A newbie wanting to reload

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If I'm measuring the powder then IMR 3031, or IMR 4895 are about perfect. But if using the dipper type measures that come with the Lee I'd go with the suggestions they make because volume & shape factors in to it & I don't have the .303 Lee loader handy as I leant it to someone 1,000 miles away!

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Shamu Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 20510	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shamu Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 29 2013 at 6:55am
	If I'm measuring the powder then IMR 3031, or IMR 4895 are about perfect. But if using the dipper type measures that come with the Lee I'd go with the suggestions they make because volume & shape factors in to it & I don't have the .303 Lee loader handy as I leant it to someone 1,000 miles away!
	Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)

EnfieldNut82 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: January 25 2013 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 121	Post Options Post Reply Quote EnfieldNut82 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 29 2013 at 11:40am
	Shamu I took my brass out tonight and tried to load it up in my rifle. It didn't fit all the way. I am not sure what needs to be resized the neck or the entire brass. Does the lee loader do this? Let me know Thanks Scott

303Guy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: July 10 2012 Location: Auckland Status: Offline Points: 495	Post Options Post Reply Quote 303Guy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 29 2013 at 1:13pm
	Neck sizing can expand the shoulder body junction if you're not careful. Just a thought. You might blacken the case and see where on the case it contacts the chamber.
	303Guy

muffett.2008 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: December 09 2011 Location: scone. nsw Status: Offline Points: 751	Post Options Post Reply Quote muffett.2008 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 29 2013 at 5:01pm
	It's time I bought in on the subject, forget about hand loaders and hammers and dippers and any other prehistoric method. Purchase either a secondhand or new single stage press, a set of Lee dies,(should be cheap) a powder scale,(beam type or electronic) and a reloading manual. There are a few other odd bits, but most can be had from the hardware store, i.e a puffer of graphite powder, (cheap and easy for neck lube) powder funnel, (or lash out and get a powder thrower) a small screwdriver can be used to clean primer pockets.......and so on. Reas the manual, stay away from fast burning powders and work your way through, one step at a time. Or ask your local shop for a quote on the basic setup, no frills, bells or whistles.

Shamu Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 20510	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shamu Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 29 2013 at 10:19pm
	Fired brass wont go back in, thats absolutely normal. The neck opens to release the bullet during firing & it remains a little expanded afterwards. Because of this you need to squeeze the expanded brass back down to pre-fired dimensions. If you take a new bullet & slip it into the open case mouth, it'll probably just fall in the case because of the expansion. Resizing is the process of swaging the case back to normal to reload it & can be done 2 ways. Neck resizing: This just squishes the part holding the bullet back, leaving the rest of the case alone. Full length resizing: this squeezes far more of the case back, the advantage being that it is slicker to re chamber, the disadvantage being the brass is "worked" more shortening its reloading lifespan. Lee Enfields have widly varying chambers so neck sizing is preferred as the expanded brass has beeen moulded to match your individual chamber. However it now only fits that rifles chamber because it was moulded to fit. The Lee neck resizes, which is perfectly adequate for the rifle.
	Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)

EnfieldNut82 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: January 25 2013 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 121	Post Options Post Reply Quote EnfieldNut82 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 30 2013 at 8:18am
	Thanks everyone I am bidding on a lee set on ebay. Its going for what I want to pay for it. It still has some time left. I hopefully will get it. Will keep everyone informed. Scott

Shamu Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 20510	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shamu Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 30 2013 at 10:03pm
	Watch out for e-bay pricing. New sets are $27~$30, I've seen e-bay used sets sell for $45~$50 as "collectable"
	Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)

Ed Hill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Special Member Donating Member Joined: February 06 2006 Location: Northern PRK Status: Offline Points: 1394	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ed Hill Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 31 2013 at 5:19am
	A Lee Loader in 410 just sold for over $140. Wish I had 3 or 4 in a drawer... Ed

Ed Hill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Special Member Donating Member Joined: February 06 2006 Location: Northern PRK Status: Offline Points: 1394	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ed Hill Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 31 2013 at 6:50am
	Oops, just checked the closing bid, $166.49. Ed

Shamu Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 20510	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shamu Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: January 31 2013 at 10:01pm
	Nutz, just 100% nutz!
	Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)

EnfieldNut82 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: January 25 2013 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 121	Post Options Post Reply Quote EnfieldNut82 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: February 01 2013 at 12:21pm
	Well it wasn't a very good day for me on ebay as the lee loader set went for more than I wanted to pay for it and its worth. I went to midway usa.com and ordered one for about 10 times cheaper even with shipping. Oh well I still got one and am very happy and excited to get it. I will let everyone know when it arrives. Thanks Scott

Ed Hill Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Special Member Donating Member Joined: February 06 2006 Location: Northern PRK Status: Offline Points: 1394	Post Options Post Reply Quote Ed Hill Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: February 02 2013 at 10:34am
	Good call on Midway! I understand why people pay $45 for the Lee Loaders that are no longer made, but the ones still being produced shouldn't command a collectable price. Ed

