Thread: Idea

Hi Folks.

One of my neighbour's has a family 303 that their father had but is surplus to his requirements as he doesn't shoot deer any more.

He just duckshoots and fly fishes now due to his maturing age.

He has gifted said 303 to me(I sighted his licence and he sighted mine).

She's a cut down SMLE 1915 complete with matching numbers etc.

This also happened to be when I was debating about doing a Bush rifle idea thats tough as hell etc.

I'll have to give the barrel a solid cleaning (it came with CAC ammo in the boxes!)

So my query is for those out there what road could one go down?

I have a few ideas being that it's not in restorable order.

My idea was to leave it as is in 303, mount a scout style scope in place on the rear sight, shorten to 16" and suppress with a trigger Job.

Plus for good measure pop a slip on recoil pad over the brass one as the Buttstock is original.

I'm wanting to keep it cheap but I'm open to other ideas too.

As long as it ticks the boxes of cheap(sub $500), Can get out to 250 with factory ammo on reds as some of our clearings down here when we Bush hunt can be big.


I hope that for many of you lucky enough to get out for a Stag have achieved what you aimed to do :-)

Cheers

give the barrel a good clean and see what it shoots like with the ammo you intend to use is where id start

1) Buy a pair of Kuiu pants.

2) Put a 26" carbon wrapped barrel on it.

3) Chuck it in a carbon stock.

4) Replace the action with a Stiller.

5) Cerakote the entire rifle to match the colour of your Kuiu pants.

Job done.



Nah screw that. Wood/blue is the best.

Would be perfect i reckon, ive got a mosin that was done to, carries like a dream, and so far has dropped everything I've pointed it at within 200 metres. Perfect spook n shoot.

Similar except a 1944 SMLE; with a shortened barrel and 2.5 Weaver; but no trigger job, suppressor or new recoil pad..... I find that the white boot laces that tie the sling gives me an extra 200fps.....

give her a really good clean and a recrowning ($60ish) and see how it shoots with 150grn and or 180grn ammo it should like 1 more than the other.... if nothing too flash acuracy wise say 4" at hundred...it still be a great bush rifle

The key requirements being tough, quick handling and stopping power.

Plus it litterly didn't cost me anything.

Think it'll be off to Gun Tech nz for some work :-)

180grn pill at 2400fps takes care of the stopping power bit
lee enfield action takes care of the tough bit
quick handling comes down to mounting sights correctly...either open or scope as low as you can get it....maybe aperture set up might work for you..... never seen one done with a red dot/aimpoint but cant see why it wont work....seen one mounted forward on a rossi .357 top eject lever gun and it worked.....

Scout/pistol scope up front or a rail on left side of receiver, side mount scope (or red dot, why not!) allows you to load her with stripper clips.
If (very) poor accuracy, go for cast boolits but you are talking sub 200m, so can't go wrong.
Enjoy!

Sweet as then.

Now to track down a cheapish scout style optic :-) and off to Cobus for him to work his magic

I actually enjoy using the old SMLE (above) more than the 7-08! Mine easily shoots 3-shots into 3" at 100m using Highland 150's and with the 2.5x scope. So you may be quite surprised with its accuracy.

Originally Posted by bumblefoot

I actually enjoy using the old SMLE (above) more than the 7-08! Mine easily shoots 3-shots into 3" at 100m using Highland 150's and with the 2.5x scope. So you may be quite surprised with its accuracy.

I have a spare FF2 sitting spare.

3-9 x40 which would be overkill but cost 0.

Ideally I'd buy a Burris scout 2-7x35 :-) nudge if anyone has one nudge

Originally Posted by Rock river arms hunter

I have a spare FF2 sitting spare. 3-9 x40 which would be overkill but cost 0. Ideally I'd buy a Burris scout 2-7x35 :-) nudge if anyone has one nudge

I just bought a refurbed Nikon Prostaff 2-7x32 from Natchez in the US for about NZ$180 landed here. Not a scout scope though. They had a beauty Monarch 1.5-4x for US$154 but it sold before I could grab it. Not sure whether they would be held up at the border now. They do have refurbed Nikon scout scopes though

I've gone down a similar path with an old cut down Lee Enfield mk4 no1 I picked up 20 years ago.

It now has: monte carlo stock, recoil pad, 19 inch barrell, hardy suppressor, scope mount, sig sauer red dot.

It's never doing to be a target rifle, but it's great on deer and fun with rabbits at 60 yards with old mil surp ammo

I put a few rounds through the old SMLE (the one in the pic above) yesterday while sighting in the 223 and 7-08. At 30m (in good light) the shots were clipping each other. Was pretty stoked with that. After sighting the other 2 in (took longer cos was breaking in the 223 barrel) I shot a 3-shot group at 100m at 6pm! Was pretty dark and was hard to see the target and the shitty Redfield recticle blocked most of what I could see, but it easily shot this group-(usually groups into 3" with a 2.5x scope). So will sight it in properly soon (had a 3-9x on it). Oh; I used Federal 150's as the Highland 150's are accurate but tend to punch through without doing much damage...... I love the old Three-Oh....... And it shoots better than my bloody Marlin XS7 7-08......