Reloading .303 British : Where has all the Powder gone?

I had forgotten what a PITA it is to throw charges with IMR 4064.  The long sticks will get crosswise in the meter drum, shearing one or two each time.  I ended up weighing each charge, time that I can’t afford to spend every week.  Otherwise, charge weights would be +/- 0.2 gr or worse.  The N202 metered quite well, I did not weigh each charge.  

First off today was a control group with my regular match load (174 gr SMK and 40.0 gr Varget).  This load PERFORMS every time and will expose your shooting errors.  I don’t weigh each charge, Varget meters very well from my Redding measure. 

All groups fired prone in sling, no support, at 200 yards on SR target. 

First off, 0L3xxx Branch No. 4 Mk 1/2 I bought from A Square 10 and refurbished.  Fitted with a PH 5 C/D aperture sight.  My regular match load:  

10 shot group just under 2 MOA.  This rifle is a good shooter, much better than I expected.  Standard forend bedding.  Three shots were right on the edge of the X ring (10.9) but being close only counts in horseshoes and grenades, not in matches, so this is a 100-5x (doesn’t matter it was so close to being 100-8x). But, you get the point. 

I then shot 5 ten shot groups with 40.5 g IMR 4064 with 174 gr SMK.  This load did fairly well, all groups under 3 MOA, best was 2.7 MOA, also 100-5x.  Clearly capable of holding the 10 ring.

Then switched rifles to my 69L Long Branch No. 4 Mk 1/3 Fulton Regulated.  This rifle is bedded with a barrel bearing at 5 inches forward of the chamber and free floated forward of that.  It’s always shot well.  I’m sure I’ve put over 5000 rounds thru it.  Fitted with the standard Mk 1 “Singer” machined aperture sight but with a reduced peep size to 0.05 in diameter. 

Loads were 39.0 gr N202 with 174 gr Hornady Match and WLR primers.  The bullets hit about 1 MOA higher than my standard match load (40.0 Varget and 174 SMK).  4 ten shot groups fired prone with sling, the best was 1.8 MOA (target below, 100-7x); all 4 groups were under 3 MOA and well within the 10 ring.  Discounting the widest shot in the group, 9/10 were 2 MOA or better.  I totally threw that last shot high, I had just realized I was on a string of 6 in the X ring, and was hoping for another X, never a good thing to do.  Don’t “hope”, you must “will” that bullet into the X ring.   

My conclusion was that IMR 4064 performs well, as does N202.  Powder choice is not a major player in accuracy, as long as it is in the Medium burn range for the .303.  I’ve gotten good results with IMR 3031, 4064, 4895, Re 15, Varget and N202.  Load for the desired bullet velocity and results will be good.  Since Varget is “unobtainium” at the present, I will start to use up my stocks of 4064.