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

i ike many would love a ruger single shot (No 1) in 303

Originally Posted by 300_BLK

i ike many would love a ruger single shot (No 1) in 303

Sort of an old school Ruger #1 303

I just brought this
Remington sporting rolling block #5 303

very cool akaroa1

I read a great review of the Ruger No.1 .303 in NZ Guns magazine, it was throated for the long 220 gr projectiles. I guess your Remington will be too?

let us know how she shoots!

Well @rockland you don't see any shooting reviews on rifles like this

They very rarely for shot and even less hunted with
But I have been after one of these for a while

There were only ever 198 sporting rifle #5s made in a handful of calibers
It is thought that only 28 were ever made in 303 British
It looks like at least 5 are known to be in NZ
So that's a fairly high number of the original 28

And this will be shot and it will be hunted with
I expect it to be pretty effective
First up are some new old stock Norma 180 grain spire points

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, my .303 has an excellent bore and will shoot 1.5 inch groups with the army open sights. With a scope who knows, maybe a bit better. But this is with handloads. With PPU or Winchester factory ammo it will do 3 - 4 inch groups so I thin a lot of the problem is the factory ammo. (When I say "handloads", I mean I loaded up the cheapest bullet with the max load in the ADI book and then shot it a couple of times. It's a .303.)

I am thinking of putting one of those mini red dot sights on my .303, like the Burris Fastfire. The coolness of this idea has quite overexcited me.

Heres on on a Garand type thing:

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Well @rockland you don't see any shooting reviews on rifles like this

They very rarely for shot and even less hunted with
But I have been after one of these for a while

There were only ever 198 sporting rifle #5s made in a handful of calibers
It is thought that only 28 were ever made in 303 British
It looks like at least 5 are known to be in NZ
So that's a fairly high number of the original 28

And this will be shot and it will be hunted with
I expect it to be pretty effective
First up are some new old stock Norma 180 grain spire points

Goddamit where do you find these things. I would kill for that one. But is it for blackpowder or cordite does it say on the barrel?

@JohnDuxbury the RRB #5s are full nitro proof

This model is from 1897 because it has the high extractor location screw
There were a number of subtle variations on the #5 action but they were all nitro

There were thousands of military #5s made
Mostly in 7x57 and they had a different extractor that's screw was much lower in the frame

Originally Posted by akaroa1

@JohnDuxbury the RRB #5s are full nitro proof

This model is from 1897 because it has the high extractor location screw
There were a number of subtle variations on the #5 action but they were all nitro

There were thousands of military #5s made
Mostly in 7x57 and they had a different extractor that's screw was much lower in the frame

Yes, you're right, I forgot about all the 7x57's.

@akaroa1 Did I see that on TM? It looks familiar

Originally Posted by 300_BLK

i ike many would love a ruger single shot (No 1) in 303

I am part of that extensive club as well. Contemporary reports on accuracy or The Riger No 1 in .303 varied between tack driver and poor accuracy which put me of rather. Hard to justify when you already have two No4's and a Martini in .30-40 Krag all of which shoot pretty well.
GPM.

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Sort of an old school Ruger #1 303

I just brought this
Remington sporting rolling block #5 303

Attachment 198129

Attachment 198130

@akaroa1,
You are a very bad man. Fancy posting pic's of a rifle like that without prior warning. I fired a Remington rolling block in 50-90 IIRC and a Remington Hepburn in 38-55 many years ago which has left me with a weakness for nice old single shot rifles, or nice not so old single shot rifles. Every time I see one I have arguments with myself which go like this:

Gee thats a nice rifle.
What would you do with another rifle. You hardly use some of the ones you have?
But a (insert name of current rifle of interest here) would be good for (insert current fantasy uses here).

You get the idea. This can go on for a few hours until my tightwad tendancies triumph and nothing happens. One day perhaps.
Regards Grandpamac

303 no4 mk2 at 100m

Originally Posted by grandpamac

@akaroa1,
You are a very bad man. Fancy posting pic's of a rifle like that without prior warning. I fired a Remington rolling block in 50-90 IIRC and a Remington Hepburn in 38-55 many years ago which has left me with a weakness for nice old single shot rifles, or nice not so old single shot rifles. Every time I see one I have arguments with myself which go like this:

Gee thats a nice rifle.
What would you do with another rifle. You hardly use some of the ones you have?
But a (insert name of current rifle of interest here) would be good for (insert current fantasy uses here).

You get the idea. This can go on for a few hours until my tightwad tendancies triumph and nothing happens. One day perhaps.
Regards Grandpamac

@grandpamac I'm genuinely sorry to have caused so much pain and torment

I will PM you with 24 hours notice before I drop any images of a single shot vintage rifle

I have a 303 here suitable for a project or parts. Bolt is broken. Cant find the mag. No butt plate.
Not interested in posting at all, so will need to collect from Nelson area.
FREE

Previous owner has returned to Texas

Stamped : GR BSA 1918 Sht LE