Thread: 303 markings

Greetings,
First step would be to give the barrel a damned good clean which may take some time and elbow grease. It will probably be pitted and dark in the grooves so don't be disappointed. If you can see rifling most of the way down there is hope. I think that we can safely say that collector value will be nil so cutting a good bit off the muzzle and a re crown could work wonders. Don't forget you will still need a fore sight. As far as head space goes you can do a quick check with a full length sized case with a partly seated primer. Just pop it in the chamber and close the bolt keeping the action cocked. Open the bolt and you can see how much head space there is by how far the primer sticks out the back of the case. Expect there to be some to perhaps a lot. You will need the bolt for this, obviously. One of my .303 rifles has quite a lot of head space and still shoots well. I use a light load, 32 grains of AR2206H behind the Hornady 174 grain round nose and only neck size the cases in a Lee Loader. This stops the cases breaking in half. If the bolt does not turn up I have an old one here that may do although it is a bit later.
Best of luck. Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

As far as head space goes you can do a quick check with a full length sized case with a partly seated primer. Just pop it in the chamber and close the bolt keeping the action cocked. Open the bolt and you can see how much head space there is by how far the primer sticks out the back of the case.

Nice simple trick.