Thread: Resurgence of interest in the old "Three Oh"?

I bought a 1943 No4 Mk1 star Longbranch on Sunday. It’s been refurbished and appears to have a new Criterion? Barrel fitted. All matching numbers, including forewood. Has what appears to be armoury stamp on the wrist like the Swedes did with their rifles. Also has NZ stampings. Shot it a couple of days ago using surplus Greek ammo. Not as accurate as any of my Swedes, but a completely different experience. I believe I will get used to it, esp now the trigger has loosened up so first and second stage are discernible.

Originally Posted by Ingrid 51

I bought a 1943 No4 Mk1 star Longbranch on Sunday. It’s been refurbished and appears to have a new Criterion? Barrel fitted. All matching numbers, including forewood. Has what appears to be armoury stamp on the wrist like the Swedes did with their rifles. Also has NZ stampings. Shot it a couple of days ago using surplus Greek ammo. Not as accurate as any of my Swedes, but a completely different experience. I believe I will get used to it, esp now the trigger has loosened up so first and second stage are discernible.

try box of 150 and box of 180 sporting stuff...one of the two will make it hum.....most SMLEs prefer one over the other.....if you have as you believe got one with a good barrel...for the love of God look after it,treasure it and clean it regularly...... I have fond memories of hunting with the 303.....funny having just purchased new rifle the comments about them are mostly good but folks whinge about 2 stage trigger......and its heavy......obvious they never cut teeth on a SMLE.....
if you going to reload...get in touch with shootersnz/Robert he will sort you out with cast projectiles to feed the ol girl.... if you want low recoil (heck all 303 loads are low recoil) try some projectiles made for the 7.62x39mm 123grns loads of folks have had them work well...and if your barrel is new and unworn they should work even better.

I shot my first deer with a Lee Enfield .303 Still have it. It has the long range sights on the side. I also had access to some aged ammo courtesy of my grandfather who was a gun collector and gunsmith. One day, I was wandering along a Urewera ridge and came face to face with a pig. Bolt closed, click...... All of a sudden all hell broke loose with her and piglets running everywhere. Very comical. I left the bolt engaged for a while after that. Tried firing that round later and it worked. After that, no more 50 year old ammo. Photo of grandad and I in his gunroom mid 70's I'm guessing. This was only one wall.

Whoa @kiwiaviator ,l bet your grandad was a great Old School character, can you share any more details or photos etc ie how/why/when did he start collecting,did he have a particular favorite type he collected or a favorite gun from his collection . The older you get the more you realise what a shame a lot of these types of stories are lost too history apart from the immediate family .IMO if you have anymore info you would like to share it deserves its own post it would be of that much interest here,either way thanks for sharing .

Originally Posted by bunji

Whoa @kiwiaviator ,l bet your grandad was a great Old School character, can you share any more details or photos etc ie how/why/when did he start collecting,did he have a particular favorite type he collected or a favorite gun from his collection . The older you get the more you realise what a shame a lot of these types of stories are lost too history apart from the immediate family .IMO if you have anymore info you would like to share it deserves its own post it would be of that much interest here,either way thanks for sharing .

All good bunji. Unfortunately I don't have access to more photos etc as I'm stuck overseas until this pandemic settles a bit. Henry Victor "Vic" Ormond lived in Te Puke from the early '70's to his passing in 2008. He had a gunsmith workshop at his home and there was almost always someone there having a chat. He was also a very active Acclimatisation Society Ranger. My love of hunting, fishing and the outdoors came from him and my father.

Thanks for advice guys. As a retiree, I intend to cherish this acquisition the same as I do my Swedes. I actually like the military trigger as was brought up with it. Will try a range of ammo as suggested.

Originally Posted by Ingrid 51

I bought a 1943 No4 Mk1 star Longbranch on Sunday. It’s been refurbished and appears to have a new Criterion? Barrel fitted. All matching numbers, including forewood. Has what appears to be armoury stamp on the wrist like the Swedes did with their rifles. Also has NZ stampings. Shot it a couple of days ago using surplus Greek ammo. Not as accurate as any of my Swedes, but a completely different experience. I believe I will get used to it, esp now the trigger has loosened up so first and second stage are discernible.

I did the same thing a few months ago using GCs Greek surplus and was all over the place but 180gr PPU was bang on for my no4mk1*