Salty303;
Good evening to you sir, I hope this finds you well and the weekend was an acceptable one for you.
My first center fire rifle was a P14 in .303 which if memory serves I gave $15 for to a buddy. That would have been '74 or so I want to say.
I recall in around that time seeing 45 gallon drums of full wood SMLE's in the old Army & Navy store in Regina and they were $15 - the barrel full of "sporterized" ones were $25.
Honestly as a life time gun trader I can't recall how many I've owned - has to be over a dozen, though at least one got sold before I'd exited the gun show where I'd just bought it.
The most accurate I've played with were both SMLE's - both No 4's with 4 groove barrels. One was a Parker Hale sporter and the other still in cut down military wood.
The PH will group 180gr Sierra Pro Hunters into about an inch for three shots if one can work around the two stage trigger. The No 4 with the military wood we fooled with the bedding and trigger some to see what it'd do.
Strangely using 173gr .308" Lake City Match full patch bullets that goofy rifle put in a couple 1" groups with 5 shots. It shot way, way better than it had any right to, but there it is.
Oh, I've been front and center when at least 3 local mulie bucks were on the receiving end of one of those 180gr Sierra's and they certainly died forthwith. The same load killed a few BC moose too I should mention.
My late father killed a few Saskatchewan moose with a .303 before going to a .250 Savage 99 first and then finally a .308 Model 100. He said he liked the .308 best for moose, but they all worked well enough for our family to eat the results.
Lastly and I apologize for repeating this information, but in a lifetime of knocking around the edges of civilization in a couple provinces, the most common firearms in the hands of subsistence trappers and farmer/trappers back in the day was either a 94 Winchester in .30-30 or some variety of .303 British rifle.
They're not fancy, but the evidence indicates they work when asked to.
All the best to you in the upcoming week Salty.
Dwayne