303Guy Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: July 10 2012 Location: Auckland Status: Offline Points: 495	Post Options Post Reply Quote 303Guy Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: February 02 2013 at 1:00pm
	A good reliable powder for the 303 Brit is H4350. With H4350 and 180gr bullets the max load listed is a compressed load. I'd stay away from max loads - no need and case life is shortened and pressure may be higher than what's good for the rifle.
	303Guy

trimix Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: December 30 2012 Location: Nanoose Bay, BC Status: Offline Points: 33	Post Options Post Reply Quote trimix Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: February 02 2013 at 8:41pm
	Good thread guys...another noob here, in more ways than one I'm afraid. I have a few different calibers, which is why reloading is something I'm looking at (just making empty brass now, actually..) As I buy different cartridges from different brands, I see a lot of variation. In particular, I have some milsurp 1967 Czech that is copper colored, not full brass. Some brass is clearly thinner than others. One box of 9mm Luger looks like the she!! is made of aluminum (grey metal) and some is clearly nickel plated. I have some burning questions: - Shamu wrote about whether the brass the OP was using was reloadable - how can you tell? None of the ammo mfrs. are gonna tell you theirs is reloadable. - I've looked through the various books on reloading, specifically the ones from Lee, Speer and Hornady. But they don't go into details like 'boat-tail' bullets don't work well in a Lee-Enfield." I don't mistrust what you're saying, but how do you find this sh* out?* BT's are always supposed to be a better round, aren't they? I'd like to learn details like that about my other calibres too. - How can you know what type of powder to use, especially if you're new and don't want to stray from the given directions. All the reloaders I talk to insist on their own favorite brand of powder, but they don't seem to compare notes. I like my fingers, and would like to keep them awhile longer. um, I'm getting confused. Isn't this supposed to be simple and enjoyable?
	yeah...whatever.

Rob Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: August 07 2011 Location: Saskatchewan Status: Offline Points: 95	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rob Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: February 03 2013 at 1:04am
	If you could find a lee reloader kit,they come with everything for 100$ I bought one for my nefew two..maybe three years ago,invest in a reloading manual or get your local gun shop to photo copy the appropriate pages from one or TWO books for you ,go online there are a few good reloading sites that publish what they use ,also sierra and speers sell bullets in 100-500 quantities that are not very expensive (35$-100)here in Canada,I realy like hp. boattails in 180 grn(pro hunter I think they are called?) for all 4 of my enfields,but I do use other weights when I find them really cheap at swap meets,also I like IMR 3031 becouse I get good performance with less powder that with other brands and I am not shooting these rifles out to 1000 meters so for me and hunting or plinking it works well. afterall it's lead down range,right.
	A true measure of a man is not how he act's when thing's are going well.But how he act's when things are going Bad. R.S.G.

Shamu Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 20510	Post Options Post Reply Quote Shamu Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: February 03 2013 at 1:31am
	"Isn't this supposed to be simple and enjoyable"? Supposed to? well, maybe, but it does have some learning curve to deal with right up front. How to tell if a case is reloadable. 1: If its not brass its probably not reloadable. Brass can expand & shrink back, unlike steel & aluminium (silver) colored cases, which don't return to the same size as well. 2: Look down inside the case with a light so you can see the base of the brass on the inside. If there's one big central hole its reloadable, if there are 2 small ones its not "un-reloadable" but it is much harder, more time consuming, harder to find components for & more problematic to reload. Because of this they're generally refered to as "non-reloadable". "Not as easily reloadable" would be a better description. 3: When buying look for "Berdan", or "Boxer" primed in the description. This refers to the primer types, & is "the code" for reloadable or non. Generally speaking Boxer is reloadable (single hole), Berdan is not (2-hole). Boat tail bullets & Lee-Enfield bores. If you have a 2-groove bore (you can tell by looking down it from the breech end) you might have a problem. Not you must, but you might. If you have a 4, 5, or 6, groove bore don't worry about it. The problem seems to be made up of 2 parts. Manufacturing tolerances, some bores are bigger (wider) than others. Wear from use can erode the inside of the bore to make it wider & less defined. This is more obvious & pronounced with 2-groove bores because there are less "edges" so they wear faster. The problem is worse with the 2-groove bores, but its a combination of makers errors & use combined so its an indivdual rifle's preferences thing. It would be nice if you could have a blanket definition, but the only way to tell for sure is to test yours & see. How to tell? Simple, fire a couple of shots at a large paper target at 25 yds. If the bullets go through sideways (Keyholing) & scattered everywhere your rifle doesn't like boat-tail bullets. The dislike is that blatant, you'll know instantly, trust me! Why aren't boat tails better in the Lee Enfield? Because its a really old design, flat base, round nose & even un-jacketed hard lead rounds & black powder propellants were part of the early development in the 1890's & all development ended in about 1943, even though manufacture continued for a while into 1955. FWIW boat tails only actually do anything at distances beyond about 300 yds or so. Under 300 flat fase & BT are about the same in terms of performance out to 300yds or so. All a boat-tail does is reduce drag slightly. How can you know what type of powder to use? Simple, read a bunch of reloading manuals & see what they use! It really is that easy. If a load is listed in a manual its a safe load. Not every powder burns the same way, creates the same pressure, or even takes up the same amount of room in a case. The makers of the powders spend a bucket full of money trying & testing everything under controlled colnditions, then they graph & test for everything & select good loads & publish them in manuals. If the powder you're looking at isn't in one of several makers manuals there's something "not right" or unsuitable for that particular use they found out about. One reason you need several manuals is so you can find out what everybody dislikes! For example a Winchester manual, won't list Alliant powders & vice versa. Why? They're rival companies! So you look in a Sierra, or Speer manual & see if anybody uses a particular combination. If no-one uses it, its a problem. It isn't nessecarily safety, it could be that a particular powder is too bulky, not bulky enough, or just isn't accurate. It might not run through the type of measure smoothly or coinsistently.
	Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)