I'm assuming that there are still a lot of .303 Enfields that account for the winter meat supply in Canada today. Is that a correct assumption? What are your favorite loads?

Bill, when I was younger and lived in Winnipeg I used either a 4/1 or an old Mauserk98 that my dad brought back in 45. Now that I have an income and live in BC I mostly use a custom 308, WeatherbyMk5 in 300Wby or an older Italian Hawken in 50 percussion. I also just added a Mathews Featherlight Max bow to the mix. By the way, I inherited the 303 and the 8mm and still have them. derf

I really wonder why no US ammo manufacturer has the minimal entrepreneurial spirit to revive the old and proven 215 grains load - the simple soft point roundnose in this weight was probably best hunting ever used in the .303 British.

Carcano

hello;
I've got a Korean War rebuilt #4, that I carry as bear repellant, while trail riding during the summer, I've had the barrel shortened to minimal length and installed a good set of iron sights, zeroed to 100 yds. the good news is I can legally carry a 10 shot magazine. The bad news is that it has the sloppiest chamber I have ever seen on a Lee Enfield. I don't even think about reloading the cases. Even in my younger days, when all I had was a .303, I never considered any bullet except the excelent CIL 180 grn. Saber Tip.
Griz

Thanks Fellas. I kinda figured my hunting brothers to the north still had a soft spot for the old warhorse. I am fixing to hunt elk with an old BSA No. 1 Mk. III that's been whittled on. Plan to use some 225-grain .312 JSPs I have swaged up in a load at about 2100. To paraphrase Jeff Cooper, they may not be moving very fast, but then neither does a medicine ball.

.

While I like my SMLE rifles, especially, my Jungle Carbine, I don't hutn with them. The JC is sometimes used as a truck gun.

Nothing wrong with them or the .303 cartridge, it's jsut that I prefer the modern gun more...

I still carry a 303 quite often. I load it with some left over 215 KKSP bullets I have.
I also hunt with a #4 I have rebarreled to 30/40 Krag which I load with 180s at 2550 or 220s at 2300. With this rifle, both in it's new caliber and as a .303, I have taken more animals than with everything else put together. I've had it since I was 14 (a while).
Cartridges which perform at the velocity levels produced by cartridges such as the 303, 30/40, 308, 35 Whelen etc.,are effective and reliable performers with conventional bullets. Regards, Bill.

There is a limit as to how much nostalgia a man can stand. I am not going to build up a .303 to go bear hunting in Ontario, y' hear me, not! Of course that's today's statement. Tomorrow is a different day.

There is an old saying about the 303 British that goes " more animals have been shot with the 303 British than any other cartridge in the world, problem is that more animals have been wounded with the 303 than any other cartridge in the word".

I grew up with my Dad using a 303 British on everything from Deer, Cariboo, Moose and Bears here in British Columbia. I'm now 45 years old and still have that old rifle in my safe. I take it along sometimes but have not carried it since 1988 when I was bow hunting in big bear country. I cut the stock off to a pistol grip thinking that a 10 round mag in the old 303 gave me some pretty good backup.
Cam

I have a .303SMLE and use it quite a bit at the range but rarely hunt with it. When I used to fly in for moose in Northern Ontario I noticed quite a few Indians who use the .303. It's rather popular with them. Probably there are more of them used for deer, especially by Indians. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I was just out shooting my 303 today. I put a old Wever K3 scope on it and shot a few groups with some Siera 180psp and IMR 4350. This old junker gun (built in 1916?) shoots better than most of the new rifles I have bought lately. Hard to swallow.

Here is a recent group from my lowly .303 Jungle Carbine..

Its from 85 yards, about all I can get at home...and from a shaky bipod rest..

.303 will kill it all

I have taken the 303 out for moose and deer on several ocassions, no conections with it to date. My cousin, uses it exclusevly, and has about five moose to its credit, three of those one shot kills.

Nice target, Gatehouse! No No. 5 "wandering zero" issues there, eh?

my #4 shoots 1moa as a rule with the cheapest ammo I can buy. anyone that puts the .303 down doesn't have a clue. these old girls continue to kill more animals in canada then any other caliber. they are everywhere.

Johnny, I think it's because traditionally the meat most hunters went after here in "the old days" was moose. The 215 gr load works great on moose. You are correct, the 150 gr load will do anything to deer that a similar weight 308 or 30-06 will do, no flies on that one. I'd still like to see the 215 available, even as components (perhaps even more so). - Dan

I hunted for several years with a No 4 Mk 1 sporterized rifle. Then moved on to various other rifles. Every once in a while i take the old girl out and she still does her thing very well. comments about the wounding rate of the .303 are often heard but never proven. Even if true would such a comment be because of simple numbers of the guns in use at one time or due to the fact many bought the gun for a once a year shooter. I recall when they went for the grand price of $9.49 in the late fifties and into the sixties. There is nothing wrong with the caliber or for that matter the common rifles No1 Mk3 or No4 Mk1's are usually accurate enough for hunting. But when they were cheap they were often bought by very casual hunters and often abused by their owners. I know of several that were left behind the seat of trucks uncleaned and unoiled and exposed to daily freeze and thaw cycles for over a year between uses. Needless to add it was very rare to see one of these guns with any improved sighting system installed.