I forgot these
very nice! You’ll have to let us know how it does, maybe post a short video of it in action. Did you size it to fit that rolling cart?
I actually found the cart after I had it mostly built. I’ll get a video of it fired up tonight after work.
Knocked together a tool chest with lift-out tray using leftover plywood and cabinet hardware, and painted it with some likewise leftover automotive acrylic urethane. I still need to work on my HVLP “skills” since I can’t seem to get away from orange peel no matter how much air pressure and/or paint I feed through the sprayer.
I made some .303 Ammunition.
Several weeks ago I bought a Martini Sporting rifle in .303 caliber.
The rifle arrived and it is clearly marked for .303 Ammunition using Smokeless powder.
This gun was made somewhere around 1890.
I took the rifle out to the range, got out some factory.303 British and fired it, and got a big surprise.
Excessive pressure.
I slugged the bore and found Metford rifling measuring .304".
A bit of research revealed that 1887-1890 the Brits were working on developing the smokeless powder cartridge for their rifles. The were working with the Swiss Rubin cartridge which use .298" bore-.304 bullets. The story of the development is interesting in itself. The were using the Rubin bullets initially and in the end settled on the .311 for the .303 British. The .303 coming from the bore measurement, groove being .311. Much like our .30 cals, .30 bore and .308 Groove.
It is pretty apparent this rifle is not a .303 British rather an earlier form of the cartridge for the early days of it development. The body of the cartridge is the same as the body of the .303 British. The necks are smaller.
In order to fire this gun I needed to make my own ammo.
First find some bullets. Hawk bullets has custom bullets for the Swiss Scmidt Rubin rifle. I ordered some 180 grain bullets.
Next problem was reducing the neck. Resizing the brass in a standard .303 British die is fine for the body of the Cartridge. But the neck is not sized small enough to hold the .304 Bullet. I ordered in a Bushing die from CH4D. I bought an insert to reduce the .303 British neck down hold a .304 diameter bullet.
With bullets and dies on hand I loaded up 3 rounds using the Sierra starting load data for .180 grain .311 bullet.
I went out to the range this afternoon and fired 3 test rounds. The round fired perfectly. No head stretch, no protruding pierced primers.
Now I can start working on this gun, developing loads to get it ready for deer season next year using the obsolete ammo I make my self.
Several weeks ago I bought a Martini Sporting rifle in .303 caliber.
The rifle arrived and it is clearly marked for .303 Ammunition using Smokeless powder.
This gun was made somewhere around 1890.
I took the rifle out to the range, got out some factory.303 British and fired it, and got a big surprise.
Excessive pressure.
I slugged the bore and found Metford rifling measuring .304".
A bit of research revealed that 1887-1890 the Brits were working on developing the smokeless powder cartridge for their rifles. The were working with the Swiss Rubin cartridge which use .298" bore-.304 bullets. The story of the development is interesting in itself. The were using the Rubin bullets initially and in the end settled on the .311 for the .303 British. The .303 coming from the bore measurement, groove being .311. Much like our .30 cals, .30 bore and .308 Groove.
It is pretty apparent this rifle is not a .303 British rather an earlier form of the cartridge for the early days of it development. The body of the cartridge is the same as the body of the .303 British. The necks are smaller.
In order to fire this gun I needed to make my own ammo.
First find some bullets. Hawk bullets has custom bullets for the Swiss Scmidt Rubin rifle. I ordered some 180 grain bullets.
Next problem was reducing the neck. Resizing the brass in a standard .303 British die is fine for the body of the Cartridge. But the neck is not sized small enough to hold the .304 Bullet. I ordered in a Bushing die from CH4D. I bought an insert to reduce the .303 British neck down hold a .304 diameter bullet.
With bullets and dies on hand I loaded up 3 rounds using the Sierra starting load data for .180 grain .311 bullet.
I went out to the range this afternoon and fired 3 test rounds. The round fired perfectly. No head stretch, no protruding pierced primers.
Now I can start working on this gun, developing loads to get it ready for deer season next year using the obsolete ammo I make my self.
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I made some .303 Ammunition.
Several weeks ago I bought a Martini Sporting rifle in .303 caliber.
The rifle arrived and it is clearly marked for .303 Ammunition using Smokeless powder.
This gun was made somewhere around 1890.
I took the rifle out to the range, got out some factory.303 British and fired it, and got a big surprise.
Excessive pressure.
I slugged the bore and found Metford rifling measuring .304".
A bit of research revealed that 1887-1890 the Brits were working on developing the smokeless powder cartridge for their rifles. The were working with the Swiss Rubin cartridge which use .298" bore-.304 bullets. The story of the development is interesting in itself. The were using the Rubin bullets initially and in the end settled on the .311 for the .303 British. The .303 coming from the bore measurement, groove being .311. Much like our .30 cals, .30 bore and .308 Groove.
It is pretty apparent this rifle is not a .303 British rather an earlier form of the cartridge for the early days of it development. The body of the cartridge is the same as the body of the .303 British. The necks are smaller.
In order to fire this gun I needed to make my own ammo.
First find some bullets. Hawk bullets has custom bullets for the Swiss Scmidt Rubin rifle. I ordered some 180 grain bullets.
Next problem was reducing the neck. Resizing the brass in a standard .303 British die is fine for the body of the Cartridge. But the neck is not sized small enough to hold the .304 Bullet. I ordered in a Bushing die from CH4D. I bought an insert to reduce the .303 British neck down hold a .304 diameter bullet.
With bullets and dies on hand I loaded up 3 rounds using the Sierra starting load data for .180 grain .311 bullet.
I went out to the range this afternoon and fired 3 test rounds. The round fired perfectly. No head stretch, no protruding pierced primers.
Now I can start working on this gun, developing loads to get it ready for deer season next year using the obsolete ammo I make my self.
That’s a cool gun. I envy you guys that can do that type of work.
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