.303 British, good for nothing or classic African cartridge?

[leslie hetrick]

this the rifle I posted about.

 

[HWL]

....a .303 with a double set trigger.....!!!

HWL

 

[Ryan]

this the rifle I posted about.

View attachment 260271 View attachment 260272

Here's the P14's American counterpart. Same rifle, but in 30-06. And I hope to use it on moose next fall.

 

[Foxi]

the British could never have built their empire with a bad cartridge.

 

[HWL]

the British could never have built their empire with a bad cartridge.

Not sure about this....

The Germans lost an empire with a perfect cartridge...

 

[Foxi]

Not sure about this....

The Germans lost an empire with a perfect cartridge...

The Germans always had management failures.
The cartridge would have done it already.

 

[Scrumbag]

Hi, Velo Dog

...you already answered my next question!!! .....what bullet to load?

I think, my first attempt will be a 215 gr Woodleigh round nose.

Scope is next question...

Because my .450/400 has iron sights only, I think a "light" 3-9xsomething scope will be appropriate?


HWL

I would suggest a 3-9x36 Swaro would be just the thing

I’ve only owned one .303 and I’m still kicking myself for selling it. It was a beautiful 1895 Winchester, the only one I’ve ever seen. It was quite accurate. The only game I shot with it was deer on which it worked very well.

Oh I bet!

 

[HWL]

Today and finally, my very personal Christmas present arrived…….

The Ruger No.1 in .303 British (top).

Together now, with the .450/400 3" NE.

HWL

 

[HWL]

The Germans always had management failures.
The cartridge would have done it already.

You are right,...their engineers are brilliant but their politicans are idiots….



HWL

 

[2L8]

The P14 is correct. The US was manufacturing it for the Brits for WW1 in 303 British at first just as he mentioned because they hadn't worked out the kinks for their newer cartridge. When the US got into WW1 a couple years into it we didn't have enough M1903's, so we converted P14's into 30-06 to make the M17 for our troops. I have a M17 in my safe right now. Crazy how things work out.

Apparently that worked out pretty well. Sergeant Alvin C. York seemed pretty satisfied with his.

 

[tarbe]

You are right,...their engineers are brilliant but their politicans are idiots….



HWL

As is the case most everywhere!

 

[tarbe]

Today and finally, my very personal Christmas present arrived…….

The Ruger No.1 in .303 British (top).

Together now, with the .450/400 3" NE.

View attachment 260330



HWL

Beautiful!

I would like it twice, if I could!

Tim

 

[Rule 303]

The 303British is a good sporting and military cartridge. The Short Magazine Lee Enfield is a pure 100% battle rifle. As a sporting rifle some shoot nice tidy small groups, most do not and is just an OK sporting rifle.

Put the 303B cartridge into a good sporting rifle and it is as accurate and as use able as any 30-06, 7X57, 8X57.

I can't see why running 174 or 215 grain bullets in your No1 would not take any African Plains Game.

 

[HWL]

Put the 303B cartridge into a good sporting rifle and it is as accurate and as use able as any …...

I can't see why running 174 or 215 grain bullets in your No1 would not take any African Plains Game.

This is exactly what I want to do....

I will blow out my set of S&B cartridges to get good cases fitting perfectly to my rifle.

Than I will try to get an accurate reload.

I ordered 215 gr. Woodleigh Soft Point Round Nose bullets and calculated a load.

Quickload says, from my 22" barrel, I can get 2393 fps/729m/s and 2734 ft.-lbs/3706 Joule with 46,2 gr of N550.

Pressure within CIP standard of 52939psi/3650bar, COL 3,106"/78,90mm.

Load densitiy is 99,5 % and burning rate is 99%, witch also seems ok.

But first off all, I need a scope……

HWL

 

[Rule 303]

This is exactly what I want to do....

I will blow out my set of S&B cartridges to get good cases fitting perfectly to my rifle.

