303 Family

Looking to rationalise my working guns down to a family that wont be worth much when I get too old,

Thinking that the 303 'family' would fit the need starting with the 303 Epps (P14), 303 British (P14 &SMLE), 303/270 (No 4 LE), 303/250 (P14) & 303/22 (P14). All are fine shooters with "J" boolits as well as cast boolits in all 5. I have plenty of brass, both LR and Berdan primers as well as a range of powders that will keep them shooting for some time. Loads can be mild to wild depending on the action.

303/25 with 100gn cast Boolit
https://i.imgur.com/tXAKmXDl.jpg

Steps in forming 303 Epps
https://i.imgur.com/CF5jVT6l.jpg

Those sound like mighty fine rifles, and should serve you well. I understand your logic. Over the years I have accumulated a lot of very expensive guns that do the same things as my less expensive guns. The expensive guns are hard to sell, and could well be a burden to my wife if I go first.

This hits close to home. You will not miss the other "toys"...trust me...been down the same path. I have shed dozens of guns and .22 Hornet, .222, .243 Win, 6mm Rem, .243 WSSM, .25/06, .270, .30/06, .44 Mag, and soon a .300 Win Mag.

If I was in your place and had plenty of brass (as you do) the .303 family makes sense. It will do everything a .30 cal CF needs to do and can work for the smaller calibers you are interested in.

When I decided to rationalize, I realized the only rifle calibers I needed where a .223 (for varmints and the AR's if the SHTF) plus a CF for deer/bear and, if the SHTF, two legged critters at longer range. I settled on the .308 as I had three rifles in that caliber and tons of brass.

BTW I grew up in Toronto not far from where Epps has his shop. I was on the university rifle team, and the range officer at the college shot the .303 at Bisley. I was young and stupid then (now just old and a bit less stupid...LOL) and never got a .303. I read too much of the crap on US gun rags and they tended to put the .303 down. They were $15 each back then. I ended up getting a used M700 in .308 for $100. Damn colonials!!! Lots of moose in northern Ontario fell to the old .303 with the CIL 215 gr bullets...now no longer available.

The 303 Epps is a top performer able to send a 170gn Hornady RN at 2,980fps which outperforms the great 30.06. A perfect 'heavy hitter'.

https://i.imgur.com/RVF9hLMl.jpg

My 'wet dream' gun is a Ruger No.1 in .303 br.

i know where a ruger #1 in .303 brit is hiding new in the box and i have been trying to buy it. so far(several years) no go, but i,m full of hope.

What? No 35 or 40 calibers?

Kevin

.303 in a lot of circles has a mediocre reputation. To me it's a favorite to load jacketed and cast. I have my eye on a couple SMLE's!

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Originally Posted by Eddie1971

.303 in a lot of circles has a mediocre reputation. To me it's a favorite to load jacketed and cast. I have my eye on a couple SMLE's!

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Somewhere in my old archives I have a series of articles on tuning a .303 Mk IV IIRC. They can be made to shoot surprisingly well in spite of "all its faults" that the experts talk about.

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Originally Posted by dverna

Somewhere in my old archives I have a series of articles on tuning a .303 Mk IV IIRC. They can be made to shoot surprisingly well in spite of "all its faults" that the experts talk about.

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Especially in a Pattern 14!

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Originally Posted by Bad Ass Wallace

303/25 with 100gn cast Boolit
https://i.imgur.com/tXAKmXDl.jpg

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Those are good looking boolits B.A.W!

On my bucket list is an original Winchester 1895 in 303 Brit.

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Originally Posted by Eddie1971

.303 in a lot of circles has a mediocre reputation. To me it's a favorite to load jacketed and cast. I have my eye on a couple SMLE's!

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There are more than a few circles that are mostly Circles Of Disinformation... their primary accomplishment fostering the 'mediocre reputation' of the .303 British cartridge. That would include all the Gun Putz Writers that continue writing that surplus Lee Enfield rifles (of course, they're all surplus) have "excess headspace".

I have exactly one .303 British rifle, and I specifically chose it for Service Rifle competition, not recreational range fun, cast bullets, or hunting. That rifle would never be my first pick out of what is in the gun safe right now for any of my other activities involving rifles. However, if all I had left was that rifle, to say it would be mediocre in its performance while hunting, with cast bullets, etc. would be ridiculous.

I would go on my next elk/moose/deer hunting trip with confidence with that rifle, even just the Parker Hale aperture sights mounted rather than a scope in place using the no-gunsmithing mount. Ditto for plain old fun at the range or use with cast bullets.

I suppose the upside of 'mediocre reputation' is that it might keep the price down and availability up for those who want to find a surplus .303 British to buy. For everyone who decides they don't want to bother with a mediocre rifle/cartridge, there's somebody else eager to take their place to buy one.

I was up in Canada early this month visiting The Dragon In Law after she fell and broke her hip on her 96th birthday (she's already walking around again) and attended a gun show in Calgary. It was a small show unlike the big Easter gun show there. But I didn't see a single un-bubba'd Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk1 offered for sale with a price of less than $1100. And they're far more prevalent and available up in Canada than down here in Montana.

