Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada It's Official. Ruger will be making the No 1 in 303 British

a "shame" but wonderful in the same time ...
no International but anyway a .303 in a Nr 1 is greaaaaat.

well done Clay as usual ...

Congratulations, that sounds like it will be a dandy!

Goes well with hockey, back bacon and maple syrup.

Seriously ..... The Commonwealth countries fought the two world wars with the .303. Many, many thousands came back here after and served again as sporting rifles.


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IIRC, you were given to producing 200 gr "Mk9" bullets from time to time, like when it was to cold to shoot in the winter, weren't you, Steve? With all those new .303 Rugers you might have a market for a few more.

:)Stuart

Yes, I was making them but there wasn't much of a market. There were more shooters in the States that wanted them, but the shipping costs were steep.

It's funny, but when I was selling bullets, there was more interest in .224s made from rimfire cases.

Will they use a twist rate suitable for 215gr? If they dont ... you can kiss the idea goodbye for me. Will they use a true 0.311" bore or run a 0.308" like they did in the 7.62x39 bolt rifles?

Good news indeed as a private import to Australia will be done for teh Australian/NZers. These will sell easily across the Commonwealth.
Cheers...
Con

I have been waiting for years for this, I just hope the Australian importer brings a few in!

Is the proper bore .311" or .312"?

smle,
If it's a 'special run' for Lipseys or Prophet River ... the local importer wont touch them. If its a regular run through Ruger, they will look into them and probably import so few it'll be plain ridiculous.

There is a dealer in Melbourne that WILL import if Nioa wont touch them. He will only import what Nioa wont touch. This dealer has imported the Boddington No1s plus a few 300H&Hs etc... and is lining up to do the 303British and 450NitroExpress when it starts rolling.
Cheers...
Con

311

It will be nice to have a barrel and bullet that are actually in sync with each other.

I was giving this a lot of thought and I'll likely re-test some of the loads from my book to see how much they can be bumped up. I have some strong loads that are good in a P-14 and will try them for accuracy in the Ruger.

I am a definite novice to loading for the 303, but when you load them warmish, isn't there a risk of case separation? Just asking -- thought I read that somewhere.

They are a thin walled case, but IIRC most instances of case separation came from excessive headspace in SMLEs ( not everyone changed their bolt faces...)
Shouldnt be an issue in a #1, but I'm guessing it'll shorten case life...

Ingwe

I think I picture a new launch platform for .32 mag pistol bullets. Meet Mr Bunny. Run .312 bullets through a Lee .310 sizer and they'll bounce back .001, good to go. Or maybe as is if the throat isn't too tight.

Yep, I'm a sick puppy.

Heard a rumor once many years ago, that in the old days all kids in rural Canada got 'em a 303 Enfield at birth to cut their teeth on? Literally and figuratively. ;O)

Congrats on the advent of some new rifles in that flavor.

Had a No.4 MkII for some years, but sold it a long time ago. Can't remember why, now? They are still popular enough in these parts, that for many years the local Walmart always had 303 Rem. Core Lokts on the shelf in time for deer season.

Yeah, loading them warm will shorten case life a bit. As ingwe said, it was the chambers in the Lee Enfields that caused this. Tighter chambers cut this down considerably.

I have several hundred military cases. They are thicker than commercial ones. With a regular chamber and thicker brass I'm sure that velocities can be ramped up a touch. There really is no need to push a 215 grain bullet much faster than 2200 fps anyway. It's fun to try, but I've got a couple of 303 Epps rifles so the urge isn't too strong.

I'll try some of my 200s. With a strong action, it's no problem to get them to 2300+ fps. Things just fall over.

Congrats!!!! How can you not be happy for any in the shooting fraternity when something like this happens! Good show! The .303 is a grand old cartridge well worthy of a rennaisance. I still have at least 3 assorted Enfields secreted in my gunsafes, and am still looking forward to creating my own interpretation of a Lee-Metford or Lee Speed rifle!

Well done!

BN

Now I have a real conundrum, with Ruger #1 rifles in 7x57, and 45-70, I have nice old military chamberings for the wonderful Ruger single shot in "other countries" hundred year old military cartridges, but not Canadas! I might need to buy one just for patriotism and nostalgia... After all, my brother's .303 was what I used to kill my first big game animal, and a sporterized Lee Enfield #4 was the first centerfire rifle I owned ...

Do it...buy one...you know you want to.....

Ingwe

Rimmed cases and single shots go together like peas and carrots. I really have no desire to own a single shot that ain't chambered for a rimmed cartridge.