303 Caliber Bullets (303 British)

The 303 British remains popular for hunting in many of the lands Great Britain once held dominion over, including our own. Pretty much every major manufacturer offers factory loaded 303 British ammo, and several 303 British bullets for reloading are available as well. (You can also use the .312 diameter bullets to make 7.62x39 loads to pay homage to a different world power’s former cartridge of choice.)

Handloaders can craft any historically accurate iteration of the 303 British they choose. The original Mk I and Mk II rounds had a 215 grain FMJ RN bullet, although bullets with copper-nickel alloy jackets may prove difficult to come by. The Mk III, IV, and V also had a 215 grain bullet, which was modified into the equivalent of a soft point that the Hague Convention eventually obsoleted for warfare. The Mk VI reverted back to the non-expanding FMJ RN with a slightly weaker jacket that facilitated a permissible degree of expansion.

The Mk VII is currently the most popular form of the 303 British. This round implements a 174 grain flat base spire point FMJ with a muzzle velocity of 2,450 fps. An authentic Mk VII bullet included a lightweight aluminum, plastic, paper, or fiber plug near the tip that enabled it to tumble within soft tissue – a nasty wound channel, yet still compliant with the Hague Convention’s ban on expanding bullets.

Today’s handloaders often load 174 grain HPBT and FMJBT bullets. Propellants that are suited to loading .308 bullets also sever the 303 British well, but one must take care not to fire the same case more than twice in a Lee-Metford or Lee-Enfield. Those rifles’ designs irrevocably stretch the case out each time it is fired.