.303 questions

[lordviperscorpin]

Well, tommorow I'm taking my #4 MK I out to the range for the first time. I'm going to run through a box of South African surplus just to sight it in. Anyways..


1. Whats a good, cheap reload kit to get started reloading ? I've seen the "Lee Loader" and wonder if I could do better for a little more.

2. Is the South African brass worth saving ? Can I reload milsurp brass or should I stick to factory ammunition (S&B. Winchester, UMC) ?

3. What's the easiest way to adjust sights for windage and elevation ? Will my SKS sight tool work ?

[romarana]

I got the lee aniversiry kit it was 66 $. It came with a crappy scale (soon to be up graded to a digital one) powder trickler, single stage press, primer loader, and lots of other stuff.

I am working on a review of the kit for my web page. I think it is worth the money. It has everthing you need to get started except dies.

.303 is not a great brass to reaload. for some reason it only gets a few reloads before the brass splits. I heard that I should try anealing it but I have not done that yet.

For relodable .303 I use S&B

[hagar]

The SA ammo is berdan primed as far as I know. I have reloaded berdan primed ammo before, but you might find it hard to get primers in the USA. RCBS makes a berdan decapper. For $7.50/50 from Aim, you will not save much money doing it yourself.

[WARWOLFx]

Originally posted by romarana
.303 is not a great brass to reaload. for some reason it only gets a few reloads before the brass splits. I heard that I should try anealing it but I have not done that yet.

Neck size only. Brass lasts a lot longer that way. Lately a lot of people bitching about S&B brass, personally I would stay away from it

[Schuetzenman]

South African .303 is Berdan primed and for practicle purposes it is nonreloadable. Metric primers required to prime it wll be 2 to 3 times the price of US Boxer primers.

.303 brass wears out fast because the British .303 chambers are made really BIG for easy loading even if theres mud on the ammo. So the cases stretch like a mutha every time they are fired. Full length resizing works the cases really hard because of being so badly stretched.

As mentioned if you reload just resize the neck on the case. But IMO at the price of SA .303 you might as well skip reloading. Good .303 bullets will sell for as much or more than the loaded SA ammo. Diameter is .311 on .303 ammo so more common .308 diameter bullets as used in 7.62 Nato / .308 Winchester and .30-06 are not going to work properly.