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

This may be my firrst #1 Ruger
Randy

IME 303 cases in a properly chambered rifle like a P-14 will last as long as any other case. The problem story is bases on 4 SMLEs which have generous chambers.
Basically it and the 30-40 Krag in a modern single shot are ballistic twins. Will be interesting to see what Ruger twists it for.

Ruger will almost certainly go with the twist that was used in the Lee Enfield, 1895 and the P14 - 1 in 10. This twist will stabilize bullets up to at least 215 grains. I'm not aware of any jacketed .311/.312s that are heavier.

I double dog dare ya! Is that before or after the 375 Holland & Holland?

[quote=UncleJake]For us unwashed, why is .303 so special? Is it a cultural thing? [/quote


Why is the .303 so special? WWI,WWII, Korea and many more.The .303 British and the 30/06 is the face of freedom.Good for you guys and Ruger!

Patrick, and mostly this is the first rifle (Lee Enfield) we used to shoot at range and of course hunting ...

btw the enfield is still in ops use by the canadian rangers.

HandH will have to be put on hold if I do the ruger. More patriotic than 7x57. and who knows 375 is not needed for a few years.I'll convince myself yet.
Randy

If ya need help with the convincing, I'll let you take a couple pokes with the 405 next time we're together. You'll be standing in line the next day for one of your own.

In his biography, "Three Against the Wilderness", trapper Eric Collier owned one rifle, a bolt-action .303, as he and his wife and son carved a life out of the BC wilderness, in 1919-1960, living totally "off the land", in their log cabin, a 2-day wagon ride to the Riske Creek trading post. Killed everything with it, deer, moose, bear, et al. Called it his "passport to certain meat supply"..He was a writer for Outdoor Life, during many of those years in the 1940's-'50's.

I read the book in the seventies. It was interesting, although slightly romanticising the rough spots of their life. There are a lot of us who ate well because of the lowly 303, and even less powerful 30/30. I have one in my gunsafe that Dad bought from Marshall Wells in Dryden for $15.00. A winchester 94 was pretty much a $100 proposition then. In 1972 I went way out there and ought a 308 for the raw power and flat trajectory. Us bush hunters have always been a wild lot.

That 303 is still hunted, by the way, and I intend on honouring Dad this fall with a whitetail hunt and his "three ought three".

Randy

My BIL got his first moose a couple years ago with a BSA .303 that I did up and gave him for Christmas as his first rifle. Took down a 1200 lb bull moose with ease...


SS

Old "meat in the pot" still got the bend in the barrel? I remember him drilling a deer with it open sights at 300 yards.

Here in Australia the Ruger importer is taking orders for the No1 in .303 but only for a month, so must mean a very limited run but I've got mine ordered! The .303 British was extremely popular here in Australia and you still see old No1 MKIII, No4,No5 and P14's about.

Yep but that is an optical illusion. The rubbing on the barrel has made no actual bend when a straight edge is checked. I was with him when he shot one on the Eagle River road at 4/10+ mile on the odometer of his 68 GMC. I laid the cross hairs of that JCHiggins 3006 on the deer and it was covered. I put the gun down and tried to get him to go closer. When he shot the deer spun and ran for the bush. I gave him such a hard time about shooting and he just said how he could not believe he missed. When we got to where the deer had been there was a funnel of blood in the snow, and the deer was tangled head down back end up in the tag alders not 20 yards from where it had been shot through the heart. The man and gun were both pretty special.

Randy, a respectful son

I never knew the Colliers, but I did know their friend Everett Greenlee. He told me that Eric Collier could write an entire paragraph about something that he would speak in one sentence, and it would not be long, repetitive, or boring.

Ted

That they have decided to grab these is a wonderful thing and I'm glad I was WRONG about them ignoring the special run. Mind you they knew nothing about it ... but responded immediately to enquiries. I'm guessing there must be a limited amount being made, because when I went to order I was told the more ordered the sooner the run will commence. Oddly for my dealer ... they're cheaper than their book price for other No1s.
Cheers...
Con

I dig .303. Love rimmed cartridges in single shot rifles. A 180 gr spitzer at 2400 will do a lot and not need a premium bullet to do it.

Expat

O'Reilly's at first said no such animal existed but after checking confirmed my order,they quoted $1310 I think HPGS quotes $1390, I hope the dollar stays high!

smle,
My local gave me $1395 and stated the price seems to be 'guaranteed' that is the way the distributor spoke was that that would be the price and that's it. I'm guessing they will be paying based on orders in advance, hence the price is locked in. I'm giving it to the end of the week to decide ... got a lot of projects in the fire at the moment ... but i reckon I'll weaken by Wednesday and just give the go ahead.
Cheers...
Con

According to my correspondance with Ruger, these will be available to any and all distributors. I have since placed my order for one with a distributor. It's wasn't shown on his Buy List, but it's still early and Ruger hasn't assigned a model # to this yet.