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

[Dr Ray]

The SMLE has certainly been superseded many years ago in the sporting field. However the 303Brit cartridge has not been superseded in performance. It has been matched for what it does. The cartridge design has been bettered for two reasons. Firstly the slope of the case body is to great in this day and age. It served a purpose when designed. Secondly the rim. Rims have some advantages but not many. The board that designed the case wanted it to be rimless but the Lord in charge mandated rimmed as he wanted to be able to use it in a double, break action or falling block rifle-I forget which.

Dr Ray would you use a Sako in 303Brit if they made one?

No!
I’d use my 270 or get a 308.

 

[Excessexpress]

V-C will do a 303 double.

It’s on my list.....

 

[Major Khan]

During the Bangladesh Liberation War Of 1971 ... Those of us , who were stationed in forested areas ( Such as the Sundarban man grove forests , Maulvi Bazaar Forests and Chittagong Hill Tracts ) ... Took all manner of game with our service .303 British caliber Lee Enfield bolt rifles . We used 174 grain military issue solid metal covered spitzer tip cartridges , which we would grind the tips off ... In order to create an improvised soft point cartridge . Our local forest departments were issued with Remington brand 215 grain soft point cartridges ... And every now and then , they provided us with a few boxes .

When I was stationed in the Sundarban man grove forests ... I used mine to dispatch scores of cheetal deer and Bengal Bush Boar ( For supplementing camp rations ) , 2 royal Bengal tigers ( Which had attacked our men ) and 16 Ganges river crocodiles .

The .303 British caliber is timeless .

 

[leslie hetrick]

out of the many .303 british rifles i have owned this long branch has been the most accurett.

 

[stug]

I shot my first deer with an open sighted .303 Jungle Carbine. Did the job well. Plenty of deer and pigs have been shot in NZ with the .303. Mainly because it was the only rifle/caliber available.
Pondoro Taylor didn’t rate it very highly as an African caliber.

 

[Paul Raley]

In South Africa as many of you might know the 303 Rifle played an important part in our military history ( just like many other counties ) and at one stage was the standard issue military rifle of our defence force .
Those of us that had done a minimum of 3 years ( if memory serves me correctly ) military duty prior to 1994 were able to purchase a military surplus Lee- Enfield No4 Mk1 / Mk2 for a nominal amount . I paid R51 ( SA rand ) for my rifle and this included a bayonet and 100 rounds of MK VII ammunition .
Many of the 303 rifles in our army stores were brand new and had never been shot , they were still wrapped in a type of wax paper and grease just as they had come out of the Lee- Enfield factory in England .
I was not lucky enough to get one of the brand new rifles but the one that I received was in great mechanical condition and the wood had a few “battle scars “ but all in all a good rifle - the barrel was still like new .
Many people converted these rifles to a “sporting rifle “ by converting them in a few ways . Some people just added a scope and a recoil pad , others used the existing stock but had it “customised” by removing the top stock and just re-shaping the bottom stock , and some had the rifle sent to a gunsmith and had the metal work totally re-done ( remove front and rear sights and have re-blued ) as well as had a custom fore-end and butt added .
Today one can still find a fair amount of 303 rifles being used for hunting in SA and many of these rifles are fairly accurate .
A few years ago I was gifted another No4 MK 2 in its original military form but as I had no use for it I gave it to a friend of mine , all he did was clean up the wood , replaced the butt and added a scope . With the right ammunition this almost standard Lee-Enfield is capable of sub MOA accuracy .
Attached are some photos of the rifle and a grouping recently shot with it , unfortunately I no longer have the photos of the targets where the groupings were a lot tighter , if the shooter does his part this rifle easily shoots “clover leafs” at a 100m .
Many of the old 303’s in SA are regarded as not being that accurate , but I suspect many years in military service and abuse may have contributed to barrels that are worn or not in the best condition , but on the other hand there are many 303’s that are regarded as being extremely accurate .
For the foreseeable future one will still find SA hunters using the old and trustworthy 303 .

