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

This one’s up for auction.
https://auctions.holtsauctioneers.co...7783&saletype=

Sigh. They're called Lee-Enfields. Not Enfields. Never. You have to pronounce both of the words. Always goddamit. Dont be that American guy on youtube. Or just stick with three oh three.

I've just uploaded a new vid hunting for a goat with the old 303. I've got my Howa's; but still love using the old girl. It has history and character! I'm going to start handloading for it very soon

"Hunting with a 78 year old .303 British rifle. A hunt on my 59th birthday!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suAO86A8_3U&t=53s

My new baby! A BSA 1916 .303 SHTLE III* (FTR) Rifle; now sporting a Nikon 3-9x scope! Going to be so cool hunting with 106-year old rifle!

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

My new baby! A BSA 1916 .303 SHTLE III* (FTR) Rifle; now sporting a Nikon 3-9x scope! Going to be so cool hunting with 106-year old rifle!

Attachment 197612

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I think we need to get together and compare notes, tell lies etc as we're almost neighbours lol

What would happen if you took a SMLE and put a decent new modern barrel on it and used appropriate handloads and a half decent well mounted 'scope? What sort of accuracy would it be capable of? Easy MOA?

I would like to go back to the old 3-oh but wouldn't be able to tolerate that awful old 3moa group business.

Originally Posted by Jhon

I think we need to get together and compare notes, tell lies etc as we're almost neighbours lol

Should do eh. I still need to photograph that Lee Loader sheet for you. I keep forgetting; sorry

@Tahr Pretty good I'd say. My 1944 SMLE shoots 3" at 100yds (3 shots) and it only has a 16.5" barrel. I'm not a long range shooter. I do have a Howa 308 and a Howa mini 223; I call my 223 the freezer filler! But my Howas are my Toyota Corolla's; the 303's are me going for a spin in an old jalopy for the sheer hell of it. But really; for the vast majority of NZ hunting (unless you're a LR shooter) a 303 will do the job

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

Should do eh. I still need to photograph that Lee Loader sheet for you. I keep forgetting; sorry

Ha, thought I'd have to come knock on yer door:-)

Originally Posted by Tahr

What would happen if you took a SMLE and put a decent new modern barrel on it and used appropriate handloads and a half decent well mounted 'scope? What sort of accuracy would it be capable of? Easy MOA?

I would like to go back to the old 3-oh but wouldn't be able to tolerate that awful old 3moa group business.

Tahr, shoot your .303 unsupported and you won't mind or notice it's a 3 MOA rifle. The awful trigger alone will see to that.

Originally Posted by Tahr

What would happen if you took a SMLE and put a decent new modern barrel on it and used appropriate handloads and a half decent well mounted 'scope? What sort of accuracy would it be capable of? Easy MOA?

I would like to go back to the old 3-oh but wouldn't be able to tolerate that awful old 3moa group business.

Greetins All,
I think I have part of the answer to that question. My No4 with a near new two groove barrel often shoots MoA groups with the 174 grain Round Nose Hornady and light loads. It is sensitive to different batches of those projectiles and needs a few shots to settle down after the fore end has been off. My son has requently fallen under the Lee Enfield spell via one with a like new .308 groove barrel and the .303 case. It will be interesting to see how this shoots. There are also some test loads made up to test how much difference there is between my 5 and two groove barrels. The loads have the 174 grain projectiles loaded to 76mm LOA giving a jump of 1.6mm in the two groove and 5.8mm in the 5 groove. Comparing different sets of .303 load data hows some considerable differences in velocity for the same load so this test looks at possible reasons why this is so. Will report results in due course.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by Tahr

What would happen if you took a SMLE and put a decent new modern barrel on it and used appropriate handloads and a half decent well mounted 'scope? What sort of accuracy would it be capable of? Easy MOA?

I would like to go back to the old 3-oh but wouldn't be able to tolerate that awful old 3moa group business.

I was given a long branch no 4 mk 1* it has had a barrel swap at some time and the bolt is also not original but it shoots very well my first 3 shot group at 100 yards blew me away at just over an inch with mill surp ammo using the aperture sight
So yeah they can be very accurate with a good barrel

The big issue is that they don't tend to stay accurate. The bedding is so tenuous that the "tuning" drifts over time.

In the old NRA days of .303 shooting, the guys that won invariably had clever gunsmiths that could get them into tune. These days, TR shooters can buy damn near any second hand rifle and have a good chance if their skills are up to it.

..

Originally Posted by 6x47

The big issue is that they don't tend to stay accurate. The bedding is so tenuous that the "tuning" drifts over time.

In the old NRA days of .303 shooting, the guys that won invariably had clever gunsmiths that could get them into tune. These days, TR shooters can buy damn near any second hand rifle and have a good chance if their skills are up to it.

Treat them like a bow, get closer