303 british

alberta boy

Well-Known Member
Hello all, I may be beating a dead horse, but I've noticed no-one seems to mention the 303 Brit on this site. Just curious to see how many of you use one.

Its still an extremely popular round here( 303's & 30-30 winchesters have probably taken more game in Canada than any other caliber there is) I used my Parker Hale No. 4 conversion to take two white-tails(almost instant kills) in the first week of October.

My nephew took his first Mule-Deer on the same trip with his Enfield at just under 200 yrd's.The best part was that it was my first rifle, my father used it for many years before he gave it to me 37 years ago. My dad, a proud Englishman and WWII vet, passed away April 29th of this year. He carried an Enfield from when he was a very young man during the war until his last hunt at the age of 83. One rifle, 3 generations , and it still puts meat on the table. I like to think that the old man was there a few weeks ago, he would've been proud of the boy.

We miss you Da

Alberta boy

Sorry boys, I didn't mean to go off on a tangent lol
 
Seems to me I read somewhere a number of years ago about a Kiwi fellow making a series of cartridges based on the 303 Brit . Always though a 6.5mm-303 Brit on a SMLE would be intresting if I could get a decent trigger on one of the darn things !
 
Well I for 1 still use my great grandfathers Lee-Enfield Mk III whimsically on everything from grey crows to deer. I was contempalting a conversion, but it's being postoned now for over 8 years, saying that I'm waitng for my gunsmith to complete a a lee enfield to .204 converion as then I can go 222 mag :)
Mine will stay .303 until I'm old simples, along side my 222 mags and 222's
Accuracy over velocity please.
 
would be intresting if I could get a decent trigger on one of the darn things !
about a week with a small file and sand paper and a couple of screwdrivers...................can be made into a lovely crisp no creep 1.75Lb trigger.
 
I just refound what I read before .

Was a guy named Ellwood Epps in Canada . Seems he did the plain Jane neck it to caliber thing as well as blowing the shoulders out like Ackley . Oh yeah so i was incoorect in my original thought that the guy I had read about was a Kiwi .


Now the 2 million dollar question , is it possible to get a target worthy trigger in a SMLE by that I mean 2 pounds or less with NO creep ?
 
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about a week with a small file and sand paper and a couple of screwdrivers...................can be made into a lovely crisp no creep 1.75Lb trigger.

Okay that doesn't sound so bad , was hoping someone made a drop in trigger .

What is SOP for getting a low scope mount on a SMLE ?
 
My 2 Cent's the only way I know to get a nice trigger on an Enfiled is to work at it IMO that's why it takes a week or so to accomplish I think the were 5-6 ish from the factory or prof gunsmith.
I've not used many new shell's.....................I still have 1,800 ish 1921 ex british military rounds that are fine without pulling and reloading, the 174gr PPU are a reasonable shell if weighed before use.
 
not being a ass, there are pic / weav rail makers out there google enfiled picanty lots of hits I'm still using the orig peeps!
 
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I have a Winchester P'14 - (but it is in storage at the gunshop until my FAC variation either gets issued or the FLO retires in 2 years time & the paperwork is passed down to the next bloke)

I've heard about some of the very strange necked-down 'roo shooting conversions to the 303 cartridge that did the rounds in Australia in the '50s & '60s.

Have also read about some chaps having work done so that the 303 case takes a 308 bullet - but I cannot recall what method they used to do this...it MAY have been a gunsmith job that was carried out with a new barrel when they were unable to find a genuine 303 barrel (may dig around to refresh my memory later)

The SMK bullet is supposed to be nice in the 303 - will be getting some to try once the P'14 has it's pass rubber stamped...

I have a good amount of HXP brass to use for reloads - and in my older collection I have all sorts of fired Kynoch & military brass & associated odds & ends: clips, chamber cleaning sticks, cleaning rod chamber guides, WW1 & WW2 manuals, chamber funnels, slings, etc.

Trained on the No.4 at the tender age of 12 - back then the rifle was the same height as I was - I gathered a good crowd at rifle drill practice & some of the veterans at the Rememberance Parade even did a double take - a rifle with legs, they'd not seen the like before...

First 303 I had was a Lithgow 1918 SMLE. Nice rifle. Then had a Maltby made pre-spec. No.4(T) - not a nice rifle. The Winchester will be used as a No.3(T)('18) as I have a Pattern '18 sitting waiting to meet it.

AlbertaBoy - what regiment was your dad in? Sorry to hear he is no longer with you, but at least he was able to live in Canada rather than exist in the UK following his army service. The commonwealth countries have always looked after their veterans much better than the UK has!
 
Thanks Havoc, He was in the 1rst Infantry Division. I'd have to look to see what regiment.Dad did'nt say much about the war , apart from the stupid things they did to entertain themselves when on leave.

Ellwood Epps passed away a number of years ago. His shop is still in business in southern Ontario. They are one of the sponsors for CanadianGunnutz(probably canada's largest on line gun related websites)

Hi 6pt-sika , If you're looking for an adjustable drop-in trigger Huber concepts makes one. I've never used one, but by all accounts they're quite good. S&K ,ATI and a few others all make no gunsmithing mounts for No.4 & 5 Enfields but they are a bit high. Home-made mounts made out of angle iron are very common here and position the scope alot lower , they're also easy to make.

