Casting bullets for .308 & .303 British

[buckalec66]

Hoping this isn’t a daft question…. As I only & exclusively cast handgun calibres, but is there moulds available for .308 and/or .303 British?

Plan would be to give each bullet a Hi-Tek coating. Whilst never going to emulate copper, could be handy for short range plinking…. Without the expense of factory heads.

Haven’t been able to source a mould. Anyone on here have better luck?

 

[wilf007]

Shell House Castings sells the Polymer Coated 308 round so there must be a 308 mould around

 

[SpikeD]

There's a good choice available for both, if you are budget conscious Lee do a range from 113grain to 220 grain for .308 or a 185 grain for 303", Kranks have them in stock. These all come with handles. Lyman and RCBS also do a selection but these tend to be more expensive and you'll need to buy handles for these. Sometimes you'll see moulds on ebay, you take a chance on these as they may not have been well looked after so have a good look at any pictures. RCBS / Lyman are steel so prone to rust if not cared for, Lee are aluminium so easily dented and scratched so again look for any damage. An abused mould can take a bit of work to ensure it's not casting out of round bullets. Then there are custom makers in the USA who will make you whatever you want, these tend to be in brass to keep costs "relatively" low.
Most designs are for a gas check base but if you're going to coat them you don't need to worry about this. Do slug your bore especially for .303" as these can run from a tight .309" up to .314" and all points inbetween.

 

[buckalec66]

Thanks Spike, coincidentally I was in Kranks last week buying an SMLE and they were unable to help.

I’ve bought quite a few moulds from MP Moulds in Slovenia. Mostly in brass, with hollow point inserts. A thing of beauty!

I’ll reinvigorate my search.

 

[enfieldspares]

Hoping this isn’t a daft question…. As I only & exclusively cast handgun calibres, but is there moulds available for .308 and/or .303 British?

Plan would be to give each bullet a Hi-Tek coating. Whilst never going to emulate copper, could be handy for short range plinking…. Without the expense of factory heads.

Haven’t been able to source a mould. Anyone on here have better luck?

Yes. A shooting centre near to me cast .303 bullets and load them over Trail Boss to allow Enfield SMLE and No4 rifles to be shot on their indoor range. Lyman make such moulds. The shooting centre does not bother with fitting gas checks as the Trail Boss loads are of such velocity as to not be needed. They also do lead bullet loads for 7.62x54 Russian and other military rifles in other calibres that members have. Best results are obtained of you ruthlessly clean the bores to remove all copper jacket fouling before trying to shoot these lead bullets.

 

[Heym SR20]

You can use cast bullets in rifles. Its what they used in the 1800s and in the first cartridge rifles. They work well at 22 long rifle type velocities, even up to rimfire mag.

Higher than that you need a harder bullet to withstand the velocity of the rifle.

With the advent of smokeless powders lead bullets just couldn’t stand the rotation velocities and bullets would just spin apart and if they did hit a target such as an enemy soldier or game animal they would blow up and fail to penetrate the vital organs.

A clever Swiss Inventor, Eduard Rubin in 1882 invented the jacketed bullet which swaged a copper jacket over a lead core, and for 100 odd years inventors then tried to get them to behave and expand reliably, so to cause a bit more damage that the jacketed pointed bullet.

Then somebody decided to make bullets out of solid copper, with a hole in the tip to expand them a bit on game animals.

If you are going to use cast lead bullets in 303 or 308 they will work fine at 22 lr type velocities. They won’t at full bore centrefire type velocities. You can swage your own bullets using lead wire and copper tube.

But if you want cheap bullets just use PPU.

 

[Smellydog]

I don't know about casting heads but there is a used bullet casting mould at Croxton Country Stores.
308 gas check iirc.

