303 Carbine's Cogswell and Harrison 303

[303Guy]

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/CogswellampHarrison303pic01_zpse3d75bb2.jpg (http://s388.photobucket.com/user/303Guy/media/CogswellampHarrison303pic01_zpse3d75bb2.jpg.html)

http://i388.photobucket.com/albums/oo327/303Guy/CogswellampHarrison303pic02_zpsba102fad.jpg (http://s388.photobucket.com/user/303Guy/media/CogswellampHarrison303pic02_zpsba102fad.jpg.html)

[shredder]

hmmmm. Tang safety, shortened magazine, nice checkering. Very tasty! How does she shoot?

[kenyerian]

Very nice!!!

[Larry Gibson]

Sweet!

Larry Gibson

[elk hunter]

Very nice. Looks like a Lee Speed to me.

If you e-mail C&H in London they can most likely tell you if the rifle was made for someone or was just inventory. They charge for research and a letter, but it is nice to know who the rifle was made for.

[square butte]

Holy Cow. Can you show us a full length shot for maximum wow. Any more you can tell us about it?

[swheeler]

That's definately a nice looking old Brit, how's it shoot?

[John Allen]

I like this alot.

[jumbeaux]

Very nice rifle sir...full length photo...please...

rick

[Mk42gunner]

Wow.

That is nice.

Robert

[herbert buckland]

You will look hard before you find a better example of a Lee sporter.Do it justice and bag one of your big Elks with it,fogot what you call them over there

[enfield]

Hey shouldn't this be in the BUBBA section, Ha just kidding, very nice, mag cut off but newer bolt, what year she be ?

[303Guy]

The magazine is the way it came from the factory. My Dad had one similar to this one. His was on a MLE action but same butt stock, tang safety, engraving, bolt handle and magazine. I'm trying to get it back from the guy who I gave it to. His one had a machine gun barrel on it which was pretty rusted so I had a No4 barrel fitted.

[303carbine]

Thanks to Pete 303guy for posting pics. The rifle according to Skennerton was made between 1898 and 1903. Everything is engraved including the screws, the magazine cutoff works well. The 5 shot mag is nicely engraved and the wood is fine line checkered.
The barrel is 24.5 inches with Safari type leaf sights graduated from 100, 200, and 300 yds.
There is a long range flip up ladder type sight up to 1000 yds, the charger bridge is grooved to see the sights.
The front sight is supposedly made of platinum for high visibilty, the black foreend is made of horn as is I believe the grip cap.
The steel buttplate is engraved as are all of the screws. There is the BSA&Co logo on the wrist with BSA Patent 28834/97 on the receiver where the bolt slides in.
The numbers all match and the bore is really nice, I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, I'm waiting for the threat of rain to go away.

[303carbine]

You will look hard before you find a better example of a Lee sporter.Do it justice and bag one of your big Elks with it,fogot what you call them over there


That is in the plans alright, before somebody lays down some cash.[smilie=p:

[square butte]

Thank you sir for sharing your fine rifle with us

[303Guy]

The period of manufacture seems at odds with the clip charger bridge. Yet there it is. There must be some history to that one. My Dad's had the flip up sights without the ladder sight, which I still have somewhere. I seem to remember it going up to 600yds (six flip ups). My memory could be wrong though. I should look for it and post a photo.

[303carbine]

Hi Pete, nice to hear from you, I'm glad you are here.
This morning I heard from Cogswell and Harrison about the pics I sent, they told me that the rifle is definitely one of theirs.
But the complete records were lost along with volumes of other records in a fire in Harrow, England in the early part of the 20th century, I'm very happy to know it's an original.
Whoo hoo, thanks again to my pal Pete, 303guy for posting pics for me, he's a very nice chap, I wish him well.
John, way out here in British Columbia, Canada[smilie=s:

[Mk42gunner]

Too bad so many gun company records were lost in fires, or just thrown away.

I would print out a copy of that e-mail to keep with the rifle.

Robert

[Pb2au]

Beautiful rifle sir. Thank you for sharing.

[303Guy]

Thank you for your kind words, John.

So, the date of the rifle - has that been established?

[303carbine]

Thank you for your kind words, John.

So, the date of the rifle - has that been established?


Hi Pete, according to Skennerton, it's 1897. That's the BSA Patent date, so it could be dated to just before or during WW1.
I took it out yesterday and fired it, I got 1.25 inches at 55 yards. I didn't have to move the sights at all, although it shot slightly high for me but right in line.
I then used my usual 6 o'clock hold and it shot to point of aim then.
I can't believe how slick and smooth it feeds. The 174 RN and the 150 Hornady Spire point shot to almost exactly the same point of impact.
I am going to take it out for spring bear, I'm in need of some pepperoni........mmmm pepperoni.;-)

[Mk42gunner]

I was thinking that if it is from 1897, or any time before the spritzer era, the sights were probably regulated for the 215 RN cordite load.

A heavier boolit might bring POA/POI together.

Robert

[nekshot]

very nice indeed! Amazing what can be done with some effort and talent.

[smoked turkey]

Ah thanks for posting a picture and providing some background on your beautiful rifle. I have a friend who is a hunting outfitter in South Africa. I have hunted with him on a couple of occasions. His everyday, go everywhere, do everything rifle is a 30-06 Cogswell and Harrison. And like yours it too is an elegant rifle.

[303Guy]

I was thinking that if it is from 1897, or any time before the spritzer era, the sights were probably regulated for the 215 RN cordite load.Well, it has been converted to an SMLE but the Knox form is original MLE but those sights are sporter so they could well be for MkVII ammo. The 215gr bullets had quite a taper which makes me wonder whether the throats were actually different?

303, would you mind sending me more photo's that I can put up for you? This is a very interesting rifle you have there.

[Mk42gunner]

I freely admit that I know very little about the .303 and its projectiles in military form, and even less about what was available for civilian use for hunting.

I didn't pick up that the rifle was converted to SMLE nor that the Knox form was original, which to me says the barrel is probably original.

I do know that British gunmakers had to regulate sights and barrels on double rifles and assumed they also sighted in single barreled rifles for a fairly standard load.

My thought was that this particular rifle was sighted for one load, probably to have the bullet impact at point of aim since a six o'clock hold is dependent on target size and animals of various species are not of consistent size.

Robert

[303Guy]

Yes, I'm guessing it was converted to SMLE then sporterized by that company. The bolt handle is cavalry carbine style so may have been modified or is a carbine bolt. Lee Speed used a bolt handle like that too and used the same safety (the MLE had a bolt mounted safety which got removed for these sporters).