303 British Mould

NOE 316299.

You will need to slug you bore and take an impact cast of the freebore to get the sizing dimensions.

The 316299 is a bore rider so you will need to get the groove and bore dimensions right on it.

All of my bullets for my 303s are sized .315″ or .316″, jacketed success has little bearing on cast success.

I agree with dromia, the 303 British chambers have been around a long time with a lot of outfits cutting them and the individual rifles receiving a lot of different use and care over those years. This is a cartridge that requires that your individual rifle be completely examined as dromia suggested to ensure success with bullet fit.

Early this year I became interested in the SMLE and with a very modified No. 5 and a sporterized No. 4 MkI started working on a “Ranch Dog” heavy cast bullet design for my use. When I say “Ranch Dog”, I mean that bullet to have Micro Bands for tumble lubing and at least a 72% meplat along with some other features that have proven successful. The project hit a delay when I sent my No. 4 off to be professionally rebuilt into a modern scout rifle. Not sure when I will get it back but I’m not going to proceed with the design work until it is.

Here is where my design has gotten but would not advise Al to to cut it until I can finish verifying the features against my No. 4.

Wow I want one…

It is going to be awhile as I noted as I just cannot work on the design until I get my rifle back. The buyer is going to really understand what his rifle needs. As dromia has mentioned, his rifle needs .315 – .316 bullets. Neither of my rifles will begin to chamber a .315″ plug or a case expanded to accept the plug.

Reference the drawing above, it is all a matter of the wear in the throat identified in the image above. There are a lot of feature cut into it. The wear, tear, or care the rifle has received affects all those numbers. Corrosion could affect the wear of this area as the sharp step at the freebore would collect combustion deposits. Jacketed bullets, especially the lighter one’s, have to jump across this airspace and would play a role in the erosion of the throat.

Speaking of the chambers, both my rifles are exports that apparently (being they were sporterized) landed in hunter’s hands and saw little use. The chambers are near a perfect SAMMI cut other than the No. 4 having two groove rifling. That rifle is as ugly as it gets but is exceptional accurate and why the rebuild into the scout concept like this rifle…

I’m also thinking about talking Al into a double ended chamber button that would really be a must buy for checking the bullet fit against the individual’s rifle chamber. It would be .314 on one end and .303 on the other. I would provide the go/no go cartridge overall length measurements on the bullet drawing. You would try it both ways, measuring the COAL and compare the numbers to the “what will fit” range.

I also have a “fat” offering that I tested but didn’t get too far as I couldn’t find a rifle locally that it fit.

Finally, I did edit the title of the OP to reflect that this was about the 303 British rather than a “.303 Mould”. That title attracted my attention as I’ve been considering a rifle chambered in 303 Savage.

Is there not a NOEn .312 off the shelf mold that would work?

I’m going to jump here here and suggest that there isn’t a .312″ bullet that is going to work from any source. Why don’t you start by slugging your rifle’s barrel to see what the bore/groove diameters are. Groove diameter is a good start but if the bullet selection narrows down to include bore riders you will need your bore diameter. This is probably going to be the case, a bore rider, as the bullet design needs to get past all the chamber features to get to the barrel. In that most SMLEs are of odd groove number, I prefer to use pin gauges dropped down the barrel to derive that measurement.

I use a lead fishing sinker for the bore measurement, sending it through the barrel with various lengths of brass rods or wooden dowels. For the best definition, I suggest using a sinker that has a hole through the longitudinal axis, where you would pass a fishing line through, as these are soft enough to crush and the hole provides relief so that dimension doesn’t bounce back.

Make sure your SMLE’s barrel is cleaned down to metal and that can be a task with most rifles.

All this said and in that you feel you need a .312″ design which might be because you have already slugged your rifle, the simple solution is the Lee C312-185-1R. Do read the first review though, the fellow found the .312 under diameter for his 303 British and I’m willing to bet that has been said a large percentage of the time.

Finally, I have the NOE design database and have run through the appropriate diameter offerings and don’t see a candidate for this rifle. Of course, if there had been I would have already tried it. I can’t go any further until my rifle is in hand and I don’t know when that will be.

Thanks Ranch Dog. I had no idea that this would be so much trouble. I have read “reviews” on the .303 Brit Lee mold and am not impressed. I use Lee molds for a couple of other things and they seem to work OK for those purposes. I have  NOE brass 44-40 mold and I really like it. I was hoping to find something for my SMLE as copper bullets in the proper .311 diameter are sort of hard to find.

I understand. Give me some time I’m working on it. Might be offering two a skinny and a fat for different chamber requirements so that is still important.

I’m using Robert Bose of Bose’s Gun. You might want to hold on there, I still don’t have my rifle back.