being a newbie to guns, calibers, reloading and such, i was curious about some bullet sizes.

i recently bought a no4 enfield, and plan to reload for it. i bought a box of sierra bullets, the caliber of the rifle is .303. the bullets are labeled .303 caliber, .311 diameter. I also realize the several different diameters (.311, .312, etc) of bullets you can get, but why the different diameters?

i dropped one bullet into the reciever end of the bore of my rifle, and it was to big to fit. do you have to size the actual bullet? i dont really understand the principle behind bullet sizes, and an explanation would be great help!!!!

The bullet diameter should match the groove diameter of your barrel, the reason that the bullet dosn't "drop in" is that the bore/land diameter is smaller than the groove diameter.

quote:

Originally posted by kombatkarl:
being a newbie to guns, calibers, reloading and such, i was curious about some bullet sizes.

i dropped one bullet into the reciever end of the bore of my rifle, and it was to big to fit. do you have to size the actual bullet? i dont really understand the principle behind bullet sizes, and an explanation would be great help!!!!

The bullet is not supposed to just drop through the barrel. It has to be as big as the largest part of the bore, the rifleing is engraved into the bullet upon firing, this keeps the bore sealed and all of the propelent pressure behind the bullet. There are some variations that might require the offbeat sizes, but in general those 0.311 diameter bullets will work well in your rifle. To really know what dia your barrel is you would need to push a lead slug through the barrel and then measuer the resulting size, This is not generally required to produce acceptable accuracy, but it might be usefull if you were looking for better than that. (which you will not be doing with a stock Endfeild barrel I don't think)

As the others say you have the right bullet and should do fine.
There is no logical thought in the way cartridges are named vs the bullet diameter. The 44 Mag or SPCL as an examples uses .429-.430" bullets. The 223 Rem fires .224" bullets. Lead bullets are at times needed to be a thousanth or so over jacketed bullet size to seal the bore. This is why one finds .451" JHPs for his 45LC and .452 LSWC are called for in the same cartridge.
Stay with the size recommended in your loading manual for your cartridge and you`ll be safe.

ok thanks that helped alot. the main reason i was asking about my .311 bullet is it just seemed really big compared to the bore diameter. the bullet needing to be the same as the groove diameter makes a little more sense, but shwn i stuck that slug in the bore it just felt like it would cause problems down the line, like when chambering or firing a loaded round. of course, i have no real frame of reference, and that is the diameter that i was told to use.

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This is not generally required to produce acceptable accuracy, but it might be usefull if you were looking for better than that. (which you will not be doing with a stock Endfeild barrel I don't think)

You might be surprised. I have seen Enfields with factory barrels shoot one hole groups. It is just like any other rifle: find what it likes and then feed it a steady diet of that and that alone...

As you have already figyred out, the label .303 British has litle to do w/ the bor esize. Here is some interesting reading for you:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/shooters/303Page.htm
http://www.african-hunter.com/303_british.htm