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Reloading with Vihtavuori N540 and Hornady 174gr.
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gilgsn View Drop Down
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    Posted: October 05 2024 at 3:24pm
he!!o, here are some of my loads using Vihtavuori N540 and N340 (reduced loads).

.303 British.
Cases: PPU.
Gun: Lee Enfield No5 Jungle Carbine Barrel: 18.5" Primers: Magtech Large Rifle.
Bullets: Hornady 174gr .312 Interlock Round Nose Soft Point. Lead 115gr .312 RNFP.
Powders: Vihtavuori N540 & N340.
Light crimp. Cases were a first reload, full-length resize.

CAUTION: Although the N540 loads are within Vihtavuori's published data for similar weight bullets, there is no telling how these loads will behave in your rifle given all the variables present in reloading, and this particular bullet is not listed. There is no published data for N340 with the .303 British and there are anecdotal reports of blow-ups using very small charges in large cases. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, enfield-rifles.com ,nor the staff of enfield-rifles.com assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.

Bullet & WeightPowderCharge GrainsFPS Average
Hornady 174gr (OAL 75mm)N540382155
Hornady 174grN540392200
Hornady 174grN540402276
Hornady 174grN54040.52321
Hornady 174grN540412345
Lead 115gr RNFP (OAL 64mm)N34081328
Lead 115gr RNFPN34091452
For comparaison, factory PPU 174gr FMJ cartridges give 2332fps in my No5 rifle.

Gil.
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Zed View Drop Down
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Points: 6460 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Zed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 06 2024 at 7:16am
How is the accuracy with N540? Which load was best?

Regarding the low velocity loads, the danger comes from potential flash over. Creating excessive pressure.
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he!!o.
Right. There is a lot of debate about it, as if I remember well, nobody has ever been able to reproduce it on purpose. This always leaves the possibility of a double charge... I wish there had been more experiments about this. Do you have any information about any such tests? Anyway, I do own a .32-20, so no real need for light loads in my No5, but it's nice to have the option.
Also, I only fired eight bullets, but accuracy seemed to be dismal at 100m.
Gil.
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When I first started reloading 45 years ago we used either Dacron 'puffballs' or Farina (think Cream of Wheat) to hold the powder charge against the primer so its brissance wouldn't cause a flashover of the entire surface of the powder if it was exposed.  Both fillers had their problems and some people reported that using Dacron fillers was causing a bulging ring in their rifle's chambers.  How it was doing so was anyone's guess but it was reportd by more than one shooter.  Is flashover a real problem?  I don't know as I never heard of an authenticated incident where it happened but everyone seemed to consider it a possibility.
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Points: 8404 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote britrifles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 07 2024 at 6:11pm
The serious problems of chamber ringing (radial bulging of the chamber) is believed to be caused from low density medium/fast burning smokeless rifle powder loads in large black powder cartridge rifle cases (so called “nitro for black” loads).  It was written about in Graeme Wrights book “Shooting The British Double Rifle”.  These types of loads do better with some form of filler to hold the charge against the primer. But, this can be a problem in bottle neck cases as some types of filler can compress into a solid mass that then has to extruded thru the case neck.  Best avoided entirely. 

Small charges of pistol powder in rifle cases with cast lead bullets have a long history of success and no issues and fillers should not be used.  Double charging is a significant risk, just as it is with any pistol cartridge reloading. 

Fillers are also not necessary with Blackpowder loads.  It’s about impossible to overcharge a blackpowder cartridge. 
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Points: 93 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote gilgsn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 08 2024 at 1:19am
Originally posted by Zed Zed wrote:

How is the accuracy with N540? Which load was best?

Regarding the low velocity loads, the danger comes from potential flash over. Creating excessive pressure.

Bonjour Zed.
I was in a bit of a hurry, so only used one target and didn't check between loads.. That said, they all grouped well. I'll have to do further testing to determine accuracy..
Gil.
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Quote Fillers are also not necessary with Blackpowder loads.  It’s about impossible to overcharge a blackpowder cartridge.

Absolutely right, though it is recommended to always fill the case with BP to the base of the bullet, with even slight compression. I do that with the .38-40 and 3F, which is quite a powerful load!

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Points: 20510 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote Shamu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 08 2024 at 10:37am
Its frequently forgotten that the original .303 British was a black powder load! One with a heavy 215Gr bullet too.
You can ram, cram, shake & squish B/P into a .303 case till you're blue in the face but its still not an overload. The original was a single giant "pellet" of BP!
Confused
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Originally posted by Shamu Shamu wrote:

Its frequently forgotten that the original .303 British was a black powder load! One with a heavy 215Gr bullet too.
You can ram, cram, shake & squish B/P into a .303 case till you're blue in the face but its still not an overload. The original was a single giant "pellet" of BP!
Confused

Yes, and I think the cartridge case was formed after it was primed and the compressed charge of BP was put into the case.  Seems a dangerous loading practice. 

Conventional thinking is that there should be no airspace in black powder cartridges, but I’ve found no detrimental effects with a moderate amount of air space. I load the .577-450 Martini Henry with 85 gr Fg and seat the 500 gr bullet so it is close to the rifling which leaves a lot of air space.  IIRC, the solid drawn case holds about 120 gr Fg which is a stout load with a 500 gr bullet.  
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Points: 4021 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Canuck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 08 2024 at 7:50pm
I wouldn't want to get hit by that!
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Oh yes I tried REAL heavy 320Gr bullets pushed by 90 Gr FFg in my .50 cal Hawken carbine. It was "assertive" recoil!Confused
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Originally posted by Canuck Canuck wrote:

I wouldn't want to get hit by that!
At any speed!
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