150 grain Hornady powder choice
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Topic: 150 grain Hornady powder choice
Posted By: m106
Subject: 150 grain Hornady powder choice
Date Posted: July 15 2023 at 4:55pm
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ive given up on the PPU 174 grainers in my rifle and i bought some 150 grain spire point to try.anyone have a powder choice yall have had success with?
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Replies:
Posted By: Dragunov
Date Posted: July 16 2023 at 2:50am
| I have not had good luck with those 150s. Every flavor I've tried shot wide of the mark. Not that any of the 174s (or 189s) are perfect, but certainly I can get my shots in the black with the PPU in my No.4 Maltby, but my Longbranch insists on Sierra 174 gr MKs. My No.5 does its best with my cast 185 gr,/.315 diameter lead. Have you mixed your barrel? |
Posted By: Sapper740
Date Posted: July 16 2023 at 4:33am
| I've experimented with 150 gr. Hornady SST, LeHigh copper solids, and Speer Hot Core bullets and have worked up very accurate handloads with the SST's and LeHighs using BL-C(2) and Varget powders. The Speer Hot Core accuracy was adequate for hunting. As usual, some rifles preferred certain bullet/powder loads more than others. My LB loves the Hornady SST's and my Fulton regulated No.1 MkIII liked the LeHighs. Your results may vary. |
Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: July 16 2023 at 5:07am
| A couple of my LE's seem to like the 150 Hornady Spire Points propelled by H4895 powder. |
Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: July 16 2023 at 11:03am
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The Hornady # 3120s have worked well for me with IMR 3031 (41.0 Gr for 2620FPS @ 10') or IMR 4895 (39.0Gr for 2550 @ 10'). H335 was a disaster I'd studiously avoid it in .303 w 150 Gr pills. ------------- Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force) |
Posted By: shiloh
Date Posted: July 17 2023 at 4:15am
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I use Speer Hot Core bullets PSP because that`s all I can get. I use IMR3031 and IMR4064 because that`s all I can get. They shoot ok out to 100 yrds because that`s all I`ve got access to. You make due the best you can with what`s avail or can afford. (Varget is well over a $100/lb, not in my budget any more) Canada seems to be like the Klondike gold rush any more, if there`s a demand for something the prices get jacked way up.
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: July 17 2023 at 7:57am
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Some of the common Service Rifle powders are still not available. I’ve been wanting IMR 8208 XBR for a few years now, none to be found. H4895 is not available. Varget is, but at a ridiculous price. As Shiloh said, you have to use what you have. If it’s a published load, it’s GTG. Im seeing some Vihtavuori powders becoming available, they work well in .303, .308 and .223. |
Posted By: Dragunov
Date Posted: July 17 2023 at 8:35am
| For the past two years my go-to powder has been A4064.....mainly because that's what I have been able to consistently find. Being a dinosaur now at 70 y.o., my go-to charge has been 37.0 grains with 174s and 180s....would most likely work with 150s, I suppose. |
Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: July 17 2023 at 11:13am
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A simple charge weight of 37.0grns with either IMR3031 or IMR4064 for the 150grn SP projectile should produce satisfactory results. If you find that the 150grn bullets are grouping as poorly as the 174grn bullets, you might find that it is the rifling causing the issue...
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Posted By: m106
Date Posted: July 19 2023 at 3:26am
i shot some greek rounds to make sure it wasnt the rifle and they shot 2 inches at 100 yards. i just got to find a good load
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Goosic wrote:Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: July 19 2023 at 1:34pm
I think I might be missing something here. If your rifle is shooting a 2" group at 100 yards whether through a scope or the iron sights, it is doing exactly as it should be doing and more so.  A 2" group on the NRA Official SR-1 target puts every shot well inside the 10 ring and is considered very respectable shooting. If you are upset that the rifle is putting its 174grn projectiles in a 2" group, you are going to be even more disappointed to find out the 150grn projectiles are going to produce the same size group more or less. Again, I might be missing something here but it seems to me that you are upset about nothing to put it bluntly. The Lee-Enfield left the factory if it could put 7 out of 9 shots inside a 4" square ⬛ at 100 feet. The M47C rifles got scopes on them if they shot a tad better.  100 yards through the iron sights on an old Long Branch No4MkI* I owned...
