303:British hunting use

I used Federal Classic 150gr for years in the .303 my dad bartered for. I think I was 15 when he gave it to me. Mom wasn't impressed but that was my first ever centerfire rifle.
 
KePet said:
Started hunting with a 303, 40 some years ago. I think in those days, just about everybody's first rifle was an old 303 British. I used to use the Imperial 180 ST in those days. They worked on Badgers, Coyote, Whietail, Moose, Bear. Pretty much anything that moved, you could use 303 on.....and we did.

I don't really use the old 303 anymore, but I still have one, and a couple boxes of Winchester 180 gr Power Point, just in case I ever want to.
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Same, same here - except I started about 10 years earlier, and the couple of boxes here are Federal Classic 180 gr. - Sierra bullets, I think??
 
Probably more game put on the ground in Canada with a 303 than any other calibre.

I started in 1968 with a crudely sporterized M-10 Ross and a handful of mixed 303 cartridges from various part boxes of various brands of ammo my dad had around. I didn't know the difference between 150 grain and 180 grain bullets in those days and neither did the rifle. Got my first deer with it in October 1970, a 4x5 blacktail.
 
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Potashminer said:
Same, same here - except I started about 10 years earlier, and the couple of boxes here are Federal Classic 180 gr. - Sierra bullets, I think??
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The Federal blue box 303 British I have here from 10ish years ago are Speer Hot Cor's - pretty good bullets from my experience with them.
 
I hunt one a private ranch with the ranch owner. He shoots a 303brit 180g Remington core lock. He has that gun for 30+ yrs now. In the 10 years I’ve know him I helped with a moose, 3 deer and 2 bear even one of his cows that he decided to eat.

Great penatration and little (if any) bloodshot meat.

Great hunting round with plesent recoil
 
I’ve shot deer with both 150gr S&B sp and 180gr sp Federal blue box, both shoot great out of my No.4. Deer usually bang flop or if they run the have never made it more than 30-40y before they drop, great blood trails with both rounds and minimal meat damage.
 
I bought my first “big” rifle in 1965, a Churchill 1918 BSA. Used whatever the local hardware offered in good old Dominion. Smoked a few whitetail with it. Still have the rifle. Probably wouldn’t take it to the Olympics, but would be quite satisfied if a .303 was the only rifle I could own.
 
I bought my 1st .303 LE back in '69 for $16.oo & it was my first centerfire hunting rifle. It was a No 1 Mk III sporter that shot well with the issue iron sights.
The .303 was the cartridge I started reloading with to boot. It's no slouch as a game dumper at woods distances.
 
I bought my first 303 for 15 bucks and got took then. Nobody could make it hit anything. I hunted with it a couple years until something else showed up. I sold it for 10 times what I paid. I finally found another Parker Hale so I can use the ammo I have still. I hope this one works better. Funny story we used to butcher beef on the farm and this one old guys GF had bought him a Kmart special for his birthday so he wanted to shoot his own cow with it. He shot at it and missed at like 5 feet and the cow broke the rope and took off. Dad took it away from him and shot the cow across the yard . The old guy was amazed that it could shoot that far.
 
I use my Lee Enfields more than anything else for big game. I reload, mostly with Hornady 174gr Round Nose Interlocks. Sierra Pro Hunter 150gr and 180gr spitzers have also worked well for me, as have Speer 200gr Grand Slam. Always with IMR4350 or H4350.

I've also tried Speer's 180gr round nose but the accuracy was inconsistent in a couple of my rifles.
 
Any factory loaded 180 grain roundnose is meat in the pan, whether for deer, moose or bear. The .303 British is a very effective big game round in any circumstance. For really heavy game the old 215 grain loads rule if you can find them.
 
Maybe a bit odd. I know no one that shoots targets with 303 Lee Enfields. Just take it out to shoot at deer and moose. Either deemed to work very well, or a POS. Around here not much differentiation among No. 1, No 4 or a P14 - apparently all are "Three Oh Three". I carried a No 4 sporter from McLeod's Hardware Store since I was about 12 or 13 - as did most young fella's in the prairies in 1960's or so. 150 grain Sabre Tips or 180 grain Kling-Kor Soft Point - whatever Dad would get, would work fine. Got "smarter" once out on my own, and bought a Model 70 in 308 Win. Just recently got a Maltby No. 4 Sporter - going to be my Side-by-Side walking back rifle - would no longer chose one as my "hunting" rifle, but I want one to get me home, if I have to walk through this bush here in Manitoba...
 
Mike Webb said:
Any factory loaded 180 grain roundnose is meat in the pan, whether for deer, moose or bear. The .303 British is a very effective big game round in any circumstance. For really heavy game the old 215 grain loads rule if you can find them.
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Several years ago I acquired a couple round boxes of those KKSP bullets, I think that means a hundred bullets. Haven't built ammo with them yet, probably will use them when I run of the 174gr round nose Hornady seems to have stopped making. I think I'm set for life.
 
From a book by Stephen Redgwell, I think the 215 KKSP were about THE round to use to take Newfoundland Moose with 303 British. About good enough for me - likely more moose there, than most of us get to see...
 
I'm just waiting on the call back from the proprietor ( one doesn't name name's on an open forum...isn't cricket) of Jet Bullets to see if I can source some 215 RN cast for my M10 Ross.
Strangely I seem to always move along the LE's... they follow me home, then I betray them by selling them STAT. Bugger that I am.
Any favourite loads for a 215 RN that anyone wants to share? Nice to replicate the milsurp fodder so the curve is the same.
 
I never loaded 215 grain in 303 British, but I see several mentioned on milsurp thread about that - IMR 4350, Varget, etc. Looks like 2,000 or 2,100 fps is about what is possible. I think that is more than "normal" lubed cast bullets will take, but lots of modern options for coatings..
 
Potashminer said:
I never loaded 215 grain in 303 British, but I see several mentioned on milsurp thread about that - IMR 4350, Varget, etc. Looks like 2,000 or 2,100 fps is about what is possible. I think that is more than "normal" lubed cast bullets will take, but lots of modern options for coatings..
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In my previous post # 13, I mentioned I had acquired some old C.I.L. 215gr KKSP bullets and some newer 215gr RN SN bullets by Woodleigh. In my copy of Pet Loads by Ken Waters from the Handloader, for the 215gr loads are shown using;
- IMR-4320
- H-4831
- IMR-4831
- MRP
- IMR-4350
Velocities listed range from 2,075 f/sec to 2,289 f/sec. I haven't yet checked for 215gr 303Br listings in any of my other manuals.
 
I have a sporterized M10 Ross that I acquired. Promptly had
it rebarrelled with an original countour McGowen barrel. Dave
Jennings did the smithing. It is a great shooting 303, with sub
moa groups the norm [150's, 174's or 180's, no matter]

I shot a big WT doe last fall with it, using the 180 Sierra Pro-
Hunter and 4x grains of Norma 202. Killed like lightning!

In the past, I have shot Black Bear, Muleys and Moose with
various 303 rifles.....they always did the job just fine. Dave.
 
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