Buffer to the Rescue

[Old Scout]

I picked up a No. 1 MK 3 SMLE a while back. This is an older gun ( 1916 I think ) with cut off, stacking swivel, and a beatuful bore. It also has a layer of hard oil/grease over all metal, and bleeds oil from the wood when the sun comes up! A good cleaning and refurb will make it presentable. I wanted a good shooting WW1 SMLE for the Wild Bunch activity, and thought this one might do the trick.
I have 3 other 303B rifles ( a No4, P-14, and '05 Ross ) so I had an idea where to start load tests.
Made it to the range yesterday with the No1 and about 60 rounds of assorted loads to try in it. I use the NEI 175-318 bullet in all of my oversized 30's ( 7.7, 303B, 7,62R, & 8x57J ), with and without the GC. I like to run all these old militaries at around 1500 fps. They seem to shoot well there and target damage is nill. I have a good supply of AA DP-68 powder ( ball version of 4198 ) and have been using that in these guns for some time.
Shooting the bullets sized .312, .313, and .314, with and without the Gc, at velocities between 1350 and 1600 fps produced 75 yard groups of 12 to 16 inches. The best load was 1500 fps ( ES=28 fps, and SD=10 ) with the .314 bullet.
Switching to buffered loads, with the same range of bullet diameters resulted in 1 3/4" to 2 1/4" groups. The best being with the .314 bullet and no GC at 1550 fps ( ES=12 fps, SD=5).
So it appears this 'ol Smelly will do what I wanted. Need to make another range trip tomorrow and check out larger bullets ( .315 & .316).

Old Scout