303 acting up

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kyle700

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Up at the range this evening with a L.E. of mine, kind of a nice rifle, 5 round mag, nice wood and a 22" bbl that is bedded, I think its not an original, it has nice blueing and seems thicker than a normal L.E. barrel. I put an old Redfield 4x on it in a side mount, it shoots well enough but seems susceptible to barrel heat throwing shots. some old Federal factory stuff put the first two an honest 1" apart on a cold barrel, but the third was around 3" high. After running out of Federal and switching to SuperX, it was a similar story but worse accuracy. If I let the barrel cool a good 5 minutes, the first shot would be ok but the next two would be all over, seemingly randomly.

May have to treat it like a single shot ;) also think it may be good to work up a load for it if I am going to keep it around. Wouldn't mind doing some hunting with it as it carries and points so well!
 
kyle700 said:
Up at the range this evening with a L.E. of mine, kind of a nice rifle, 5 round mag, nice wood and a 22" bbl that is bedded, I think its not an original, it has nice blueing and seems thicker than a normal L.E. barrel. I put an old Redfield 4x on it in a side mount, it shoots well enough but seems susceptible to barrel heat throwing shots. some old Federal factory stuff put the first two an honest 1" apart on a cold barrel, but the third was around 3" high. After running out of Federal and switching to SuperX, it was a similar story but worse accuracy. If I let the barrel cool a good 5 minutes, the first shot would be ok but the next two would be all over, seemingly randomly.

May have to treat it like a single shot ;) also think it may be good to work up a load for it if I am going to keep it around. Wouldn't mind doing some hunting with it as it carries and points so well!
Click to expand...

My advice would be to clean it really well, then quit shooting targets with it , just go kill stuff!
As an aside. You may try changing scopes just to rule out that variable .
Cat
 
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I don't think its barrel heat, I cannot see firing 1 round the barrel would heat up enough to throw off shot 2,3. Something gotta be touching or the scope is pooched.
 
Is a good point about the upward force - how they were originally designed - but if front end of the stock has been sawed off, then that is gone - that "up" force was originally specified near the muzzle - once the main stock is altered, is into a "different" bedding arrangement than original? I think when they were used a lot for 1000 yard target shooting - was much refinement about bedding part way up the barrel, and sometimes a "packing" into the hand guards - but hand guards are likely gone as well. I think for the Lee Enfields - all starts back near the receiver - fit of the butt stock into the wrist, fit of the receiver to the "draws", fit and bearing of the trigger guard and "king screw" bedding area, as well as the barrel clearance, or lack of it. Is not a Mauser nor a Savage Axis!!

Much what is available to read today, pre-supposes that military ammo is being fired - I think was a thing, then, to tune the rifle to the ammo, not the ammo to the rifle. And I have seen nothing to say that North American commercial ammo is same as military ammo that the rifles used to use. My own conclusion is that using Fed, W-W or R-P commercial ammo today in a Lee Enfield rifle is about "good enough" to get a deer or moose - is NOT about a "cheap" precision rifle. A 3 MOA rifle - even a 5 MOA rifle - will put meat in the freezer - but won't likely win too many target competitions.
 
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If you are using it for hunting, I would not worry at all. The first shot (or two) from a cold barrel will be what counts, not a five shot group. ....catnip
 
A Lee Enfield that has been cut-down creates a relatively weakly secured forestock. Attach a sling via a forestock swivel and you are putting a lot of stress on the forestock bedding, which can cause it to develop play over time. Suggest you check the forestock for tightness/play. It should also have some pressure at the forend tip, a few pounds of force.
 
I bought a sporter that I bought for a rebuild that shot lousy. I was checking it out and found that there wasn’t any spacer under the trigger guard screw and the draws where screwed from being shot without that spacer. Next trip to the range I had another forearm and spacer in. Wot much better.
Pull your trigger guard and check to see if the spacer is under it.
 
I’d check to make sure it has the king screw spacer and that the draws aren’t fücked up, I wouldn’t worry about forend pressure as it’s a sporter and not full wood anymore. I’d be certain that the barrel is floated, if things check out with the stock and things are snugged up tight I’d look at swapping the scope.

My sporterized No.4 has good fitting in the draws, king screw spacer is present and the screws are snug, barrel is free floated and centered in the barrel channel. It shoots 1”-1.25” five shot groups at 100y if I do my part, have had two different scopes on it. Both relatively inexpensive ones. A Nikon prostaff and currently a Bushnell banner, groups never changed. Pretty good for a sporter ‘43 LB with the original 2 groove barrel, I shoot federal 180gr blue box or 150g S&B sp. So nothing overly expensive or fancy, shoots 174gr PPU fmj to the same poa/poi as the 180gr fed.
 
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