Thread: Resurgence of interest in the old "Three Oh"?

Been mucking around with my 80 year old Isophore MKI No III for a while and recently got hold of some PPU 180 gr SP bullets. I loaded some up with 39 grs 0f Win 748 which clocked just under 2300 fps. I also have recently found some Staball 6.5 which is suitable for the 303 along with a raft of other calibers ( burn rate similar to AR 2209) so is a useful powder. These were loaded at 46 grs with the 180 gr PPU.( 47.8 grs is Max )and clocked in at 2341 fps av which isn't to bad a speed. My rifle has a 25 inch barrel.


Anyway today I took it out for a bit of a shoot, my rifle has open sights, V rear and a straight blade up front. I set up a target (4 inch squares ) at 60 yards, I have great difficulty using open sight now and even with glasses on the rear sight is a bit fuzzy making precise aiming hard.
I shot three rounds of each of the 180 gr loads and 2 rounds with some 150 Hornady loads I had on hand and was pretty pleased with the result.
Load one with 39 grs Win 748 / 180 gr PPU put three shots into 1 3/4 inches, load two 46 grs StaBall 6.5 / 180 gr PPU did 2 inches and the 150 gr Hornady with 42 grs RL 15 went into 3.5 inches.




For an 80 year old rifle and some tired eyes shooting it it was a pretty good result I thought.