Enfield No4 .303-25 project

[harrygrey382]

Good choice - as much as I love Mausers and believe they are the best there is, in this case a Lee Enfield is much more fitting. They’re designed for the cartridge, and I’m sure you’re not planning on pushing the envelope with velocities (or you wouldn’t be building a 303-25) so it’ll be fine. The 10 shot mag goes well on mobs of goats or pigs and the historical interest factor is high. You can pick up sporterised No1MkIIIs and No4Mk1s dirt cheap due to the barrels being rooted from corrosive primers and no collector value. Great starting point.

contrary to an earlier statement - 303-25 was not formed due to military cartridge restriction (of which there aren’t and never have been in Australia, although WA have taken a leaf out of UK’s book and are “difficult” about 338laps). It came about due to the hundreds of thousands of Lee Enfields floating about for dirt cheap, many already needing a rebarrel. People wanted a flatter shooting cartridge so the logical thing to do was neck the most common cartridge of the time down. Pretty much like the 243 today. Much higher cool factor than any 308 based cartridge though

Check out the Slim Dusty song “the cunning too shooter” for a the description of classic period roo shooting rig

 

[Mike_E]

yep - 303-25 was the roo shooters choice!

 

[alberta boy]

All this has got me thinking about doing another project ..... along with the three I'm currently doing lol . Some of you have probably read through the book Big Bore Cartridges . In it , Ken Waters came up with the 338/303 . He developed it to use in a Rigby ( I believe ) slant mag 98 that had a washed out bore . It was originally a 303 Brit and he wanted to keep the original barrel , so he bored it out to a .338 . Not a high velocity number , but a good big game cartridge for most game we have . I have a few P 14 and LE No4 actions kicking around that would do perfectly for this round , but I'd probably use a P 14 in this case . I have a new 338 cal barrel from a local maker that isn't doing anything at the moment . Now I think about it , I'm not sure if the shank on it is big enough for the P 14 , I'll have to check . There was a guy at my previous gun club that built something similiar on a P 14 about 15 years ago . It was chambered in 338JDJ . I can't remember if the cases were formed from 303 Brit or 444 , a lot of the JDJ cartridges were , but it was a very accurate and powerful rifle . The Covid 19 virus doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon , I may have the time on my hands over the winter , we'll see .

AB

 

[v8fazz]

Good choice - as much as I love Mausers and believe they are the best there is, in this case a Lee Enfield is much more fitting. They’re designed for the cartridge, and I’m sure you’re not planning on pushing the envelope with velocities (or you wouldn’t be building a 303-25) so it’ll be fine. The 10 shot mag goes well on mobs of goats or pigs and the historical interest factor is high. You can pick up sporterised No1MkIIIs and No4Mk1s dirt cheap due to the barrels being rooted from corrosive primers and no collector value. Great starting point.

Thanks Harry. Not planning on pushing the envelope with velocities, and as you say the Enfield 303-25 has plenty of history behind it in Oz.
The only reason the Mauser 98 got a mention as there is one available already converted to 303-25.

 

[v8fazz]

All this has got me thinking about doing another project ..... along with the three I'm currently doing lol . Some of you have probably read through the book Big Bore Cartridges . In it , Ken Waters came up with the 338/303.

The 338/303 sounds like a great round, I would be very interested to see the finished product and the results of it in action

 

[scrumbag]

All this has got me thinking about doing another project ..... along with the three I'm currently doing lol . Some of you have probably read through the book Big Bore Cartridges . In it , Ken Waters came up with the 338/303 . He developed it to use in a Rigby ( I believe ) slant mag 98 that had a washed out bore . It was originally a 303 Brit and he wanted to keep the original barrel , so he bored it out to a .338 . Not a high velocity number , but a good big game cartridge for most game we have . I have a few P 14 and LE No4 actions kicking around that would do perfectly for this round , but I'd probably use a P 14 in this case . I have a new 338 cal barrel from a local maker that isn't doing anything at the moment . Now I think about it , I'm not sure if the shank on it is big enough for the P 14 , I'll have to check . There was a guy at my previous gun club that built something similiar on a P 14 about 15 years ago . It was chambered in 338JDJ . I can't remember if the cases were formed from 303 Brit or 444 , a lot of the JDJ cartridges were , but it was a very accurate and powerful rifle . The Covid 19 virus doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon , I may have the time on my hands over the winter , we'll see .

