Thread: 303

https://fb.watch/mdZr4tLuLH/

Greetings All,
It is really disappointing when what could have been a good little vid is ruined right at the start by ill informed BS.
For the record the P13 was developed by the Brits as a replacement for the Lee Enfield after the Boer War. The cartridge was a new 7mm (.276 calibre) which was hardly surprising after having been on the receiving end of 7mm cartridges in SA. The Americans had nothing to do with it until later. At the start of WW1 the rifle was shelved and an improved Lee Enfield with stripper clip loading and a spitzer 174 grain projectile adopted as standard. The brits did not have enough rifles so took the P13, now chambered for the .303, now called the P14 to the US to have it manufactured there. Production was slow and it was 1916 before adequate numbers became available by which time Lee Enfield production had ramped up. The Lee Enfield was probably a better battle rifle so the P14 rifles were not used that much in France. Later when the US joined the war in 1917 they too were short of rifles so the P14 was manufactured in .30-06 as the M17 Enfield and became the most common rifle carried by the US troops in WW1.
Much later on the P14 became quite popular as a hunting rifle in NZ and was the first hunting rifle I fired, at a rock, near Makino Hut on 30 March 1963. A life changing experience.
Regards Grandpamac.

Greetings again all,
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the P13/ P14 was the cartridge it was intended to fire, the .276 Enfield. The Boer war included a lot of longer range sniping for which the Brits were poorly trained. The actual performance of the .303 and it's 215 grain projectile was not much inferior to the 7x57 with it's 175 grain projectile but the tactics and training of the British was. After the war ended it was convenient to blame the equipment rather than the officers and more especially the Generals. So a new rifle and cartridge appeared. The .276 Enfield (or 7x60 Enfield if you prefer) was remarkably modern very roughly like a 7mm PRC but with more body taper and a less abrupt neck. It was similar in many respects to the .276 H&H that appeared about the same time and was the grandfather, perhaps father of the 7mm Rem Mag. In retrospect the brits got it right going with the .303 as the .276 would have fried machine gun barrels in short order and the extra recoil would have been hard on the troops. That said todays hunter would have been well served by it especially loaded with todays powder and projectiles.
Regards Grandpamac.

Yeah this turned up on my fb feed. As soon as he said American design I thought misinformed twat and scrolled on by.