123 grain .310 bullets for .303 reloading

[smle-man]

Anyone try .310 123 gr bullets for .303 British reloading? How about the 125 gr .312 bullets? If so how did it work out for you? I'm thinking of trying them for lower recoil loads in my #5 carbine.

[elk hunter]

I don't know about the 303 Brit but they work pretty good in my 7.65 Arg. I don't think the twist is the best for them. I got 1 inch groups in my rifle and had to work up my own load data, nothing is published. My Sierra book has some data for the 125 gr in their 50th Anniversary edition. HTH

[Bumslie]

Slug your bore first.

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[Don the savage]

There is a good article in the current shooting times magazine on reloading .303 that may help you.

[milw50717]

I'm considering the same thing. If you have a well used rifle then, as has been suggested, it may be best to slug the bore to make sure that .310 will be a reasonable diameter.

I bought some 7.62x39 .310 bullets which mic at .3105 and was wondering if it would work in the .303. I think they would be OK as plinking rounds, not sure about accuracy and not the sort of thing for any great distance.

There are some recipes to be found on the interwebs and in various loading books for 123/125 grain bullets for the .303. I just went through my manuals and looked for loading data starting at 123/125 gr and found recipes from the following

Hornady - 123gr / .310
Sierra - 125gr / .311
Speer - 125gr / .311
Lyman - 150gr
Accurate - 125gr
Hogdon - 125gr / .311
Alliant - 123gr / .310
Winchester - 123gr / .311

[Full Clip]

Yes, have loaded 123grn Lapua bullets in .303. I don't remember the charge, but made my LE #4 much more comfy to shoot. Didn't try in my #5.
I do the same for my M1917 by loading 110 grn .308 bullets (intended for M1 carbine) in 30-06. Great for plinking.

[elk hunter]

The Brits got pretty sloppy during the war, I helped a couple of guys slug the bore on a couple of enfields that the bore looked new but slugged out at .314. Kinda lose if you ask me. Not all of them are like that but a few so it's best to slug them to be sure.