AB

Way too much time on your hands. Call me

 

[v8fazz]

So out of curiosity I sent an email to Peter Wilson Fine Art Auctioneers to see if they could offer any info on the Collins Brothers .303 and this was their reply -

Can’t tell you too much. Collins Bros had an address at 171 New Kent Road, London SE1 and traded as Southern Armoury. I only know this from adverts in Guns review. They would take a half or full page advert in G R which they appear between 1973 and 1977. No ads in later in the 1980’s.
The butt plate on the rifle is marked Churchill and my guess is that Collins bros. would either buy in parts or complete rifles and jut put their name on the receiver.
Hope this helps.

So chances are the rifle I saw listed is a Churchill rifle with the addition of the recoil pad. I've contacted the seller requesting better photos.

Cheers.

 

[alberta boy]

Way too much time on your hands. Call me

I will , I'm working nights right now , but switching back to days for the weekend , it doesn't look to be much fun .

AB

 

[v8fazz]

My search for a project rifle is over!

I started out looking at ratty, used and abused, already modified No4's as I was trying really hard not to mess with an original rifle. Things escalated from there pretty quickly and I ended up buying this -



A very nice Parker Hale Custom .303, but after a lot of thought I have decided not to modify such a nice rifle so... I have just made a payment for this -



It's the rifle I previously posted about that was listed for sale a little while ago. From what I can tell its a sporter conversion by Churchill Gunmakers, very similar to the Collins Brothers rifle mentioned previously which were apparently renamed Churchill rifles anyway.

So the Churchill sporter will be a very nice base for the .303-25 conversion, and now there is no need to worry about an aftermarket stock.

This will be a very slow and steady project but stay tuned!

 

[scrumbag]

Looks nice

 

[Klenchblaize]

Its gonna B in .25 cal so got to B good!

K

 

[harrygrey382]

Wow nice going v8 - not a bad thing when you end up with more rifles than you were intending! What are they - No1MkIIIs? Hard to tell from the photos but neither look rough at all. I agree though cutting up an already sporterised one feels OK unless it’s really nice. Where are you getting the barrel?

 

[v8fazz]

They are both No4's with the Mk2 triggers.

The Parker Hale is in excellent condition and I think it would be a shame to modify it.

I haven't got the Churchill yet but should have it within the next couple of weeks.

At this stage I'll most likely go with Allan Swan for the barrel, I've heard great things about their barrels and he is in Qld which makes things a bit easier.

 

[harrygrey382]

I’m headspacing/threading an Allan Swan barrel at the moment. I had it custom profiled and long chambered. It came through slightly under sized to my specs but nothing major. Bore, chamber and external Finish is good, they are nice to deal with. Apparently since Grant took over they have really lifted their game - there were a few negative stories 10 or more years ago. The rifling is cut, hand lapped and barrel destressed. They’re also competitively priced - mine was $515 custom profiled chambered, crowned and shipped. Would have been another $100 threaded. LW from Brownells was about $550 I think - standard profile, long chambered and threaded

 

[v8fazz]

Nice, I'd be keen to hear how it all comes together and also to see the finished result.

What rifle and calibre is your Swan barrel?

 

[harrygrey382]

Nice, I'd be keen to hear how it all comes together and also to see the finished result.

What rifle and calibre is your Swan barrel?

Yeah - don’t hold your breath though, it’s slow moving! 7x57 on a Mauser 98. Here’s the thread 7x57 Oberndorf style build

 

[v8fazz]

I can relate to slow moving!

I'll check out the thread