I suggest you join canadiangunnutz there's reams of information on all of the above as well as the Epps cartridge conversions and the many Australian wildcats based on the 303 Brit

Good hunting Alberta Boy
 
There are a few using the 303 still for deer stalking but not many. We have pretty strict licensing of firearms and for most stalkers one Deer rifle and a 22rf is what is allowed. In Scotland there is also a min requirement of 2450 fps muzzle velocity. So a lot of the older slower calibres eg the 303, 6.5x54 mannlicher faded from use - licensing authorities claimed they were not deer legal (granted many loading meet the velocity requirements) so they faded from use or were traded in for a new Parker hale, tikka or sako 243, 308 or 270 fitted with a pecar 6x44 scope. And when the full bore target shooters went to 7.62 the 303 again from favour. As Sadler said above there are plenty who would love an old rifle for use occasionally but that's not in the eyes of the FLO good reason to have one.
 
I have a Lee Enfield N0.4 which is a Fultons Regulated model. I have it conditioned for Deer but for that I really wanted a scope. So I bought a scope mount and went to work.

Unfortunately the original sniper models used with a scope had a raised cheek piece and without it I couldnt maintain cheek weld and get a clear scope picture.

So I grabbed some Duct Tape and the Lid from a plastic take away container and knocked one up. Next day I took it to the range looking far from Vintage Rifle.

First round gave me the only scope bite I have ever had. Rang my bell to badly that I had to switch rifles and really take a grip of myself.

I took the No 4 home and recommissioned the iron sights. The Scope mount is somewhere on here in the classifieds and I havent shot it since. My chances of taking it stalking are now about zero.

However it will come out for competition shoots in the future. Shame, its a lovely old gun and I always wanted one.
 
I used to use a Lee Enfield .303 at Bisley. It was horrendous. The stock appeared to have been designed by someone who didn't know what shape humans were. I was shooting prone, and every shot was like a hammer blow to the clavicle. Completing my ten rounds was really painful, and made worse by the fact that I knew that when I squeezed the trigger, it would smack into the existing bruise. I've never encountered anything else like it. It's a powerful enough cartridge, but mostly it was just that terrible stock that made it borderline unshootable. Or alternately I have weird collarbones, but I doubt it. Anyway, I wouldn't buy one.
 
I used to use a Lee Enfield .303 at Bisley. It was horrendous. The stock appeared to have been designed by someone who didn't know what shape humans were. I was shooting prone, and every shot was like a hammer blow to the clavicle. Completing my ten rounds was really painful, and made worse by the fact that I knew that when I squeezed the trigger, it would smack into the existing bruise. I've never encountered anything else like it. It's a powerful enough cartridge, but mostly it was just that terrible stock that made it borderline unshootable. Or alternately I have weird collarbones, but I doubt it. Anyway, I wouldn't buy one.

Ah you big creampuff Pine Martin!

My Dad and my Dads Dad shot that round at Jerry in two world wars and its been used in "a number of less well published incidents" since.

Of course they did have to.


It is a bit of a belter but not hugely different to my unmoderated 25-06 or .308. However whoever thought brass was a good idea for the butt plate was obviously a bit twisted. You must remember to pull it into your shoulder. Otherwise what you have discribed is really likely to teach you a flinch. I swapped to a .223 after my Nilkko Kiss. Ahh the simple beauty of the AR frame.

I also enjoy a bit of Black Powder shooting. Its a bit like camping, sometimes going back to basics makes to appreciate the good things in life

A warm home
Sanitary toilets
A Stainless Synthetic Sako 75.
 
It wasn't the round that was a problem. I shot .303 from a different rifle with a target stock, and that was fine. It was the only rifle I've ever used where the recoil was a problem, but as I said, it's because a big brass plate concentrated all the recoil onto my collarbone, and I couldn't find a way of putting it into my shoulder better. In the end, I had to put a folded pullover between my shoulder and the butt. So there you go, in my experience, recoil doesn't matter anything like as much as stock design.
 
It wasn't the round that was a problem. I shot .303 from a different rifle with a target stock, and that was fine. It was the only rifle I've ever used where the recoil was a problem, but as I said, it's because a big brass plate concentrated all the recoil onto my collarbone, and I couldn't find a way of putting it into my shoulder better. In the end, I had to put a folded pullover between my shoulder and the butt. So there you go, in my experience, recoil doesn't matter anything like as much as stock design.

That brings back memories of shooting them as a cadet - I believe that when issued they did come in a variety of stock lengths - like any gun too short a stock makes it more painful than needs be. Brass buttplate makes it an excellent club - bear in mind it was a hand to hand fighting weapon as well - bayonet on one end and club at the other.
 
You're all right about the issue stocks, firing prone for more than a few rounds can get old fast. My No. 5 is, if anything, even worse. The nasty little rubber pad seems (to me anyway) make the felt recoil even heavier.That being said, its still my favorite packing around rifle. It's reasonably accurate, handy and powerful enough for most things I'll ever have to deal with.As an old friend of the family used to say " its the perfect SHTF rifle". Considering Friedrich was an ex German paratrooper and a wwII vet, I'd call that high praise.

The old Parker Hale conversion, on the other hand, is an easy shooting rifle. It just goes to show how important a properly fitting stock is. I carry that rifle alot and have the utmost of confidence in it(it wouldn't be my first choice in an up close and hairy with a griz) as long as I don't push the range or the capabilities of the rifle.

Thanks for your time gentleman Alberta Boy
 
By the way, sorry about the name confusion saddler, I just noticed. Forgive me, I tend to have brain farts every now and then.

Alberta Boy
 
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