View Full Version : Feeding a 1943 03A3
I have a 1943 03A3 and lot of mil -06 brass to use. Should I use the published loading data for comm'l reloading, knowing the mil brass is thicker and will increase the pressure? What was 'the load' for Lake City, Denver and St. Louis ordnance plants?
What do you use in 4064 and 4895 for 150 gr fmj?
shoot me an email and I'll send you a .pdf copy of Dunlap's loading .30 cal match ammunition
i'll update my profile in a sec
it is a short read, and has some great loading info,
I'd have to find my notes for 4895, but can tell you my garands love 46 gr 4064 pushing a 168 SMK,
I also have a load somewhere that duplicates the ammo handed out at Perry for the Vintage Springfield Matches, but I'll really have to dig for that one,
I have a 1943 03A3 and lot of mil -06 brass to use. Should I use the published loading data for comm'l reloading, knowing the mil brass is thicker and will increase the pressure?
Military brass is heavier because it is thicker? At best that is a half truth. I have measured military cases, most have a case head that is .200" thick from the cup above the web to the case head. I also have thousands of commercial 30/06 cases that I have measured. My R-P case heads measured .260" from the cup above the web to the case head. My Military cases weighed more than my commercial cases meaning my R-P cases were thicker at the case head than my military cases. What I was left with was military case with long powder columns with small diameters and commercial cases with short powder columns with large diameters.
When loading for the 30/06 military case regardless of the manufacturer, make and model of the rifle I load the case with 2 grains less than maximum. And there are Winchester cases as in WCC, WWC by Olin. Cases made by Olin were lighter.
And I have one military 30/06 rifle with a long chamber, it is .011" longer from the shoulder to the bolt face than a go-gage length chamber. The extra .011" in length lowers the pressure.
F. Guffey
brass should be measured by capacity,
water is the usual method
as in Remington brass will hold xxx grains of water
Winchester will hold eee grains of water
Lake City holds @@@ grains of water,
it the water weight is smaller, then the powder weight should be reduced a bit and the load tested and worked up
brass should be measured by capacity,
water is the usual method
So your measure in grains and not in cubic centimeters.
F. Guffey
So your measure in grains and not in cubic centimeters.
F. Guffey
it is what I was taught,
and have read elsewhere,
Years ago (maybe changed since then) but the NRA approved load that was deemed Garand safe was 47gr IMR 4895 with the 168gr SMK bullet, 48 gr IMR 4895 with the 150 gr bullets. I tested these with excellent performance across the board (exceptional in the A3) and decided to stay with them. When I finish off the last 16 pounds of 4895 I'll test 4064 before I go buy more. :)
Johnny P
12-06-2018, 05:52
The military loaded to a certain fps. Every lot of powder was tested, and the load was adjusted to achieve that fps.
Personally I have always loaded just a little lighter than military spec for the military bolt actions and find them much more pleasant to shoot, especially the standard 03 and 03-A3 stock.
http://www.curtrich.com/BPConversionSheet.htm
Weight of 1 mL of water
Cubic centimeters (CC) is a unit of volume not of weight. But 1 cc of water weighs 1 gram (or .o4 ounces) and 700 cc of water (or grams) weigh 24.69 pounces or 1.54 pound..
Isn't the metric system wonderful.
1 grain (gr) = 64.79891 mg (milligrams)
F. Guffey
The military loaded to a certain fps. Every lot of powder was tested, and the load was adjusted to achieve that fps.
Personally I have always loaded just a little lighter than military spec for the military bolt actions and find them much more pleasant to shoot, especially the standard 03 and 03-A3 stock.
true,
however they bought bulk powder, not the canister powder we buy today,
the powder we buy it made to be consistent, so if we use 45 grs of one can the next can should be the same,
military bought bulk powder that would vary a bit from lot to lot,
so todays train load of powder at LC may need 44 grs, the next lot bought may be 45 grns,
Johnny P
12-07-2018, 06:48
true,
however they bought bulk powder, not the canister powder we buy today,
the powder we buy it made to be consistent, so if we use 45 grs of one can the next can should be the same,
military bought bulk powder that would vary a bit from lot to lot,
so todays train load of powder at LC may need 44 grs, the next lot bought may be 45 grns,
Notice that I did say lot and not can. Just thought it would be understood that the military bought in bulk.
You'll save your self a lot of headaches by just reducing the load by 10% and working up. Otherwise an '03A3 is just another bolt action.
IMR4064 gives more consistent accuracy than either of the 4895's with any bullet. It's way better with match bullets.
"...use 45 grs of one can the next can should be the same..." Unless it's a different powder lot. Still isn't different enough to matter except for a match load.
The only company that mucks around with CC's for unknown reasons is Lee. Those daft scoops are calibrated in 'em. CC's are never used for loading anything except syringes.
The only company that mucks around with CC's for unknown reasons is Lee.
Sunray, My favorite people muck around and or carry hod, one of my favorite songs is "Sick Note" AKA the reason Patty is going to miss work today, tomorrow and all of next month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS2ul6zmk7U
I have all three sets of Lee dippers, that includes the yellow, red and black set. In the beginning Lee designed the dipper to be very scientific, the value of his efforts was then and is still lost on reloaders. Lee was paid to develop loads, he measured the loads with dippers and then returned to his shop and measured the dipper load in grains. He threw the scientific part out the window when they used a business card to lever the powder at the top of top of the dipper.
F. Guffey
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