303 Enfield

[dk17hmr]

Here's the story with this gun. Its my neighbors he bought it surplus for $10 or something. He has used this rifle for deer hunting for close to 40 years, 2 years ago he fell and screwed the gun up some how, now it doesnt group at all. This old boy is close to 80 and he still hunts, now he has a Ruger 270.

Well he called my brother and I tonight to come lift thier TV back up on the stand, after that little job we sat on the deck and chatted a while he mentioned he wants to get this old rifle shooting again because "the 270 doesnt put em down like the 303 did". Long story short I have the rifle to see what I can do for him. Junior is like a Grandfather to me and really want to get this thing shooting for him, I think the easiest thing to do, because the barrel is old and possible bent from his fall, is to have it rebarreled.

I know these guns are a dime a dozen but how easy is it to rebarrel one of these its a Mark 4.

[KCSO]

You will need a barrel vise and a knox form wrench in addition to headspace guages. Not any more difficult than a mauser, but the vise inserts and knox form wrench are not as available. For the cost I would just pick up a barreled actin and use that.

[bruce drake]

I've got a spare barrel and your gunsmith can crank it for you. It's a Savage two-groove that has been in my gungear for the last couple of years.

Bruce

[Pepe Ray]

You shouldn't assume the worst. It may be something simple, not a bent bbl.
What if the sight(s) were bent? Look it over first. Shoot it for yourself. Your old buddy may have lost the touch with that old jewel.
Pepe Ray

[dragonrider]

If as you say the gun was involved in a fall, I would first check the crown.

[dk17hmr]

Success, I tried a few things so I dont know what the actual problem was. I scrubbed the barrel and I mean scrubbed I got that sucker lookin like a mirror. I also looked at the crown, if you could call it that, there was a little bit of surface rust nothing big and a small dimple I dont know if a bullet would have contacted it but I took a bevel hone and hit it a few time with in spinning in my Dewalt hand drill, which cleaned up the dimple nicely. I cleaned the barrel again because I never put a patch in there to keep junk from going down the barrel.

I didnt have any 303 on hand and he couldnt find any at his house so I drove the 3 miles up to the local sporting goods store to pick up a cheap box, which was a joke because the cheapest thing they had still ran me close to $20, Winchester 150gr Hi-Shok which I had to dust off. I got home mounted my spare scope on it, he has a Williams mount put on it a while back. I got out to my target put and covered every inch with cardboard because I didnt want to waste time and money burning up expensive rounds. I fired a sighter at 20 yards just to see, it hit on the level 12" to the right. I adjusted the scope and moved back to 50 yards. When I got back to 50 I said to myself "Self why did you move that sight you just shooting a group" oh well. I laid down prone put the rifle on a bag with a pillow in it, my dad has our benchrest in Montana shootin p-dogs, I loaded a single round shot not bad about 3" from the bullseye which doesnt matter, I fired 8 more rounds with the same aiming point and had a group just a fuzz bigger then 1.5", I fired these 8 rounds in about 2 minutes. If I would have taken my time I might have shot a small group but at least its tigher then the last group shout out of the rifle which was reportedly "not good enough to shoot a barn wall". Good enough, I ran up to the target butt pulled down the target got all loaded up in the truck and headed up to my house, 300 yards but I like to drive my truck out there instead or carryin all my stuff.

I walked over and showed him the target and he said "you shot that with my gun, well what the heck did you do to it, I have had 3 people shoot that and they couldnt pattern it", told him and came back home and cleaned the barrel took my scope off it reblued the crown and the barrel with cold blueing, oiled it down nice and took it back over to Junior. He was pretty excieted because he loved that gun for deer hunting even said he is going to rescope it and probably use it this year. We sat on the deck and he told me about some of the deer he shot with it.

Junior wanted to pay be for the shells I bought and the work I did, I told him not a chance and I was happy to do it for him. But I gotta say Thanks guys, I learn so much on this site.

[gregg]

Job well done

[mag_01]

Nice job----good to see a story like this once in a while------Mag

[unclebill]

i love a happy ending!

[725]

That kind of comradeship and generousity is why I love shooting and a site like this. So many shooters are like that.

[unclebill]

yep
it's guys like dk17 that inspire me

[Freightman]

Good for you a big ATA-BOY! Hope to be that active at 80, not that far frome it now. Those old rifles will shoot if you just take time to find the problem, kinda like a good doctor that takes time to talk to the patient saves a lot of time, money, and pain. once again ATA-BOY.

[lathesmith]

I don't want to spoil a happy ending here but...is it possible that the problem was with the scope and/or mounting all along? I'm glad things turned out like they did--but it might be a good idea to maybe casually offer to help install his new scope, just to be sure everything goes together properly. Just a thought...my guess is that 80-year-old eyes have enough challenges without adding open sights to the mix. I'm glad you were able to be a good neighbor!
lathesmith