Than I will try to get an accurate reload.

I ordered 215 gr. Woodleigh Soft Point Round Nose bullets and calculated a load.

Quickload says, from my 22" barrel, I can get 2393 fps/729m/s and 2734 ft.-lbs/3706 Joule with 46,2 gr of N550.

Pressure within CIP standard of 52939psi/3650bar, COL 3,106"/78,90mm.

Load densitiy is 99,5 % and burning rate is 99%, witch also seems ok.

But first off all, I need a scope……

HWL

Max Load for a rear locking SMLE 215grain projectile, 39 grains AR2206H (H4895) 2250fps, 39.5 grains AR2208 (Varget) 2265fps.

Should be able to obtain better velocities in the Ruger No1. if the brass is up to it. However the 215 grain projectile at 2200fps has proven itself many times.

 

[leslie hetrick]

I would opt for a p-14 or a Siamese 98 mauser action for my .303, both are very strong and easy to mount scopes on and made to feed rimmed cartiges. I have a Siamese mauser rebarreled to 45-70 and it handles heavy loads with ease and is very accurett.

 

[Velo Dog]

I would opt for a p-14 or a Siamese 98 mauser action for my .303, both are very strong and easy to mount scopes on and made to feed rimmed cartiges. I have a Siamese mauser rebarreled to 45-70 and it handles heavy loads with ease and is very accurett.

View attachment 260352 View attachment 260353 View attachment 260354

Hi leslie hetrick,

About 10 or 12 years ago, I had a sporterized Siamese Mauser, rebarreled to .303 British.
Unfortunately, I had to sell it to help pay for a safari.
Not sorry I sold the rifle because even though I am very fond of firearms, I prefer to go hunting.

Stacking up rifles to the point of not being able to afford doing anything with them is not as much fun.
The slant box Siamese Mauser is real good for making a sturdy bolt action .303 though.
I’ve also seen one done in .30-40 Krag, one in .348 Winchester and several, like yours in .45-70.

Recently in www.gunsinternational.com
I noticed an original Rigby Mauser in .303 British ($10,000.us), made by them on an original Oberndorf slant box Model 98 action.
I believe I read somewhere that, Rigby had commissioned the Oberndorf Werke to make the slant box version exclusively for Rigby.

Cheers,
Paul.

 

[HWL]

….the Dutch 1895 Hembrug Mannlicher also could be a candidate for a bold action .303 British.

The 6,5x53R cartridge hat pretty much the same rim diameter.

The story and the rifle…. http://www.rathcoombe.net/sci-tech/classics/mannlicher-1895/classic_mannlicher.html

HWL

 

[Tom Leoni]

.303 is both a classic chock-full of history and a damned fine cartridge in its own right.

As far as I know, it is the only black-powder military cartridge that has made the transition to smokeless to then last well over half a century as the official rifle chambering for its country and it's country's commonwealth.

I find any loads between 150 and 215 gr to be fine killers for game proportionate to their ballistics. In particular, a .312 bullet weighing 210 gr and traveling at 2100+ fps does not have too much to envy the .318 Westley Richards--a cartridge widely recognized as one of Africa's most effective save for dangerous game in critical situations.

The only downside of the .303 is its somewhat arced trajectory relative to other, flatter-shooting cartridges that have been available (7mm or .300 Magnums, or even the '06). To me, that's not an issue, since I view "hunting" as getting close to game--any shot taken past 250 yards or so is merely "shooting" for me, and therefore not part of the game (strictly personal taste, don't take it as any kind of slight).

BTW, Mauser made a few dozen slant-magazine .303 actions, which were used by British gunmakers like Rigby to produce bolt action sporters.

Oh, and if I ran across a .303 double and the price was right, I wouldn't think twice about making it mine.

 

[sambarhunter]

I`m sure that if Jim Corbett was still alive today and you gave him a full wood .303 he wouldn't be handicapped with it.