Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Shot the .303 today...

...with some 180-grain Federal factory loads I had lying around. After a couple of sighters at 25 yards, the first pair at 100 went into a little over an inch. After adjusting the scope I let the rifle cool down, then shot a 3-shot group. This landed right at point of aim and measured 1-1/2". This is a good beginning. Now for some handloads.

The scope is a 3x Leupold, which seems just about right. The scoped rifle weighs 7 pounds 11 ounces.

This does us no good without pictures. Please help us aesthetically minded hedonists capture what you're trying to express. Especially of the rifle....

you're killing me. 5 more weeks before I get home and can fondle mine for the first time. wonder which I play with first... the .303 or the girlfriend? choices choices...

Betting you can tighten those groups with the right powder and seating depth. Pretty good start with factory fodder.

But a pic or two would be nice, Mule Deer.

Nice shootin' JB. Now when ya gonna get started on the 450/400 3".


maddog

JB
Mine will not be shipped till August 1. I have already drooled at the photos on the 303 thread, and to hear of your shooting makes the wait seem longer. Pretty good groups for factory loads.

Randy

Yeah, I suspect this rifle will shoot pretty well with some handloads. One advantage is that the trigger is very good out of the box, pretty clean-breaking and right at 3 pounds.

I don't post photos on the Campfire. If I did, I'd spend WAY too much time posting photos on the Campfire.

Maddog, I have sighted in the .450/400 with factory loads and a 4x Leupold, and intend to start working on handloaders within the next week or two. I also have a 400-grain bullet mold that should add to the fun.

The factory triggers on new #1's in the past few years have been one of the silent success stories in American rifles. The last few I've bought have been like your .303--3lbs, crisp and not needing any adjustment to shoot well.

.303s are addictive MD. Next thing you'll be asking for honorary Canuck status, as most of us have at least one 'stashed' somewhere, registered, naturally!

Actually I don't own a .303....

It averages out, I own four, you really don't have to own one now. The anti gun crowd would prefer you to not own one at all, especially the ones with a ten shot magazine.

Randy

Oregon45,

Yeah, I don't think I've bothered to do any tuning on any of the triggers on the last 4-5 new No. 1's I've purchased. That goes back a couple of years or so.

Nrut...shame on you! medicman, when did all this change come about? I was given a .303 with my citizenship certificate, thought it was just part of the package.

rooney,

Actually, I've had a .303 for a while, the "sporterized" No. 1 Mk. 4 SMLE that my uncle hunted with for years here in Montana. He gave it to me when he finally decided to quit hunting about 20 years ago.

Actually, quite a few people hunted with such rifles here in Montana for quite a while after World War II. When I started hunting big game in the mid-1960's there were barrels full of them in local hardware stores, usually selling for around $15-20, with the military stocks cut down and refinished. Some people put scopes on them, but many were used as-is, like my uncle's. In fact he killed his biggest mule deer with it back in the 60's, near Virginia City, Montana.

I take it out now and then, and it shoots just fine--but like a lot of SMLE's it's hard on brass!

When I went thru puberty in the late 50's you bought a Springfield 03-A3 from the NRA for less than $30.00 IIRC..
By the time I got my Canadian citizenship cretchin was PM & pee-aire's cultural diversity had gotten to the point where I was the only Anglo, male, English as a first language, person being sworn in that day out of a group of 44 fresh new citizens and immigration where no longer handing out .303's..
Believe me I would not turn down a free rifle..
Sorry for the hi-jack..

JB
I have two butchered SMLEs. One a no1mkIII and one a JC Higgens commercial sporter made from a no4mkII. The other two are a Long Branch no4 mkI and an Irish Constabulary no4 mkII. Those are full military configuration and will stay that way

The no1mkIII sporter was the meat gun for our family, and dad bought it from the local hardware store for $20 back in the late fifties or early sixties.

Randy

Any educated 'assumptions' on how many firings from brass loaded in the new #1s? Five to six perhaps. Catinthehat from Ft. McMurray had a custom put together recently, perhaps he will enlighten.

I know what you mean. But I'm sure as you know, those loose chambers are also what made them go bang anywhere from the Somme to the Sudan in any kind of conditions. I only wish they had put the bolt on the correct side.

Sounds like your #1 .303 ought to be a nice toy, hope you slay some critters with it.

Yeah, I don't expect minimum chambers in military rifles.

I already have some tentative plans for the No. 1 this fall....

JB,

What's the throat like in your No.1/303 in regards to length? Has it been long throated for the 215 grainers? My 1A 7x57 has a long throat which makes it difficult to seat bullets, of 140gn and lighter, 30 thou off the lands and still have enough bullet shank to grip in the case neck.