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

1901 MLE
1943 Lithgow No 1 Mk 111*

Originally Posted by Gapped axe

Loved the calibre, shot a few animals with different ones, but my favourite was the Jungle Carbine for sure. Wished i had never moved it on.

@Gapped axe The surplus store that used to advertise in the back of dad's farm mags also had new M1 carbines for sale as well as Jungle carbines..... I was about 15 and wanted both sooooooo badly!

1942 Lithgow No1 MkIII, 1943 Longbranch No4 Mk1*, 1945 No5 Mk1... will make the wood look better when i can get around to it...

I do remember something around those Carbines being advertised. I paid $80 for mine about 32 yrs ago. I had ruger 44mag but the bloody thing used to load it self when pushing throu thick scrub or cutty grass.

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

@Gapped axe The surplus store that used to advertise in the back of dad's farm mags also had new M1 carbines for sale as well as Jungle carbines..... I was about 15 and wanted both sooooooo badly!

Valentines - they advertised in the Listener back when it was full sized. I went to their Gisborne shop in the 70's - what a fantastic place.

@Ross Nolan That's right it was in them too. I mostly remember it in the farm mag as I used to eagerly wait for them to arrive so I could see what was available. They used to have "Brit Army packs" with WW2 helmets, gasmasks etc as a package deal. The US Vietnam, era gear was being sold cheap too :-)

Theres definatly a bit of interest in full wood original ones now. Did anyone here see that .303 longbranch no4 T sniper rifle sell on trademe last night!

Originally Posted by Ross Nolan

Valentines - they advertised in the Listener back when it was full sized. I went to their Gisborne shop in the 70's - what a fantastic place.

Ahhh...I remember Valentines in Barton Street Hamilton. Went there once. It was heaven for a young kid right into military stuff. I just just didn’t have the pocket money to get anything at the time. When we went back it had changed...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm looking to get myself one and hopefully shoot a deer over open sights with it, as well as wearing/using as much older equipment as I can find.

A fellow forum member is loaning me his one which is bloody good of him. Hopefully I can bag a goat or two to get my eye in and then go after sika with one.
The main goal will be to get a sika over my dog with an open sight 303, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun trying to get there!

Originally Posted by hebe

I'm looking to get myself one and hopefully shoot a deer over open sights with it, as well as wearing/using as much older equipment as I can find.

A fellow forum member is loaning me his one which is bloody good of him. Hopefully I can bag a goat or two to get my eye in and then go after sika with one.
The main goal will be to get a sika over my dog with an open sight 303, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun trying to get there!

Update. Have gotten hold of an open sight .303 (borrowed from a fellow forum user) and on my first outing I managed to shoot 9 goats over the dog with it at distances ranging from 5-6 yards to about 120 odd.

I think I'm converted.

Originally Posted by mimms2

A recrown/ barrel sleeving may be in order. But as above check all mounting hardware.
Try Sellier Belliot 150gn, and if they don't shoot, try 180gn.

A barrel liner is appealing as most LEs have worn (out) barrels. There is a sound economic argument of just replacing the entire barrel, which also discards every historical stamp and serial number. But does anyone in NZ do barrel relining?

Originally Posted by hebe

Update. Have gotten hold of an open sight .303 (borrowed from a fellow forum user) and on my first outing I managed to shoot 9 goats over the dog with it at distances ranging from 5-6 yards to about 120 odd.

I think I'm converted.


Attachment 140396
Attachment 140395

How's the dogs ears?

Originally Posted by Maxx

How's the dogs ears?

Probably keeps whining, head on a swivel looking around for another dog continuously whining somewhere nearby.

Originally Posted by Maxx

How's the dogs ears?

I shoot a suppressed 7mm08 over him normally so he got a bit of a fright..in saying that he seemed to be pretty happy letting me walk infront of him to shoot once he had indicated on a couple. Hardcase how they figure things out.

Greetings All,
After seeing all those photo's of pristine Lee Enfields a few pages back I thought I would share a couple of my scoped .303.
Almost every major component has been altered (others may use the words bubba'd or bodgered depending on country of origin) but it has an excellent barrel and shoots really well.
Grandpamac.