.303 British with Lee Classic Loader

[ninefingers]

First time wanting to reload ever. Bought Lee Classic Loader, looked at included chart for powders, bullets, etc. No components of ANY type available near Roanoke Virginia, so will have to wait for now.

My question, would I be better to concentrate on a 174 grain load as used in the .303 British MkVII round, or try a 150 grain?

I realize that the Lee Classic is rudimentary, but I would like to try my hand without a substantial investment as I am poor and approaching retirement.

Thanks in advance.

PS Whenever I start loading, I assure you I will be most cautious. I would hate to need changing my user name to “eightfingers”.

[Jim Kennedy-ar154me]

IMO you will need to try both, and the load as well. One of the main advantages of hand loading is accuracy. Look over the data available, lots of it available on line, pick you 1st bullet and powder, Load 10 to 20 of varing loads. Take them to the range and test to see which is the most accurate for the range you are wanting to shoot at. Rinse and repeat for the other loads until you fid the bullet and load that works best for your specific rifle. Unfortunatly there is no real shortcut that works well that I know of.

[Dirty Bob]

One great thing about reloading rifle cartridges with the Lee Classic Loader is that it's a NECK SIZER. As long as it's for the same rifle, that's not a problem. On the plus side, it works the brass less and is often more accurate.

The .303 British is a fantastic cartridge! Any brass with a split neck can be fireformed, trimmed and used in a .410 shotgun. It's a little shorter than the regular hulls for .410 but can still be used for small game or practice shells. The same can be done with .45 Colt brass, but they make tiny .410 shells.

All my best,
Dirty Bob

[tombogan03884]

SMLE's were routinely converted to .410 for riot duty especially in India.
And I believe Dirty Bob's cut down .303 is what they are chambered for.
It's a non standard chamber so the mob can't use them if captured.

[Dirty Bob]

I can't stress enough how much I love the .303 Brit. I was able to buy ammo during the Obama ammo crisis, while everyone was stripping all the .223/5.56mm off the shelves.

There's a community of Enfield fans out there, posting information on homemade scope mounts for Enfields, handloading the .303, casting .303 bullets, loading chargers correctly, etc. The Enfields are a proven system that works very, very well. I think I got my chargers -- NOT stripper clips -- from Sarco.

~ Some years ago, I picked up a folding .410 by Yildiz, which Academy was almost giving away. 

It's a single shot that weighs about 3 pounds -- essentially a pistol in weight and handling qualities. It's the one shotgun I can operate one-handed without much trouble. It's hammerless, with a hook on the underside of the receiver to open the gun.

I cut the barrel down to 19" and installed a new bead (bead and tap and drill bit from Midway). The trick, by the way, is tie a thread to the original bead and run it down the barrel to the breach. I then used it to make my mark for drilling the new bead before cutting and chamfering the barrel. It now folds to fit in a day pack and has a cylinder bore. Fun gun that's so light that it feels almost weightless in my hands. That lack of weight means there's some recoil with the heavier shells.

A .410 single shot is simply great to have around. It's the most cost-effective shotgun shell to reload for and uses very little powder and shot. Short shells made from .303 or .45 Colt or .454 Casull brass work just fine.

As long as you use the .410 like a rifle, rather than a shotgun for wingshooting, it's good for squirrels and other small game or pests. If you have a 20 ga. single shot or double barrel, a chamber adapter to use .410 shells is inexpensive and surprisingly effective. It turns your 20 ga. into a multi-caliber firearm and drops the recoil down to almost nothing.

~ The .303 Brit, .45 Colt and .410 all have the same size case head and rim. This can help simplify your reloading. I do not have a factory-made setup for .410. Instead, I made some tools and bought a roll crimper that fits in a handheld drill. My only handload so far in the .410 is a subsonic slug using backwards .41 Mag. cast bullets glued into wads, kinda like a badminton birdie. They're accurate, surprisingly quiet at the range, and have almost no recoil in a Mossberg 500 pump, but I would not want to be hit with one. This is a slug round for your teenage daughter or your grandmother who's recoil-shy. Lots of fun!

I got into .410 after reading Locusts on the Horizon, which has some excerpts online for free, including this gem:

Homemade .410 Reloading Kit

The Lee Classic Loaders in .410 are hard to find and expensive, so this article was a huge help to me, as was the rest of the book.

Dirty Bob

[Sponsor]

[Majer]

You can also use .444 Marlin brass in a .410 .

[JeffRosen]

I loaded 100 rounds of .30-06 in my Lee Loader and decided I needed to go back to a loading press.  Being retired with limited room my Dillon and RCBS equipment had all been sold so Lee's minimal C press and powder scoops are what I use.  Everything works great except the powder scoops are limited.  But it's just practice ammo or tin can ammo.  Works for me.

[Rastus]

Hey, it it works that's great.

[Dirty Bob]

@JeffRosen: It's great that you're reloading, even when space is limited. It also sounds like you're experienced, so you'll be able to make the most of a limited space                                              Does Lee make a neck size die in '06? IMHO, a C-type press really isn't up to the stresses of full-length resizing a full-size rifle cartridge like 30-06, but neck sizing is better, anyway, as your brass should last a LOT longer. I really like Lee's light-duty presses: both the Reloader and their hand-held press.

BTW, I read an article years ago about using the Lee Loader for the neck size part of the reloading process for .303 British. The writer used a regular press for the rest. He claimed it was pretty fast and efficient that way, probably because of not having to set up one die on the press.

Single stages have a lot going for them in terms of ammo quality and safety. It's easier to be methodical and careful when you're not pumping a handle once and producing a loaded round.

My "non-rotating turret press" is two Lee Reloaders side-by-side on a small stand, next to a Lee Classic cast iron for the heavy duty stuff like case forming and full-length resizing. The Reloaders are great for seating and crimping and the like.

[JeffRosen]

I do not know that Lee makes neck size only dies.
The old trick is to adjust the full length size die out till it neck sizes only.
Trial and error till it works.
My .30-06 is a bolt gun, neck sizing works for me.