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

View attachment 354483 View attachment 354484 In South Africa as many of you might know the 303 Rifle played an important part in our military history ( just like many other counties ) and at one stage was the standard issue military rifle of our defence force .
Those of us that had done a minimum of 3 years ( if memory serves me correctly ) military duty prior to 1994 were able to purchase a military surplus Lee- Enfield No4 Mk1 / Mk2 for a nominal amount . I paid R51 ( SA rand ) for my rifle and this included a bayonet and 100 rounds of MK VII ammunition .
Many of the 303 rifles in our army stores were brand new and had never been shot , they were still wrapped in a type of wax paper and grease just as they had come out of the Lee- Enfield factory in England .
I was not lucky enough to get one of the brand new rifles but the one that I received was in great mechanical condition and the wood had a few “battle scars “ but all in all a good rifle - the barrel was still like new .
Many people converted these rifles to a “sporting rifle “ by converting them in a few ways . Some people just added a scope and a recoil pad , others used the existing stock but had it “customised” by removing the top stock and just re-shaping the bottom stock , and some had the rifle sent to a gunsmith and had the metal work totally re-done ( remove front and rear sights and have re-blued ) as well as had a custom fore-end and butt added .
Today one can still find a fair amount of 303 rifles being used for hunting in SA and many of these rifles are fairly accurate .
A few years ago I was gifted another No4 MK 2 in its original military form but as I had no use for it I gave it to a friend of mine , all he did was clean up the wood , replaced the butt and added a scope . With the right ammunition this almost standard Lee-Enfield is capable of sub MOA accuracy .
Attached are some photos of the rifle and a grouping recently shot with it , unfortunately I no longer have the photos of the targets where the groupings were a lot tighter , if the shooter does his part this rifle easily shoots “clover leafs” at a 100m .
Many of the old 303’s in SA are regarded as not being that accurate , but I suspect many years in military service and abuse may have contributed to barrels that are worn or not in the best condition , but on the other hand there are many 303’s that are regarded as being extremely accurate .
For the foreseeable future one will still find SA hunters using the old and trustworthy 303 .

@Dr Ray should read this. Beautiful old rifle and great shooter
Bob.

 

[ZG47]

@Paul Raley Nice looking rifle. The Canadians actually did a version of the .303 No. 4 (T) with a Monte Carlo butt stock. A tatty example was sold at our local arms auction about 10-12 years back, with a mundane description but several people recognised it for what it was. The bids came in quickly, the auctioneer reportedly asked ‘have I missed something’ and a friend of mine; who owns and uses target and sporterised Lee Enfield rifles, called out loudly ‘you sure have!’.

 

[Dr Ray]

@Dr Ray should read this. Beautiful old rifle and great shooter
Bob.

Yes ok but I will stick to my Sako rifles.
I can see how these 303s can be made to be beautiful. I had one but sold it. Pity as it would have made a great scrub rifle.

 

[Paul Raley]

In SA from time to time one of the “sniper” No4 MK 1 or 2’s will come up for sale , they have a different butt stock and a factory fitted scope mount and scope , these are quite sought after by collectors . Apparently these were standard military 303’s that shot tight groups when tested then were converted to the sniper version . ( As I am not a Lee-Enfield expert I cannot confirm that my information is factual , but this is what I have been told )
Attached are photos of my standard Lee-Enfield No4 MK 2 that I bought from the SA Army for the equivalent of $3 ( current exchange rate ) USD in about 1991 .
I have not yet tested the accuracy of this rifle in terms of grouping on a target but it easily hits a coke tin at 100m without much skill .

 

[RayAtkinson]

Not something Id settle for, and I am a nostalgic, but the 303 is a 30-40 Krag or 300 Savage in sheeps clothing!! That said the Krag, Savage and 303 British at slow velocity with a 215 gr. bullet with lots of lead up front performs better than many suppose..STill I opt for a 318 or better yet a 9.3x62. But all this is personal choice and means nothing, you only have to satisfy yourself, and you've done well..