Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Shot the .303 today...

According to Ruger, it's a .311 barrel. It's best to stick with .311 diameter bullets for the No 1.

I finally got to shoot mine, factory ammo winchester 180's. All shots were within 2" horiz and 4.5" vertical. I will freefloat the barrel and try to remove the vertical tracking. My next trial will be in 2 wks, can't wait.

Steve,

I slugged my No. 1's barrel and the grooves measured .313 with a Starrett micrometer.

Okay. Ruger told me .311.

2 thou is quite a bit to be out, but should serve as a reminder that it's in everyone's interest not to blindly accept information without verifying same.

Randy, if you slug your barrel and it is also .313, you're good to go with the 200s.

So are shooting .311 bullets going to be an issue?

I doubt it, since it shoots very well with .308 bullets.

Don't tell Dave.....


Ingwe

My lips are sealed!

Wouldn't the barnes .311 bullets that gatehouse is shooting have a harder time slugging up?

Shooting slightly undersized bullets is rarely a problem. If it's shooting .308 bullets well but John says that his bore measures .313, it tells me that his loads are warm for a 303, but not for the action.

John, your H4350 load is compressed and running close to 50KPSI I expect. That would explain why the bullets are bumping up enough.

When Ruger first announced that they were going to chamber this cartridge, I contacted them and asked about the bore. They told me .311.

I have fired off an email and will phone.

That all depends on how hard he's pushing them.

I don't think the Barnes will bump up at all. In fact, it takes a pretty soft bullet to do much bumping up. The only cases where I have been certain of bullet upset was with black powder and lead bullets. GD

Barnes 150gr TSX @ 3.14" OAL
44.5grs IMR 8208xbr
2730 fps avg

Sierra 150gr ProHunter @ 3.0" OAL
45.0 grs Varget
2640 fps avg

Sierra 180gr ProHunter @ 3.1" OAL
47.0 grs RL17
2400 fps avg

Winchester 180gr Silvertip factory load
2300 fps avg


Accuracy with the Sierra loads was 2.25-2.5" 5 shot @ 100m. The TSX was similar for 3 shot groups. I get vertical stringing, might have to tinker with tension or bed the forend

Hi All
I free floated the barrel one my 303 #1 and was able to reduce the vertical stringing to a 1.5 " group (including the first cold shot with a clean barrel). 180gr winchester factory loads.
I then loaded some 174 gr sierra hpbt to work a ladder 38.6gr h4895 to 40.5 gr. I found below 39.8 gr I had a lot of carbon fouling around the outside of the brass, this fouling stopped above this load. Possibily the cartriges are not seeing enough pressure to seal the sides to the chamber. Has anyone seen this problem?

Found a load this 1A in 303 british likes.
39.9gr H4895 174gr sierra HPBT
(3) 3shot groups of 1" or less at 100M
this was including the first shot from a cold clean barrel.
I am very pleased with the accuracy of this rifle,
now i can relax and become intimate with it.

That is right on the money, load wise.

It should be giving you about 2440 fps, which years of commercial and home reloading has proven just about perfect.

I'm glad to hear that you've found the sweet spot for your rifle.

I do not shoot a .303, but I've seen the same thing in my #1 7x57, which has a very long throat (70s vintage rifle). I will often see it with mid-range loads with slower powders. Once I get up to top listed load, it usually disappears.