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Originally Posted by dverna

Somewhere in my old archives I have a series of articles on tuning a .303 Mk IV IIRC. They can be made to shoot surprisingly well in spite of "all its faults" that the experts talk about.

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If you find those articles, I would like a copy if you're willing to share. I have a scanned mimeograph of a report in The Canadian Marksman mailed out to DCRA members/competitors after one of the annual national competition at Connaught in 1965. A naval subbie put it together; interviewed all the top scoring competitors on what methods they had used to bed their particular rifles. Included are hand drawn sketches on where the work was done, materials used i.e. sheets of cork, hardwood draws, etc.

If I get off my ass long enough, I'm going to put all my collected pams, gun plumber sheets, etc into a Dropbox account freely accessible to all. I just have to figure out how to set it up.

Any alleged expert who wants to dismiss the No4 Mk1 is self-identifying as somebody who never once spent five minutes at Bisley, Connaught, etc to watch the best belly shooters in the Commonwealth nations prove what that rifle can do with aperture sights shooting the Bisley aggregate (200 - 900 yards). And do it with military ball ammunition.

All but one (303/270) are using the P14 Enfield action to draw out top performance from the intended cartridges. Even the 303/270 on a No.4 action is stronger that the average SMLE.

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Originally Posted by MOC031

If you find those articles, I would like a copy if you're willing to share. I have a scanned mimeograph of a report in The Canadian Marksman mailed out to DCRA members/competitors after one of the annual national competition at Connaught in 1965. A naval subbie put it together; interviewed all the top scoring competitors on what methods they had used to bed their particular rifles. Included are hand drawn sketches on where the work was done, materials used i.e. sheets of cork, hardwood draws, etc.

If I get off my ass long enough, I'm going to put all my collected pams, gun plumber sheets, etc into a Dropbox account freely accessible to all. I just have to figure out how to set it up.

Any alleged expert who wants to dismiss the No4 Mk1 is self-identifying as somebody who never once spent five minutes at Bisley, Connaught, etc to watch the best belly shooters in the Commonwealth nations prove what that rifle can do with aperture sights shooting the Bisley aggregate (200 - 900 yards). And do it with military ball ammunition.

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I think that would be great information to have available to us that would like to fine turn our rifles.

I don't see it mentioned here but there is a sticky for a post by JeffinNZ on accuraizing Lee Enfields:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...curacy-article

Longbow

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Originally Posted by jaysouth

My 'wet dream' gun is a Ruger No.1 in .303 br.

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:goodpost:
LIKE !
Or maybe even the ... 303-35 Epps ...
But standard 303 British would do very nicely in that No. 1 !
Yes-sir-ree bob , that would be Sweet !
Gary

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Originally Posted by Eddie1971

Especially in a Pattern 14!

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The 303 is also very accurate in a Canadian Ross Mk X.

When I was attending the University of Toronto in the early 70’s, the Range Officer was an old man who had shot the .303 at Bisley. For whatever reason he took a liking to me and shared a number of stories. He was amazing. He had Parkinson’s but when he got behind a gun it seemed to disappear. I was captain of the rifle team and could just barely beat him with our match .22’s. I was at least 50 years younger than old Ernie. Now, I am his age, and realize just how good he must have been in his prime. I am a chump.

Do not discount a tuned .303 in the hands of a man who knows how to shoot. He will eat your lunch with a “pathetic” .303.

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Originally Posted by Bad Ass Wallace

Looking to rationalise my working guns……Thinking that the 303 'family' would fit the need……. Loads can be mild to wild depending on the action….

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If so inclined a fellow could thin his collection a little further:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYPsikBEXgs

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Originally Posted by Bmi48219

If so inclined a fellow could thin his collection a little further:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYPsikBEXgs

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Is anyone else shooting .32 acp in their .303 Lee? Are chamber adapters available for other 32 caliber pistol cartridges? Or is this an exclusively Aussie practice?

I have had a .32 ACP - .303 British chamber adapter for many years now. I’m thinking about getting a chamber reamer to punch it out to .32 H&R Magnum. I’d prefer going all the way to .327 Federal but I don’t think it would like the pressures.

From a quick Wiki search the 303 SAAMI max pressure spec is 49,000 while the 327 Federal Mag is 45,000.
That noted I confess I’m not an expert on either cartridge. I just like the idea of being able to use a single rifle for multiple cartridges.

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Originally Posted by Larry Gibson

The 303 is also very accurate in a Canadian Ross Mk X.

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Yes and you can spice em up a little. The Ross 1910 is a very strong action

Ive always wanted an enfield rifle since i was a tike helping my grandfather get his ready for deer season. Unfortunately it was sold when he had to go to the nursing home.

Been wanting one, but when i find them, they are the nifty 700$ de-milled ones, or 1100$ with broken bolts, stretched actions per seller ads, or need a new barrel.

But consolidating on a case is truly the best thing to do. At the least it locks you down on 1 or 2 powders and 1 primer size.