303 vs 308
Dabubba1
Could someone please give me a comparison of the 303 and 308 rounds? Any
info would be a big help. Email or post , thanks.
Shooting Sport Suppliers
Dabubba1 wrote:
#
# Could someone please give me a comparison of the 303 and 308 rounds? Any
# info would be a big help. Email or post , thanks.
The .303 British cartridge was great once, providing a lot of room for a
lot of powder to push a military projectile. It has been obsoleted by
the development of rimless cases, granular powder, and better case
design. The .30-06 would be the main killer of the .303. The .308 is
an excellent round, as proven by its use by thousands of military
organizations, as well a target shooters in benchrest and long distance
events. The case design allows for superior accuracy, while providing
enough room for plenty of powder. Also, the bullet choices in .308"
dia. are almost overwhelming. I'm sure someone else will respond to
you with the ballistic data.
Peter Hills
Dabubba1 wrote:
#
# Could someone please give me a comparison of the 303 and 308 rounds? Any
# info would be a big help. Email or post , thanks.
.308 is roughly 10% more powerful.
Bartbob
Ballistically, they're quite close. The .303 typically produces about 100
fps less than the .308 for a given bullet. It's about the same difference
as the .30-06 vs the .308.
In hunting situations, one would be hard pressed to tell the difference
through 300 yards.
Accuracy wise, the .308 tends to be more accurate evidenced by the Brits
switching to the .308 for competition years ago and scores being much
higher than the .303.
Jolly Roger
On 26 May 1997 13:58:54 -0400, Shooting Sport Suppliers
<wi...@earthlink.net> wrote:
#Dabubba1 wrote:
##
## Could someone please give me a comparison of the 303 and 308 rounds? Any
## info would be a big help. Email or post , thanks.
#The .303 British cartridge was great once, providing a lot of room for a
#lot of powder to push a military projectile. It has been obsoleted by
#the development of rimless cases, granular powder, and better case
#design. The .30-06 would be the main killer of the .303. The .308 is
#an excellent round, as proven by its use by thousands of military
#organizations, as well a target shooters in benchrest and long distance
#events. The case design allows for superior accuracy, while providing
#enough room for plenty of powder. Also, the bullet choices in .308"
#dia. are almost overwhelming. I'm sure someone else will respond to
#you with the ballistic data.
#
I have a follow-up question to this: will they be able to use the same
bullets? If I got it right, the 308, 30-06 and the 300 Win. Mag. and
many more uses .300 inch bullets while the 303 British (and is there a
303 Savage too?) uses bullets being .303 inches. Since there always is
some variations in bullet and barrel diameters I wonder if one could
use for example .300 bullets in a 303 British rifle? I guess this
would improve the chance to find a good bullet a great deal in these
old calibers.
CoBonded
In article <5marqh$8...@xring.cs.umd.edu>, dabu...@aol.com (Dabubba1)
writes:
#Could someone please give me a comparison of the 303 and 308 rounds?
Any
#info would be a big help. Email or post , thanks.
#
#
The 303 was the Brit Mil raound from 1888 until it was replace in 1950's
by 7.62 NATO (308). Balisticly they are very close. The 303 uses .312
caliber and the 308 .308 Caliber. The 303 is 45000CUP round and the 308 is
52000CUP.
C.H.
NRA Life member, Handgun Hunters Int. TCA member
Colorado Bonded Bullets
http://members.aol.com/CoBonded
Ken Pisichko
On 26 May 1997, Peter Hills wrote:
# Dabubba1 wrote:
# #
# # Could someone please give me a comparison of the 303 and 308 rounds? Any
# # info would be a big help. Email or post , thanks.
# Both nominally .30 caliber. .303 obsolete British, .308 NATO current.
# .308 is roughly 10% more powerful.
#
While the .303 British may be obsolete (sic!) it still kills a LOT of game
in Commonwealth countries (ie Canada, Parts of Africa, Australia...)
I doubt whether the "fallen" wonder if they were done in by a .303
projectile or a .308 projectile.
Remember that the .303 British is a rimmed round that usually is shot by a
rear-locked Lee-Enfield and this leads to its (mis)conception as an
obsolete round.
If you look at some of the writings of Gale McMillan you will note that
the McMillan fancy mauser-action-custom-rifle was beaten by SMLE-type
rifles that shot the .303 British. The "compensator effect" is still
talked about, but not totally understood (especially by yours truly).
Me? I use the .308 for target shooting and the .303 British in reduced
rounds in a SMLE with a custom butt-stock to teach my kids how to shoot at
targets with a "real rifle" - that means not a .22 cal.
