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

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Bakail make double rifles....seen them advertised here in .45/70 or 30/06 now either would just about have to be ultimate bush rifle.....
double .303 will be great to...more accurate barrel have a good load in it and other something big soft and heavy...say a 200grn cast....lookout stag behind horipito bush...clearly identifiable but partially obscured....

I once used the Hornady 174gr RH in my old SMLE. Nothing walked away.........

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Bakail make double rifles....seen them advertised here in .45/70 or 30/06 now either would just about have to be ultimate bush rifle.....
double .303 will be great to...more accurate barrel have a good load in it and other something big soft and heavy...say a 200grn cast....lookout stag behind horipito bush...clearly identifiable but partially obscured....

I was offered a 30 06 double rifle and would have bought it but it would not keep barrels shooting remotely together,but I bought the two u/o versions they make as regulation can be adjusted. Unless you are buying quality makes a single shot is a better choice.Baikial make a 762x39 over 12 gauge or 762x39 over 20 gauge which could be a candidate for rechambering to 303.

I just thought it was time to bump the 303 thread buck up to the top

In the process of sorting out a Stevens 44 1/2 in the wildcat caliber 38-303 I was looking for decent 303 brass
Turned up what I needed and @Rambo-6mm formed the brass up for me
I also have more brass to collect

But an offer for 303 dies, new old stock Norma brass and projectiles was also taken

So now once again I have all the gear to reload and a new barrel blank for a caliber of rifle I don't own !
@Scout will be loving this joke
The 303 items now join 30-30 ( complete set and new profiled barrel ) and 25-35 which I even have a new unused chamber reamer for

So if anyone has a single shot action that deserves to be made whole and become a working rifle again in 303, 30-30 or 25-35 get in touch

I have a nice Martini action, its old/new barrel is waiting down South to go to a better place ,,,,,,, I think !

I just got the sight on the other yesterday, I'm now pissed off I missed a huge can of ADI 2201 from ancient times as I have been using up a small can I have & it is great for the Old girls !

Originally Posted by Scout

I have a nice Martini action, its old/new barrel is waiting down South to go to a better place ,,,,,,, I think !

I just got the sight on the other yesterday, I'm now pissed off I missed a huge can of ADI 2201 from ancient times as I have been using up a small can I have & it is great for the Old girls !

@@Scout That MG barrel is just waiting patiently to be whittled down to go in an ovate sewer pipe !

Many is the time I have looked at it and though you have so much tonnage stranded all over the world you won't miss one 303 barrel !
But I don't currently have a nitro proof action I can spin it on to

Originally Posted by muzza

If you have a 303 fetish there are a huge bunch of them on offer in the next Militaria auction in Feb.

Those bloody auctions just keep getting bumped
And I'm fussy and not especially keen on martinis ( despite owning a few ) for what I want the 303 single shot for

Sure I've posted this else where.
But had to stick my spare scope and rings on the Enfield 1917 III* sporter, as I don't trust my eyes hunting with irons.
Thanks to the member for the free mount rail.

Originally Posted by Scout

I have a nice Martini action, its old/new barrel is waiting down South to go to a better place ,,,,,,, I think !

I just got the sight on the other yesterday, I'm now pissed off I missed a huge can of ADI 2201 from ancient times as I have been using up a small can I have & it is great for the Old girls !

Greetings @Scout,
If I may offer some words of caution about AR2201. AR2201 was replaced by AR2206 around 40 years ago. The Oz Army found that AR2201 produced variable port pressure in the 5.56 and had a poor shelf life especially at high temperatures. Mulwex developed AR2206 which was the first of what was later labled by Hodgdon Extreme powders. Mulwex never manufactured AR2201 as a canister powder for direct sale to the public only offering it to ammunition manufacturers like CAC which packaged it and sold to the public. For this reason load data is variable. I don't doubt for a minute that you are getting excellent results from some carefully stored AR2201 but you may wish to consider using AR2206H which should give as good or perhaps better results in your old girls. This is what I do in my old soldiers. To me using AR2201 with an unknown storage history creats an unneccesary risk.
Regards Grandpamac.

@grandpamac lol yes I reckoned it was way old powder & that's why I didn't take the opportunity of the 5lb can but wish I had now, as this stuff has been working great & it was in a CAC can as I remember .

When I was after data they said the military found it wanting in 7.62X51 - 308 used in the SLR as I remember but I think fine used in shooting boxes, rocks & cans, in my hunting loads I will use another fresh powder as a side bar the most accurate load in a couple of these Oldies has been using .308 bullets in fresh 303 barrels !

Thank you for the note on the powders use grandpamac, much appreciate the knowledge !

Originally Posted by Scout

@grandpamac lol yes I reckoned it was way old powder & that's why I didn't take the opportunity of the 5lb can but wish I had now, as this stuff has been working great & it was in a CAC can as I remember .

When I was after data they said the military found it wanting in 7.62X51 - 308 used in the SLR as I remember but I think fine used in shooting boxes, rocks & cans, in my hunting loads I will use another fresh powder as a side bar the most accurate load in a couple of these Oldies has been using .308 bullets in fresh 303 barrels !

Thank you for the note on the powders use grandpamac, much appreciate the knowledge !

Greetings @Scout,
Thanks for your reply and kind words. I would be most interested in some more detail on your .308 projectiles in the .303 (.314) barrel. I had read of people using partition projectles in this way. One of my .303 rifles has a mint two groove barrel and shoots the .303 174 grain RN very very well. It also shoots the .303 Norma 150 grain BT quite well but 150 grain .308 projectiles not that well. I thought about getting some 170 grain .308 flat points for my .30-40 Krag Martini to also try in the .303 but have not done so yet. The Martini shoots the 150 grain RN projectiles so well in spite of a really long throat. All the loads for these rifles use AR2206H.
Regards Grandpamac.

if you think about it,a two groove barrel,is something like 80?% at .303 of an inch sized hole...so a .308 sized projectile gets 5 thou grip over 80% of its surface....

Try 220 grain .308 bullets in a good .303 bore. The longer bearing surface works better I think.

Yes I use a few of those in the real old Speeders that were regulated for the 215gr slug, but I haven't been shooting any game with them in the 303, lots in the 30/06 back in the day .

Grandpamac I have a mint barreled Westley Richards & she really shoots some 180gr Hornadys I had laying around, flat based slugs !

You know I haven't slugged the bores so who knows what they really are ?

I shot some .318 8mm bullets in my worn out BSA sporter & it went from a foot size key hole pattern to small group right on the sights, I first checked that a fired case would release a .318 size bullet !

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

if you think about it,a two groove barrel,is something like 80?% at .303 of an inch sized hole...so a .308 sized projectile gets 5 thou grip over 80% of its surface....

Greetings Micky and Scout,
That was my thinking. Some data for the two groove barrels that I found gave the bore at .304" and the groove from .316" to .318". The dimensions were developed to suit the Mk VII projectile and gave decent accuracy and long barrel life. Tests with the 175 grain Hornady round nose often give two shots touching at 60 metres but different lots of projectiles can give quite different points of impact. Current production has a blunter shape.
Regards Grandpamac.

I went bush for the day for my 59th birthday. I took 2 goats with the trusty old 1944 Lee Enfield SMLE #1 mk3 .303. Saw another half a dozen goats, but only took what I needed. Filmed it all. Tried to be a wannabe NZ Hunter Adventures. More like Broken Arse Hunter Adventures.... 3 cameras: the phone, Gopro and Panasonic. Shooting B-roll footage, the whole 9 yards. Even used the tripod....