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: July 19 2023 at 1:52pm
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I had the same thoughts. 2 inches is entirely acceptable for 100 yards. Only very few rifles carefully bedded and with a new barrel will better this. Minor clarification, the No. 4 accuracy standard was 4 out of 5 shots had to hit a rectangle 1 inch wide by 1.5 inches tall at 100 feet. That translates to 3 x 4.5 inches at 100 yards (4.5 MOA). And this was fired off a rest with a telescope. Didn’t matter where the 5th shot landed… The No. 4 also had a 200 yd accuracy test for 10% of rifles. 6 out of 7 shots had to fall inside a rectangle 6 x 6 inches. That’s 3 MOA. |
Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: July 19 2023 at 2:10pm
This is a ten shot group from the French Resistance No4Mk1 through the original rear sight. If you were able to move that group down and center it, you are going to see that it is shooting just under 2" at 100 yards. The rifle is basically new and was unfired until I purchased it. The bedding is as it left the factory and is grouping shots accordingly... |
Posted By: Sapper740
Date Posted: July 19 2023 at 2:37pm
OUCH! I feel badly for my Canadian friends and family when it comes to reloading supplies, in fact sometimes I feel downright guilty when I look at what I have on hand when so many others are scrambling to keep their Lee Enfields fed.
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Posted By: Sapper740
Date Posted: July 19 2023 at 4:16pm
I've found H335 to give slightly less accurate results than its BL-C(2) and Varget cousins, but 2 1/4" groups at 100 yds with cheap PPU bullets in my LB is nothing to sniff at and my Anderson Arms AM10 in 7.62 with surplus M80 Ball pulled bullets H335 gives me the same accuracy.
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Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: July 20 2023 at 10:29am
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I don't know. Several of my loads failed to clear the barrel so group size is academic at best!   ------------- Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force) |
Posted By: Honkytonk
Date Posted: July 20 2023 at 12:50pm
| With any of my L-E's, 2" grouping @ 100 yds is a good day at the range! That's with the ones with telescopic sights. 3" with open sights is even a better day! Sadly, my time beh I nd my rifles has dropped off considerably in the last year. Afraid to burn up my small stock pile of loading components for fear of not being able to replace. Banning and seizing weapons is only one way to get the left's gun control dream of unarming the citizens completed... |
Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: July 20 2023 at 2:40pm
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Agreed 2" is about all they are capable of without some serious tweaking of both rifle & load. They're a Main Battle Rifle, not target or match load, although they can be worked on to be one."Minute Of Adversary" to 600 Yds is about what was envisioned.
------------- Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force) |
Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: July 20 2023 at 3:31pm
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Yup. I’ve shot thousands of rounds thru my LEs, more than 10,000. All of those rounds I was trying to make the smallest possible 10 shot group. About 98% of those shots were with aperture iron sights “in position”, no scope and not supported. And for much of these groups, I retained a score book, plotting each shot and recording group size. My average is right at 2.5 MOA. On a good day, it’s under 2 MOA. On a great day, it’s 1.5 MOA. On an exceptional day, it’s under 1 MOA. The “exceptional” day is a lucky day….it does not reflect any particular skill of the shooter. So, if you’re getting 2 MOA 10 shot groups, you’re doing very well indeed!
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Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: July 21 2023 at 7:49am
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I went back through all of my past data and my best ten shot group with the scoped No4Mk1/2 Maltby was 1.0 MOA. My best, "To-Date" ten shot group with the French Resistance No4Mk1 Maltby is 2.0 MOA through the original MkII rear sight. Both rifles were shooting a factory grade 174grn projectile and loaded to factory grade specifications so, it is of semi serious concern as to what you, m106 are actually looking for, accuracy-wise in your Lee-Enfield because if you want something better than a 2" group at 100 yards, you are going to need to purchase a more accurate rifle. As stated earlier in this thread. The Lee-Enfield rifles are Battle Implements and shoot accordingly. As long as the rifle can deliver the projectile to its intended target/recipient, it did as it was designed to do with a 3 to 4 MOA being acceptable.
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Posted By: m106
Date Posted: July 22 2023 at 2:21am
it will shoot 2 inches with greek ammo that i tried from a friends stash.with reloads its probably 5 which im still working on. where should i be velocity wise on the 150s
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Posted By: hybridfiat
Date Posted: September 30 2023 at 5:08am
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I use ADI 2208 which gives good accuracy and reasonable pressures in my No4 Mk1. That's called Varget in Europe and USA. ADI 2206 will work well too, called Hodgson H4895 in Europe and USA.
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Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: September 30 2023 at 4:37pm
| Yup, I’ve not found a better load in the No.4 than 40.0 gr ADI 2208 (Varget) with 174 grain Sierra MatchKing. |
Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: September 30 2023 at 4:41pm
| 39.0grns of IMR4064, 174grn FMJ-BT, GM215M primers, 3.075" OAL will get you down range and on target everytime. For me anyways... |