Sorry for the verbage, but there is always another perspective to current
"modern" cartridges.
Ken
Steve Padilla
Jolly Roger wrote:
#
# bullets? If I got it right, the 308, 30-06 and the 300 Win. Mag. and
# many more uses .300 inch bullets while the 303 British (and is there a
# 303 Savage too?) uses bullets being .303 inches. Since there always is
# some variations in bullet and barrel diameters I wonder if one could
# use for example .300 bullets in a 303 British rifle? I guess this
# would improve the chance to find a good bullet a great deal in these
# old calibers.
Close but not quite. Nominal .30 caliber bullets, i.e. .308
Win./7.62.51 NATO, 30-06, 300 Win Mag, .300 H&H etc are .308" diameter.
..303 British, as well as 7.62x39 and I believe 7.62x54 Russian are .311"
diameter. There are no standard bulets in .300" or .303" dimameter that
I am aware of in current production.
Bullet/bore diameters versus the caliber designations often get into
fairy tale territory. With some exceptions caliber designation does not
equal bullet diameter. You'll drive yourself nuts if you try to do
conversions, especially with metric calibers. Buy a box of 7mm bullets
for your 7mm Mauser and the label will read ' 7mm/.284 inch ' .284 is
the actual diameter of the bullet, but it doesn't equal 7mm. There is
iften no logic to all of this so get a good reloading manual if you want
to know what the real diameters of various calibers. There are a few
exceptions such as .243 Win and .308 Win where diameter is the same as
the name, but I think that's just to confuse everyone.
Good Shooting
Steve Padilla
sp...@bio2.edu
E.G. Clayton
On 27 May 1997, Jolly Roger wrote:
# I have a follow-up question to this: will they be able to use the same
# bullets? If I got it right, the 308, 30-06 and the 300 Win. Mag. and
# many more uses .300 inch bullets while the 303 British (and is there a
# 303 Savage too?) uses bullets being .303 inches. Since there always is
# some variations in bullet and barrel diameters I wonder if one could
# use for example .300 bullets in a 303 British rifle? I guess this
# would improve the chance to find a good bullet a great deal in these
# old calibers.
The .308, .30-06, and .300 Win Mag use .308" bullets (I've never loaded
.300 Win Mag but I think this is correct). The .303 takes bullets of
.311" diameter. The discrepancies in nomenclature arise from measuring
the bore diameter in the grooves versus on the lands. You can load
.308" bullets in the .303 for plinking if you don't particularly care
about accuracy. However, I have had no trouble finding .311" bullets.
A local gunshop carries them from Sierra, probably Hornady and Speer
as well. But military .303 is so cheap that it's hardly worth handloading
anyhow.
===========================================================================
Ed Clayton
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Guns R Me2
The 30,06 and the 308 have bullet dia of .308 the 303 has a bullet dia of
.311 same as the AK and SKS The 303 pushes a 150 grain bullet 2690 fps for
2400 ftlbs of energy the 308 pushes a 150 grain bullet 2820 fps for 2684
ftlbs of energy out to 500 yards a deer wont know the difference. 308 ammo
is more available and cheaper so I pick the 308
Eirik
308 Winchester / 7.62x51 NATO has a bullet dimeter of 0.308"
303 is usually 0.312 "
Neil Dickey
Jolly Roger wrote:
# I have a follow-up question to this: will they be able to use the same
# bullets? If I got it right, the 308, 30-06 and the 300 Win. Mag. and
# many more uses .300 inch bullets while the 303 British (and is there a
# 303 Savage too?) uses bullets being .303 inches. Since there always is
# some variations in bullet and barrel diameters I wonder if one could
# use for example .300 bullets in a 303 British rifle? I guess this
# would improve the chance to find a good bullet a great deal in these
# old calibers.
What you have run afoul of here is the maze of "nominal calibers."
The .308 and .30-'06, nominal 30-caliber rounds, both use a bullet
which is .308 inches in diameter. The 303 British shoots a bullet
which is .311 inches in diameter. Ergo, one can't use the same bullet
(successfully) in both a .308/30-'06 and a .303 Brit.
Well, one could try; but the 30-cal bullet would rattle down the
bore of the 303, and the 303, given that you could get it to
chamber, would likely cause extensive damage to both gun and
shooter of any 30-cal it was fired in. Think in terms of plugging
nose and mouth, and then sneezing as hard as you can. ;-)
Boom.
Best regards,
Neil Dickey