Hi how do I site in a 303 British? Thank you

MezmerizeMe,

We need alittle more information when you say "303 British" what rifle to you speak of ??

Also does it have a scope installed ??

Alot of things are needed to be known so we can help you.

Dimitri

I've got several of them ranging from a single shot Enfield Martini right up to a few from WWII. Three of my family members worked at the Enfield plant in Long Branch Ontario during WWII. So the guns and caliber have a special sentimental value for me, especially the one's built in Long Branch for which I have four of.

As Dimitri said, whatcha got?

Grant,

Cool that you had reletives that worked at Longbranch. I find though Canadians and other Commonwealth countries citizens have a really strong sentimental value to the 303 British and the Enfields. And with good reason it was a fine caliber/rifle combination! My next firearms purchase will be a LongBranch No. 4 I always wanted a peice of Canadian history in a rifle!

You know if he has a 303 British its probably a No.1 Sht.MLE, No.4, P14 or if he is in Canada one of thouse blasphmy Russian rifles (Mosins and SVT's) that were converted in Ontario (near Ottawa I belive) from 7.62x54mm Russian to 303British.

Dimitri

Quote::

Hi how do I site in a 303 British? Thank you

If you are talking about how to set your sights at 100 for a 200 zero let me refer you to the PointBlank software or the online version on this website. You can enter the particulars, bullet weight, BC, and velocity and come up with a drop chart. You can see what happens to the round when you change the zero range. You will get to a point where the drop is excessive but by the time you get there you will have an idea how to set your sights @ 100 for a zero further downrange.

Welcome to the Forum.

My recommendation would be to take the rifle and ammo to the range and set up a target at 25 yards. Set the rear sight at the lowest setting and take a few shots from a sandbag rest. When satisfied at 25 yards, move to the 50 and 100 yard ranges and repeat the process. You will soon be able to determine where the rifles shoots at different ranges. Hope this helps. All the best...
Gil

If you are talking about the Mark I, II, III etc. refurbished 303 British that you could buy for about 20 to 30 dollars back in the late 60's or early 70's, GOODLUCK. I had three of them that wouldn't hit the broad side of a barn at 20 paces. I sometimes wonder how we won any battles in the wars.

Gil gave you some good advice.........

1895,

Blasphamy!

Lee-Enfields are good. Still are. Just like most milsurplus its sometimes a cr*p shoot (pardon my french) when you buy them.

Dimitri

I'm sorry, but I would never ever have another one of those pieces of cr*p(pardon my french).

1895ss wrote:

If you are talking about the Mark I, II, III etc. refurbished 303 British that you could buy for about 20 to 30 dollars back in the late 60's or early 70's, GOODLUCK.

Since I bought mine (Mk IV) in the late 50's for about $15 I must have gotten the "pick of the litter" at a good price too.

I've killed 5-6 deer with it, so something must be right. BTW, it was made by Savage in the US and has the sniper drill/tap and paraphernalia, but it never went through the Sniper factory in England so I guess it was never really a sniper rifle. It does shoot like one though.

Hutch wrote:

1895ss wrote: If you are talking about the Mark I, II, III etc. refurbished 303 British that you could buy for about 20 to 30 dollars back in the late 60's or early 70's, GOODLUCK. Since I bought mine (Mk IV) in the late 50's for about $15 I must have gotten the "pick of the litter" at a good price too. I've killed 5-6 deer with it, so something must be right. BTW, it was made by Savage in the US and has the sniper drill/tap and paraphernalia, but it never went through the Sniper factory in England so I guess it was never really a sniper rifle. It does shoot like one though.

Congratulations ...............

Biggest problem with the 303 is that people use the wrong ammo in them. The 303 Enfields were (I still think it is) the most tested caliber and rifle in history. They were designed to shoot a 174 grain bullet driven by cordite. Most people try to use 150 grain bullets driven by a fast burning smokeless powders. I haven't seen an Enfield that printed them worth a pinch. Hornady and Sierra make 174 grain bullets for the 303 and I use 46 grains of IMR4831 to drive them. I have a 1944 303 snipers rifle with the original scope and I gotta tell ya, it will dump those bullets almost in the same hole at 100 yards. I own seven 303 Enfields, as I've said of various ages(some in there original war time condition, some sported), they all shoot damn good. Sorry you've had such poor luck with the one's you've purchased 1895, but you are in the minority with having poor 303's.

Dimitri,

Good luck on finding a nice Mrk IV. I still find it easier to find Mrk III's sported out than MRK IV's. My Grandfather, Grandmother and Uncle all work at the Longbranch plant, so if you get a Mk IV from there, one of them could have worked on that gun. I like to think that all of the four Mk IV's I own were worked on by them.....
Let me know when you buy one!

Grant you may be right. I had three in the late 60's and I don't remember the load used in them. All I know is that it was very frustrating for a teenager.

1895,

Anothing problem with 303 British rifles is shooting lousy American Standard Ammo in them.

See when they first started producing commercial ammo in them the American plants (Winchester, Federal, Remington etc) decided that since the 303 British was 303caliber that the ammo was going to be .311 in diameter seeing as the lands are only supposed to be .004 using the American standard. Sort of like the 308Win and 30-06 the bore is .300 but the bullets are .308 because of the size of the lands.

But the British were using bigger .005-.0055 lands. So a 303 British should be using a .313-.314 bullet.

PS. Grant I'm drolling over that last one. Is it all original ??

Dimitri

Dimitri,

Right down to the metal scope box that has the matching numbers to the rifle, the instructions on how to adjust the scope and the original wooden rifle box again with the matching numbers.

PS: Take a close look at the third from the bottom, it's actually a 22 cal training rifle