock chucha' press I've been given, and it was very different to using my Lee turret press. I don't know if the 'neck tension' is too loose, but it took no effort at all to seat the bullets - once passed a certain point the weight of the handle was almost enough on it's own. I am copying the PPU ammo I've been using which has a COL of (as I measured it) of 3.048 - after adustment I ended up with an average of 3.045, and found that the slightest difference in pressure (which was next to nothing) at the bottom of the stroke could seat the bullet deeper by up to 20/1000. I ended up with a difference in COLs between 3.048 and 3.040... is this ok/normal :?: :?

The final recipe was: PPU cases, CCI LR primers, 39.0gr (starting causiously), and 173.3 - 173.9 FMJ BT bullets (NO crimp ) - I'll let you know how they shoot :)

[Dougan]

The weather gods were kind, and although blowing a 'hooly' by the end of the afternoon, there was no rain :)

The venue:

After 3 'warmupblowofffoulingsighters' , I did a 5 shoot group with PPU, followed by a 5 shot group with the homeloads. The homeloads seemed quieter and smoother (maybe just my imagination) - And I was stoked with the results

Did 2 more groups (though the conditions were less than ideal...I'm sticking to that excuse ) . The first 5 weren't too bad considering. The second 5 were rounds were I had accidently seated the bullets too deep (worst being 3.022) - thought this would increase the pressure slightly, resulting in an increase in elevation...but it had the opposite effect :? :?:

All in all I was very pleased (the gun didn't blow up for a start :) ), and I don't know why I was so nervous about reloading rifle ammo . In fact I would even consider loading practice rounds for the .308 now....or anything else. I don't use the SMLE past 200yds so I'm going to stick with this load for now, but will probably be back for more advice on the 'finer details' (and still not 100% happy with the 'easy seating').

Thank you all for the excellent advice and tips...It definatly helps with confidence when you can ask others who know

[ovenpaa]

That is a very nice looking range and they are some very encouraging results, were they shot with battle sights or PH target sights? If you are keeping to 200y and less you can drop the load a tad which is always kinder on the rifle and your shoulder. Do not go excessively light on the load though.

One other thing, if you build too short pull them apart and start again. I speak from experience :(

[Steve]

Thanks for the information and hints Dougan-much appreciated.

[Dougan]

Your welcome Steve. It's a 'beginers perspective' - the real advice was from the others on the topic. I really enjoyed the whole process..very satisfying :) . I hope you have as much fun with yours - let us now how it goes....

btw: I like you 'signature' ...Yoda is so cool