 

[buckalec66]

Not the easiest of websites to negotiate, so have popped off an email.. Thanks

 

[buckalec66]

Yes. A shooting centre near to me cast .303 bullets and load them over Trail Boss to allow Enfield SMLE and No4 rifles to be shot on their indoor range. Lyman make such moulds. The shooting centre does not bother with fitting gas checks as the Trail Boss loads are of such velocity as to not be needed. They also do lead bullet loads for 7.62x54 Russian and other military rifles in other calibres that members have. Best results are obtained of you ruthlessly clean the bores to remove all copper jacket fouling before trying to shoot these lead bullets.

Thanks for this…At the ranges I can see to shoot, and the loading I propose, this will do very well. The Hi-Tek coating should help to hold the projectile together too.

 

[chriswjx]

Here you go - LEE MOULD Double Cavity C312-185-1R

Lee's website was much easier to navigate than Kranks, as they have the moulds grouped better there. But listed as in stock in Kranks - suspect maybe you didn't have a chance to ask the right person at Kranks, as it does state on their own webpage for it that it's suitable for 303B...

Club secretary loads cast .303 rounds for use on our 25m range. Will try to remember and ask him more about it the next time I see him - but that might be a while away...

Lee Precision, Inc. - Rifle Bullet Molds

Lee Precision Rifle Bullet Casting products

leeprecision.com

 

[enfieldspares]

If you are going to use cast lead bullets in 303 or 308 they will work fine at 22 lr type velocities. They won’t at full bore centrefire type velocities.

Not quite correct. Paper patched bullets will take velocities up to 2,200 fps which many centre fire rifles were loaded to. There are some good books on paper patching. But for the OP it is not needed for his "gallery loaded velocities".

 

[VIGILAIRE]

I have posted this link before which I hope helps you with load development.

Cast Bullet Loads for Military Rifles - Article

The following is a very good read with excellent information: CAST BULLET LOADS FOR MILITARY RIFLES Cast bullets can make shooting that surplus rifle easy and economical. And basic data works for many different guns. BY C.E. Harris Cast bullet loads usually give a more useful...

castboolits.gunloads.com

 

[sassman186]

LEE 6 CAVITY MOULD GC-312-160-2R​

I use this to great effect out to 300m,
Sized to .311 for 308,
Sized to .314 for 303,
slug you bore first, good luck,

 

[buckalec66]

Thanks for all the information guys. I think I’ll stick to casting .303 heads and keep the charge (& range!) relatively low. To that end, have asked Kranks to throw in that mould along with my new SMLE purchase.

 

[shakey jake]

Why are you calling bullets "heads"?
Your title was accurate

 

[Smellydog]

Why are you calling bullets "heads"?
Your title was accurate

It's a complete mystery why bullets are called heads. I can't fathom it out.
I think it's a herd mentality. Someone hears someone using the wrong terminology and then think it's somehow the cool thing to follow suit.
I believe it is personality types that are of low confidence to be correct and accurately describe things for fear of being labelled with something.

 

[enfieldspares]

It's a complete mystery why bullets are called heads. I can't fathom it out.

I think it came about as people started to call rifle ammunition "bullets" instead of the correct term cartridges. Then to save confusion when someone correctly asked for "bullets" and was told that the shop had "bullet heads" and not bullets. The term "bullet heads" started being used.

Cartridges (or rather the cases) have heads. Where the headstamp is impressed as the case is made. They also have mouths and shoulders. And oddly although they don't have trousers some do have belts.

Rifle bolts, some, have heads as in bolt heads. Yet as SMELLYDOG says this "bullet heads" is an recent nonsense.

 

[Smellydog]

I think it came about as people started to call rifle ammunition "bullets" instead of the correct term cartridges. Then to save confusion when someone correctly asked for "bullets" and was told that the shop had "bullet heads" and not bullets. The term "bullet heads" started being used.

Cartridges (or rather the cases) have heads. Where the headstamp is impressed as the case is made. They also have mouths and shoulders. And oddly although they don't have trousers some do have belts.

Rifle bolts, some, have heads as in bolt heads. Yet as SMELLYDOG says this "bullet heads" is an recent nonsense.

It all goes completely over my head....