A nice surprise from an old girl

Timbo61

Well-Known Member
Nice surprise from an old girl

Dont know why we always seem to refer to our rifles as females, but what the hell.
About 6 months ago a mate was rumagging around in his shed and came up with a battered and torn 303. He promptly chucked it at me saying in no uncertain terms that it had seen better days and I may as well have it to play with...for FREE.
Unfortunately he had long since lost the original bolt, but I already had a 303 that was only good as a donor so thought I should see what I could do.
Got a guy to check out the headspace as I had been advised, and he was happy that the donor bolt was good to go. I stripped the old girl down and basically gave her a bloody good seeing too. Barrel looked all good apart from some very minor pitting on the outside, but given that the date stamp said 1917, I wasnt too surprised at that.
After a re-blue and oil up of the stock, I put her back together, better than when I got her .Popped iout to what passes for a range up here this morning, and after 3 remote test shots with a string on the trigger and me hiding behind a DOC dunny, I took a few shots at target aprox 80/90 meters away on a sand bank.Having never in my life fired anything with iron sights, I wasnt expecting to be on paper, but was pleasantly surprised with my effort
12747d1375081354-nice-surprise-old-girl-303-001.jpg

I only had 6 rounds with me and they were cheapo Highland 150 gn. I think I could get to like this rifle. Time to get tweaking her I think.
12748d1375081539-nice-surprise-old-girl-303-005.jpg
 
Nice!
I am a 303-o-phile myself. I have dozens of them that I shoot mostly with cast bullets. A couple of years ago I found a No1 MkIII* in a pawn shop that had been sporterized along the lines of your rifle. The design was one of the nicest I've seen for a Lee and a real one of the kind. The rifle came with a Lyman receiver sight and like yours, was dated 1917. I bought it for my son and loaded it with some heat treated .315" diameter, 215 grain cast bullets over a stout charge of IMR 4350. Five shots at 50M could be covered by a US 5-cent piece. My son loves it and I hope some day to see a deer or two taken with it. I shortened a 10 round magazine to 5 rounds and that made it a very trim handling sporter, indeed.

I love seeing old rifles resurrected from the scrap pile and put back to use. Kudos, Amigo.~Muir
 
Mucho gracias amigo. From one MUIR to another
I have a feeling that this rifle may well become my "go to", as most if not all of my deer stalking down here involves close quarters stuff, and with no telescopic to fog up/get wet I should have no excuses when I miss

The only thing I am considering changing is the foresight. I think a ghost or peep may be better for hunting purposes. Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
Mucho gracias amigo. From one MUIR to another
I have a feeling that this rifle may well become my "go to", as most if not all of my deer stalking down here involves close quarters stuff, and with no telescopic to fog up/get wet I should have no excuses when I miss

The only thing I am considering changing is the foresight. I think a ghost or peep may be better for hunting purposes. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I was going to suggest a Mojo sight but I just saw that they don't make on for the .303. Too bad. They are good sights that require no machining. I am fond of a good receiver sight. Williams 5D is only $36US here from Midway USA. Lyman used to be steel but I ordered a #66 rear sight a few years back and they too were aluminum. Does your rear sight have windage adjustment?? Many of the Brit No1's did early on. It would be easy for a gunsmith (or careful home shop guy) to mount a ghost ring peep onto the blade.~Muir

Another Muir?? Gad! What did your folk get caught doing to be sent to the Far Flung?? My lot stole cattle, I think. A few got hung, the rest made it to Canada.
 
That No. 1 is identical to my dads old Parker Hale, it's in my brothers gun safe. The old man took a lot of animals with it, everything from deer to moose , including one of the biggest Black Bears I've ever seen. Dad swore by the old IVI ( CIL ) 215 gr Kling Kores for moose and bears but used the Winchester 180 gr PSP's for deer. I can't remember the old man ever needing more than one shot , a combination of a very capable cartridge and a very good hunter and calm shooting.

AB
 
Whoops! I meant to say I am considering changing the REAR sight, not fore sight. Sorry.
The existing rear sight is the sliding ramp style, without windage adjustment. The forsight has the thin blade with very small bead on the tip. Would I have to change this blade if I put ghost/peeps sight on?

As far as the family name is concerned, it simply appears on Dads birth cert with no known history unfortunately. I left the UK under my own steam without having to be asked to do so :D. We believe the clan originate from Perthshire

Off to see if I can find Mojo sights in New Zealand. Thanks
 
Whoops! I meant to say I am considering changing the REAR sight, not fore sight. Sorry.
The existing rear sight is the sliding ramp style, without windage adjustment. The forsight has the thin blade with very small bead on the tip. Would I have to change this blade if I put ghost/peeps sight on?

As far as the family name is concerned, it simply appears on Dads birth cert with no known history unfortunately. I left the UK under my own steam without having to be asked to do so :D. We believe the clan originate from Perthshire

Off to see if I can find Mojo sights in New Zealand. Thanks

The windage adjustable rear sights aren't overly rare, last time I looked. MOJO unfortunately, doesn't offer an Enfield sight so I'm guessing your look was short. As to the front sight. Possibly, depending on how low you can get the replacement rear sight. Usually the front blades are easily replaceable. The Williams/Lyman sights require gunsmith installation.... or at least installation by someone with the proper tools and know how. A badly installed receiver sight is a thing of misery. Good luck with your search.~Muir
 
Very nice rifle Timbo! I sporterised one of two much later versions to the same as yours, the L39A1 which was in 7.62. Not quite the historical version of yours but regretted selling them both ever since.
 
Back
Top