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ovenpaa wrote:Roger, sorry to hear you have been under the weather. Do you have any round nose flat base 150 grain bullets in .312"?

http://www.three-peaks.net/bullet_molds.htm
311466 or one similar to 311397 - what for? Driven to what velocity?

Glad you're feeling better out of curiosity will the boolits for my 45-70 be hard or soft lead?

Sandgroper wrote:Glad you're feeling better out of curiosity will the boolits for my 45-70 be hard or soft lead?

Lyman No 2 equivalent around 12 Brinell

dodgyrog wrote: http://www.three-peaks.net/bullet_molds.htm
311466 or one similar to 311397 - what for? Driven to what velocity?

Roger, it is for a .303 1:10 twist 25" barrel at around 1800fps or maybe slightly faster, it will be used for mostly up to 300 yards however if I could get it out to 600 I would be happy.

David, have you slugged the barrel?

0.312" sounds very small for .303" cast, all mine shoot 0.315" or 0.316" boolits best.

Also what is the throat like on it?

314299 is the standard 303 design but is bore rider, depending on the throat you might be better with a Loverin.

Ideally you want the boolit to be in the 170 - 200 gns bracket.

Metford or Enfield rifling?

If you get good boolit fit then 1800 fps will get you out to 600 easily with whatever accuracy the rifle is capable of.

I'd use a slower powder like IMR4350

Lyman No2 is usually 15 BHN and is touch too hard, 12 BHN is plenty hard for those velocities.

316299 sized to .315" is the norm - I sell a lot of them

dodgyrog wrote:

Sandgroper wrote:Glad you're feeling better out of curiosity will the boolits for my 45-70 be hard or soft lead?

Lyman No 2 equivalent around 12 Brinell

That'll do fine. Cheers Roger.

dromia wrote:David, have you slugged the barrel?

0.312" sounds very small for .303" cast, all mine shoot 0.315" or 0.316" boolits best.

Also what is the throat like on it?

314299 is the standard 303 design but is bore rider, depending on the throat you might be better with a Loverin.

Ideally you want the boolit to be in the 170 - 200 gns bracket.

Metford or Enfield rifling?

If you get good boolit fit then 1800 fps will get you out to 600 easily with whatever accuracy the rifle is capable of.

I'd use a slower powder like IMR4350

Lyman No2 is usually 15 BHN and is touch too hard, 12 BHN is plenty hard for those velocities.

Adam, I need to slug the barrel, that is a job for the weekend. The barrel is Enfield rifled and I suspect the barrel has been sleeved at some point, it certainly looks that way however I need to take a closer look and put a bore scope up it at the same time. The rifle is a sporter that has been used for hunting from new as far as I know. It does look to be in fair condition with a good bore post C2R cleaning. I was going to start off with some 150 SP's however a move to cast would be interesting to try.

Aye David you also need to do a chamber throat slug/cast as if the throat is generous or has some wear then fitting the boolit to the throat is more important than fitting to groove dimensions.

My Lee Speed prefers throat filling Loverins to bore riding 314299 types, but each rifle is a law unto itself.

I have just slugged the barrel and it is .3142" with very clearly defined rifling.