New to me .303 British rifle

[CASTER OF LEAD]

Looking forward to making this a strictly a cast shooter. A little history behind the gun first.
My cousin passed away from cancer a few months ago. This was his go to whitetail rifle. I have no idea how many deer it has put down ,but it is a big number. To the best of my knowledge it has never had a cast boolit through it.

I bought it from my aunt for a fair market price,although she wanted to just give it to me. I opted to make sure she was fairly paid, as to not start the scrap amongst family members thinking I was being a vulture.
This is the best way IMO to honor his life,and I will shoot my next deer with it and Iwill shoot it with a cast boolit.
It has had a thorough bore cleaning , and that is as far as I have made it. Work calls. I work away from home for 28days at a time. Can't wait for June 15th to start my journey with this weapon.
Got my dad building some paperpatch boolits for some bore conditioning.Any boolit/load combo suggestions would be great. Thanks folks - CASTER

 

[quicksylver]

Hi..that should be a good cast shooter...

it's a little late for me to go into any detail....but I believe I can suggest some basics and let the night owls fill in the rest..

I would think it has a two groove barrel..so a bore rider design would be my first choice..secondly it's obviously a .303..so the bullets are going to need to be sized somewhere between .312-.316...if you are going to hunt with it then you'll probably going to want a bullet with a decent met plat...

I know that a NOE 314299 or 316299 is what that gun will really enjoy but it's not much good for hunting as it has a round nose...but before you go buying a whole bunch of molds and sizers..check out "pound cast" here and on the web..

There is I believe a sticky here on how to accomplish that..it will tell you what diameter bullet your going to need..

As you move along you are going to want to buy a neck sizing die (for target work, you can shoot a gazillion cast rounds for cheep)..and an expanding plug (sized dependent on what the pound cast suggest)...

Once you have that information...suggestions will flow in....

Looking forward to progress reports...Dan

 

[quicksylver]

BTW ...16-18 grs of 2400 or 19-22 grs RX7 with just about any cast bullet should work fine...if you only have slower powders 4895,4064 ,Varget with start with 27 grs and work your way up..29 grs of those slower powders with a 200-215 gr cast bullet work great in the 30-06 so should be fine in your .303..

 

[CASTER OF LEAD]

BTW ...16-18 grs of 2400 or 19-22 grs RX7 with just about any cast bullet should work fine...if you only have slower powders 4895,4064 ,Varget with start with 27 grs and work your way up..29 grs of those slower powders with a 200-215 gr cast bullet work great in the 30-06 so should be fine in your .303..

Dan,
Thanks for the information, and the suggestions. I plan to get a pound cast when I return home from work on the 15th. Dang work always gets in my way. Lol . My Dad is retired and looks for such projects to keep him busy, so he may have already done the cast and have the numbers. I do know he's built some PP boolits to load and shoot.
As for powder , I don't have RX7 , or 2400. I do have on hand a fair supply of IMR 4064 . Thanks Again Dan. - CASTER ( Roger)

 

[KHornet]

Dan gives good advice. That is a very clean looking SMLE, and a clean and
simple job of sporterizing. First things first, clean, and reclean the bbl until
all the copper is out of it. Ammonia base solvent is probably preferable, and
use it until patches come out clean with no blue. The recommendation for
the 214299 is an excellent one, and suggest you try it at both .313 and.314,
and go with what shoots best. My old SMLE shoots best with .314. If you
are going to hunt it, two piece soft nose 299 hard base, may be what you
want. Please keep us informed of your progress.

Paul

 

[CASTER OF LEAD]

Dan gives good advice. That is a very clean looking SMLE, and a clean and
simple job of sporterizing. First things first, clean, and reclean the bbl until
all the copper is out of it. Ammonia base solvent is probably preferable, and
use it until patches come out clean with no blue. The recommendation for
the 214299 is an excellent one, and suggest you try it at both .313 and.314,
and go with what shoots best. My old SMLE shoots best with .314. If you
are going to hunt it, two piece soft nose 299 hard base, may be what you
want. Please keep us informed of your progress.

Paul

Thank you Paul I certainly will keep you fine folks updated as I progress on this endeavor. I appreciate the response from yourself and all others who have taken time out of their day to help me out! Best regards- Roger

 

[JWFilips]

I can't add anything except that those 2 guys will get you on the right track. They are some of the BEST!

 

[quicksylver]

Ah ..I'm just jealous I haven't got one YET..well another one, I had a half dozen or so back in the late 60's to early 70's....fast cars and women did away with those...well AR's too..