A while back I spoke of wildcatting the 303 Brit into a 375-303. Well, this has been done exactly as I was thinking by a fella by the name of Tony Hawkins and he called his creation the 38/303. So, my idea has a name and it exists! Tony Hawkins was a "very good" barrel maker. Sadly, he is no longer with us. He made dies to go with his barrels. And of course, he was a Kiwi.

100yd target - compliments of JeffinNz.

Cheers Jeff

Shite - my father-in-law has two martini actioned rifles in just that calibre. Both have Tony Hawkin barrels , but assembled by my wifes uncle who was a contempory gunsmith .

Iirc Tony hand made the deep-boring machine that he produced barrels on , and had a strong following amongst blackpowder shooters here in NZ in the late 70's and 80's. My FILs two rifles certainly date from the early 1980s. Both shoot very well, I must swipe them off him one day since he hasnt used them in 15 yers at least .....

Small world...

Is that in a SMLE?

I have a No1 MKIII* with a trashed barrel and was thinking it would make a great .375 x 2 1/2 nitro Express. But the .375-.303 might be easier, if dies exist.

That's an awful long bullet!

It is a long sucker . The cases are fireformed , full-length 303 brass , and the bullet seats a long way into the case. My FIL's rifles are both martini actions but there is no real reason why you couldnt use a SMLE action.

I know big feral billy goats have no answer to a hit from either rifle , even with black powder loads .

This should be very similar to the old 38 - 50 Remington cartridge about dimensional data.

Also the 38 - 55 Winchester and the 375 Winchester are quite similar , only shorter

The 375 Winchester is based on a 30-30 case so is a bit smaller. (Probably about perfect for a lever actioned brush/bush gun).

JeffinNZ kindly sent me a sample of the 38 Hawkins case. It's almost identical to what I attempted to create and is exactly what I am after!



The top case is the 38 Hawkins, the second is my attempt, the third is an attempted 41/303 and the last one is a 35/303 attempt.

Is it a long straight taper with a cylindrical neck like the .32-40?

Yes it is. The body taper is the same as the parent case. The dough-nut that is formed from the original shoulder is removed in a die.

I had the opportunity to shoot a No.1 MkIV in 35-303 with a scout scope last weekend. I would love to see what it would do to pigs or big billies. It was a nice combination.

There was a similar thing written up in Handloader Magazine some time back, the 37 Rimmed. Excellent cartridge to make use of a P14 or Siamese Mauser.

Rich

The 37 Rimmed looks like a necked up 30-40 Krag.



The 35/303 interests me too! But I have to make a choice. I'm not sure what the advantages of one over the other would be. The 35/303 would have an edge over the 35 Remington and my Dad hunted Cape buffalo with a short barreled one in pump action, so .... ?

Maybe the solution is to build one of each!

Elwood Epps (formerly Clinton, Ontario, Canada) made a variety of improved cartridges on the 303 British case. The website 303british.com has details of many, including the 375 Epps. I have a 303 Epps which is the standard 303 improved type a la Ackley. My rifle is a P14 but but #4's and #5's can be rechambered. Elwood Epps (the gunshop not the man) still rechambers rifles currently.

I have a 35/303 on a commercial Martini Sporter. Thought about going to a .375/303 but the barrel is pretty light weight. Too small in dia at the muzzle for a .405.
Seems like a decent cartridge. It'll just be shooting paper targets anyway for me. We'll see when I get it all done and back together.

Maybe a 375/303 for the next one if it'll fit..

quote:

Originally posted by 303Guy:
Maybe the solution is to build one of each!

So what is the final solution? roger

Either would be fun in a #1 or a High wall as well as the Martini's DW