Elvis wrote:

good of paypal to sort it for you.

Yes mate. PayPal have a great dispute system that with a refund clause built in if all is fair and they find in your favour. No doubt they are also able to “collect” the refund from the errant sellers account.

Well, I received notification that my sight mount has been processed through the Sydney facility of Australia Post this morning, and hopefully Aussie Customs. All things being equal, I should have the mount in about a week.

Well...onto a slightly different focus for loads. I purchased a LEE 160gr GC mould so I can try loading some cast bullets for my SMLE Mk5 Jungle Carbine. I have everything on hand to cast and prepare for loading, so as soon as I finish the things on the “honey do” list today...Christmas lights are the priority...I am into casting a few bullets to load up for my next range visit.

I’m really looking forward to getting into the casting of these bullets...I find casting and the relevant preparation for loading to be relaxing.

awesome.....seems a lot of guys are using cast in the SMLEs being able to leave them large might just be the ticket to making her hum for you....
some trailboss loads would be a heck of a lot of fun too..... untill you have experienced the fun had using them its hard to believe...its like a .22lr but with bigger hunks of lead...just be plurry carefull to have good back stop as slower big hunks of lead bounce like boobies on a bouncy castle......just not as much fun to watch.

Vince, fill the case completely with blackpowder, add as much as possible, then push the lead pill in and you're ready.
Clean the cases afterwards with boiling water and oxy-clean... the dirt will foam out of the container!
you will have fun and will be surprised of the accuraty!

Remember that this round started its life as a BP-round...

PS: I think I used a 180 grs bullet without GC and I could never get the same amount of BP in the case as the oldtimers used in the initial rounds.

you REALLY have to clean rifle well after using the smelly stuff or it will rust quick as a wink.

I don’t have any black...never had a firearm that uses it, so I’ve never bought any. I’ve considered some black powder 12g shotgun loads, but only for sh1ts and giggles on Christmas shoots.

I do however have some Trailboss, so some subsonic loads are probably in the works.

mate ,the shits n giggles are worth it......make some yourself,its not hard to do and results are simply spectacular.....slipped into mated U/O at range would be priceless.....you may have to clean it for him afterwards...but would be worth it.

and in the 12g you don't have to use the plastic wads, just use 3 or 4 sheets of toilet paper (according the amount of shot as you have to have the cartridge filled). It will shoot, smoke and snow... but don't do it in the dry bushes as they will catch fire...

and cleaning is easy: remove the barrel and pump hot water with some dishsoap with a good fitting patch on your cleaning rod trough the barrel.
It might even clean your foiling built from the plastic wads on the chokes...

but as Elvis said: it's gold when you get such a round in your mate's gun without him knowing it...

Not too sure about the law regarding making my own black here in Oz...the Mines Dept can be very strange sometimes. But it’s a thought.

On another tac...I cast about 40x160gr boollitts in .303 (they came out at .313 and 162gr). Lubed liberally with LEE ALOX, left them to dry overnight, and today I’ll fit GC and prepare them for loading. Really looking forward to seeing how they perform.

Vince, try also a few without the GC... the base of the bullet has great influence on accuraty. And of course try also some without sizing!
And did I mention to try different lead mixtures? When you go to lead bullets, you normally don't try to break speed records, so you don't need that extra hardness and more % pure lead will make a bullet cheaper (and better for hunting!)

My suggestion is BlackHorn 209. Less smoke standard cleanup no soap and water. Mag primers or standard rifle or pistol, stuff is hard to light, standard shotgun primers as 209 primers for BLK P has problems lighting BH209.
I use BH209 in 45LC and 44 Mag for Sass.

Aloysius wrote:

Vince, try also a few without the GC... the base of the bullet has great influence on accuraty. And of course try also some without sizing! And did I mention to try different lead mixtures? When you go to lead bullets, you normally don't try to break speed records, so you don't need that extra hardness and more % pure lead will make a bullet cheaper (and better for hunting!)

The mould is a GC mould, so the bullets have a recess built into the base, so I’m pretty much obliged to fit a GC. I’ve never had any joy shooting GC bullets without the gas check fitted. The lead alloy I am using is the equivalent of Lyman #2, so it’s a well tested bullet alloy...but I won’t be pushing the bullets hard anyway. I might even try some sub sonic loads just because I can...the bullet hardness for the subsonic will be around BRN 16-18.

I chose a LEE Sizing Die in .314 so even with ALOX bullet lube it’s not swaging the bullet any...just seating the GC.

Sparkie wrote:

My suggestion is BlackHorn 209....

I am not familiar with this powder mate...but loading with black is a fair way down the track at this time...I want to get the 303 shooting well first.

trailboss...start at same VOLUME as normal powder and work downwards till supersonic CRAAAACK dissapears...use std primer.... somewhere between 6-8grns will be my guess as to where you settle on for subsonic......sems to be magic area for 7.62x39 and or 308 so similar case volume etc.
they lots of fun to plink with.

Its been a while since I've loaded some with black powder
But I will roll a batch for you if you want
I still have some Taipan 174grners if thats OK