Art
09-10-2014, 12:42
I ordered some of these to try out just for grins. I planned on putting some aside if they worked out for our son to use in his Lee Enfield sporter.
Load data for this bullet weight is tough to find since from what I can tell nobody has loaded it in factory ammunition using it for over a generation. Thanks to help on this forum and a couple of other locations I found old manuals with data for IMR 4064 powder with max. loads running from 39 gr. all the way up to 42 gr. of powder. There's no way I was going to put 42 grs. of IMR 4064 powder behind a 215 gr. bullet in our son's 97 year old rifle so I settled on a maximum load of 39 gr. The test vehicle was m "Irish Return" No. 4 Mk 2 which I got new in the "mummy wrap" and which probably has no more than 500 rounds through it in the 15 years I've owned it. Bore diameter on this rifle is very tight at just barely over .302." I'm sure I could shoot .308 bullets in it with no problem.
I started at 37 grs. of powder and worked up to 39. Brass was once fired Remington with Remington large rifle primers. In the No. 4 the most accurate was the 39 gr. load which is supposed to be right at 2,000 fps., just under the military load of 2,060 fps with a 215 gr. bullet. Group size was 1 5/8" for three shots at 100 yards using the battle sight. Impact was 2" above the center of an SR 1 bull's eye target using a 6 O'clock hold which translates into 5" above the point of aim with the number 4 battle sight which I think should actually translate into about a 200 yard zero which is what the battle sight is theoretically set for with Mk VII ball.
I also got my Sierra 174 gr. .311 Match Kings from Midway USA after a wait of almost a year. I loaded a few of them using the same load, 40 gr. of IMR 4064 powder I had worked up for 174 gr. Mk VII pulled bullets. They shot to the same point of impact as the Mk VII bullets but accuracy wasn't much better. Both easily held the 10 ring of an SR target at 200 yards, again with my No. 4 Mk. 2 but using the micrometer leaf sight.
Recoil was pretty mild by my standards with both the Woodleigh and Sierra loads. No signs of excess pressure whatsoever.
Load data for this bullet weight is tough to find since from what I can tell nobody has loaded it in factory ammunition using it for over a generation. Thanks to help on this forum and a couple of other locations I found old manuals with data for IMR 4064 powder with max. loads running from 39 gr. all the way up to 42 gr. of powder. There's no way I was going to put 42 grs. of IMR 4064 powder behind a 215 gr. bullet in our son's 97 year old rifle so I settled on a maximum load of 39 gr. The test vehicle was m "Irish Return" No. 4 Mk 2 which I got new in the "mummy wrap" and which probably has no more than 500 rounds through it in the 15 years I've owned it. Bore diameter on this rifle is very tight at just barely over .302." I'm sure I could shoot .308 bullets in it with no problem.
I started at 37 grs. of powder and worked up to 39. Brass was once fired Remington with Remington large rifle primers. In the No. 4 the most accurate was the 39 gr. load which is supposed to be right at 2,000 fps., just under the military load of 2,060 fps with a 215 gr. bullet. Group size was 1 5/8" for three shots at 100 yards using the battle sight. Impact was 2" above the center of an SR 1 bull's eye target using a 6 O'clock hold which translates into 5" above the point of aim with the number 4 battle sight which I think should actually translate into about a 200 yard zero which is what the battle sight is theoretically set for with Mk VII ball.
I also got my Sierra 174 gr. .311 Match Kings from Midway USA after a wait of almost a year. I loaded a few of them using the same load, 40 gr. of IMR 4064 powder I had worked up for 174 gr. Mk VII pulled bullets. They shot to the same point of impact as the Mk VII bullets but accuracy wasn't much better. Both easily held the 10 ring of an SR target at 200 yards, again with my No. 4 Mk. 2 but using the micrometer leaf sight.
Recoil was pretty mild by my standards with both the Woodleigh and Sierra loads. No signs of excess pressure whatsoever.