Considering 35-303

[Kevinakaq]

Evening and Merry Christmas to all. Hope it finds you with family and friends.

I have several Enfields and one of them I purchased on a whim about 15 months ago is an Lithgow SMLE III. This gun was already sporterized (putting it nicely). Bore is spotty at best...

Considering having it rebored to a 35-303. Can this be done on an SMLE as the barrel has a much thinner profile than my MK4*'s? Anyone else go this route and your opinions? 2 versus 4 or 5 groove if i do? Just brainstorming and appreciate any and all help on the information/opinion front.

And I do love my Enfields. Have a 1950 unmolested, but pick up my old sporterized MK4* 9 out of 10 times when I head out into the woods. Have made some great kill shots with it and just feels right to me (am a lefty and manage to work the bolt lightning fast)...ofcourse I purchased it with Pops some 25 years ago which don't hurt my sentimentality either...lol.

Kev

[Mk42gunner]

My best advise is to contact JES or whoever you are going to have rebore the barrel and ask them.

~0.024" per side isn't much increase, but what if the bore isn't concentric to the centerline?

Robert

[Reverend Al]

Another option would be to rebore it to .338 / .303 British. I just bought a large action Martini that was rebored by Ron Smith out in Alberta to .338 / .303. I've only shot it once so far, but it is an absolute pleasure to shoot and it looks like it's going to shoot very well with the test loads I tried in it using the 210 grain Lee and a handful of 200 grain Hornady J words. I'm using fire-formed WW brass that is then neck sized and the bullets seated using a set of .338 Win Mag dies, using a Lyman "M" die to expand and bell the mouths. This seems to work just fine and saves the cost of an expensive set of wildcat dies, plus it seems to shoot as well as I can hold the gun using open iron sights with my lousy old eyes. Just a thought ...

[Frank46]

37rimmed is the 303 case necked up to take 375 dia. bullets with no change to the case. Lotta bullet molds out there for the 375 caliber. Frank

[Multigunner]

Depending on who made the original barrel SMLE barrels should be very concentric.
They original barrel making process involved boring the blank from each end to meet in the center. There was less wander this way. Afterwards they were carefully straightened by hand. a craftsman eye balling reflections in the bore and tapping the exterior with a lead mallet till it was as straight as humanly possible to get it.

In later years the bore straightening process for No.4 barrels was eliminated to speed production, so long as the last six inches were straight it was good to go.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Contact JES Reboring. He did mine and it came out great. It'll cost you $225 for three grooves or $250 for 4 or 5. Just do 4.

You send him the barreled action and he'll deal with it and it'll be rebored, headspaced and ready to go when it comes back a week later.

The guy does superb work and my .35-303 bore looks like a mirror.

Randy

[Four Fingers of Death]

I have a really nice SMLE sporter, but the barrel is pretty ordinary. I wish someone did reboring in Australia. Sprinter Arms in Hahndorf, South Australia used to, but one of the brothers operating the business passed away and the surviving one gave it up as he couldn't cope by himself which was a shame. I have a No4 barrel in excellent shape, I will probably end up fitting that.

[303Guy]

There's an advantage to fitting a No4 barrel. Cutting the breach face back that little bit to correctly time the barrel tightens the chamber nicely. I've had two done, the second did not need any reaming at all and new cases are a firm fit on the shoulder. The first need a little reaming but not much. That one is very accurate.

I'm in favor of the 35-303.

[SMLESteve]

Sprinter Barrels is still operating. My best mate is a gunsmith and uses them almost exclusively. I have a brand new .35 cal Sprinter barrel at his place waiting for us to make a .35 Territorian (303-35) out of it. What did you end up building 303Guy? I read a big thread today about all sorts or 303 wildcats you were contemplating. I'm using my 45-70 No4 MkI to build my .35. I just don't use it enough to keep it as a 45-70. The 35 will be my brush gun for chasing pigs and deer in the thick stuff around here. I did take a dandy Buff with the 45-70 so I'm happy to change her up now.

[rondog]

Curious - when JES or others rebore an Enfield to .35-303, do they re-cut the chamber any to eliminate the notorious Enfield chamber sloppiness?

[Four Fingers of Death]

Sprinter Barrels is still operating.

Yep, still operating, but not doing the reboring last time I checked.

[303Guy]

What did you end up building 303Guy? I read a big thread today about all sorts or 303 wildcats you were contemplating..I ended up putting it on hold. I have a 25/303 and love that caliber. I might still do a 22/303 one day since I have a few barrels but these are 22lr barrels so it's purpose would be cast boolits.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Curious - when JES or others rebore an Enfield to .35-303, do they re-cut the chamber any to eliminate the notorious Enfield chamber sloppiness?

Ron: The bored out barrel simply opens up the neck area of the chamber @.025 on a side. The chamber itself is not changed other than the throat and area for the cartridge neck. He does run a reamer into the chamber to accomplish this, but if the chamber is bigger than the body of the reamer, obviously it won't be cut. You would have to set the barrel back 1-2 threads to get a complete clean up. Since the cartridge headspaces on the rim whatever happens forward is of no consequence.

Since the new chamber is for a non standard caliber, .303 Cases must have the necks opened up and then they are loaded and fire formed, Thus they fit the existing chamber exactly, and the fact that it may be "quote, loose" is of no consequence since there is no other ammo available than what you make for the gun and what you make is exactly what is needed.

A lot of attention is placed on Enfield "oversized chambers." It is much ado about nothing. If you don't reload you fire factory loaded ammo which works fine, and if you do reload you only neck size the cases which doesn't change anything other than the necks size, and thus your ammo fits "YOUR CHAMBER" perfectly.

Randy

[screwcutter]

Just make brass from 405 Win if you start with a chamber like one of these.
158447