.303 British, Modern Bulk Production?

Here,s my take on it Enfields , every site you go on guys come on and say Ohhhhhh I love them .. I,ve got one , or two , or maybe ten . Every set of personal / private classified ,s , auction sites and sales sites , there are enfields listed every day .
BUT ... when I tour thru the local Cabella,s and walk thru the centre file aisle . The case that the 303 is in , is 20 ft long by 5 ft high and its loaded with every kinda ammo you can think of . And on the bottom shelf all by itself is about 8 boxes of federal in 2 different bullet weights , an 3 boxes Winchester 303 . I don't think they ever move . I,m seriously considering asking them to open the case so I can check them out , and then set the boxes back in at a bit of an angle so I can walk by an see if they been moved or not .
There is 50 different kindsa 30 30 , 30 06 , 7 mil mag etc etc , some sections even get those sold out please re fill me stickers .
So my lil peanut of a mind says wow if every body and there Mom has a Enfield , but the ammo never moves ?? Who is shooting them ?? Are they all polishing projects ??. Dust Collectors . Closet / cabinet Queens ??. I think before any ammo co will start producing a line of product they need to see movement . These companies look at VOLUME . That's why 303 isn't being produced . I could be wrong .
 
LE303 said:
Here,s my take on it Enfields , every site you go on guys come on and say Ohhhhhh I love them .. I,ve got one , or two , or maybe ten . Every set of personal / private classified ,s , auction sites and sales sites , there are enfields listed every day .
BUT ... when I tour thru the local Cabella,s and walk thru the centre file aisle . The case that the 303 is in , is 20 ft long by 5 ft high and its loaded with every kinda ammo you can think of . And on the bottom shelf all by itself is about 8 boxes of federal in 2 different bullet weights , an 3 boxes Winchester 303 . I don't think they ever move . I,m seriously considering asking them to open the case so I can check them out , and then set the boxes back in at a bit of an angle so I can walk by an see if they been moved or not .
There is 50 different kindsa 30 30 , 30 06 , 7 mil mag etc etc , some sections even get those sold out please re fill me stickers .
So my lil peanut of a mind says wow if every body and there Mom has a Enfield , but the ammo never moves ?? Who is shooting them ?? Are they all polishing projects ??. Dust Collectors . Closet / cabinet Queens ??. I think before any ammo co will start producing a line of product they need to see movement . These companies look at VOLUME . That's why 303 isn't being produced . I could be wrong .
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Your observations of ammo shelves are the same as my own. I wonder if the big users of ammo are using the much less expensive cartridges like 7.62x54r
and have stopped using .303 except for those who reload?:confused:
 
LE303 said:
Here,s my take on it Enfields , every site you go on guys come on and say Ohhhhhh I love them .. I,ve got one , or two , or maybe ten . Every set of personal / private classified ,s , auction sites and sales sites , there are enfields listed every day .
BUT ... when I tour thru the local Cabella,s and walk thru the centre file aisle . The case that the 303 is in , is 20 ft long by 5 ft high and its loaded with every kinda ammo you can think of . And on the bottom shelf all by itself is about 8 boxes of federal in 2 different bullet weights , an 3 boxes Winchester 303 . I don't think they ever move . I,m seriously considering asking them to open the case so I can check them out , and then set the boxes back in at a bit of an angle so I can walk by an see if they been moved or not .
There is 50 different kindsa 30 30 , 30 06 , 7 mil mag etc etc , some sections even get those sold out please re fill me stickers .
So my lil peanut of a mind says wow if every body and there Mom has a Enfield , but the ammo never moves ?? Who is shooting them ?? Are they all polishing projects ??. Dust Collectors . Closet / cabinet Queens ??. I think before any ammo co will start producing a line of product they need to see movement . These companies look at VOLUME . That's why 303 isn't being produced . I could be wrong .
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The only reason I don't buy commercial, is that it's so bloody expensive
 
303 should be like getting 308 ammo here in Canada.
Last year my main retailer was out of stock for the last part of the year, so nothing for deer season.
Buckhorn wanted $45 for a box, told him to keep it.
I am guilty of letting my lee enfields collecting dust, but only my safe queens, not my hunting or target riffles.
To expensive to shoot!
 
Robert Nicholson said:
That does take the fun out of it. I will quite happily burn thru $20 worth of 7.62x39 but I don't enjoy plinking with $20 worth of expensive ammo.
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In winnipeg it's about $50 after taxes for 20 rounds. I'll buy a couple boxes when I need brass, but that's about it
 
Is there a semi-auto out there in 303 brit or is it all prohibs that you can't shoot anywhere and bolt actions that people generally don't shoot large numbers of shots per hour at the range out of?

I would guess that the round counts on regularly used SKS rifles are much much higher than 303s even if the ammo was the same price.

I was cleaning out some stuff in the back corner of my gun/ammo room earlier today and I found a box of 20 x 303 brit softpoints, yugo privi's, and the price sticker was still on them -- $9.00 no idea how long that's been in that locker.

I also found some surplus 303, looks like some sort of eastern european markings on it, 50 rd boxes on 5 rd stripper clips. my guess would be that it's corrosive? had about 3/4 of a case tucked away under a pile of cases of russian surplus 9mm
 
LE303 said:
Personally I don't think The Enfields are getting used and most are just sitting idle
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Most are sitting idle, but there are others that use them regularly, at our range there is always at least a couple fellas with them on any given Saturday.
And these fellas reload, Ive found that around here S&B ammo is most common at a decent price for store bought stuff.
 
GunsNotPuns said:
Time to start reloading gents. I have enough .303B to fight a small war and I haven't bought commercial in a very long time.

Bulk production and magical caches of surplus Greek and Canadian reserves are unicorns.
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Some start to collect the guns because they have history but they should consider reloading right from the get go
 
Gaurdian said:
303 should be like getting 308 ammo here in Canada.
Last year my main retailer was out of stock for the last part of the year, so nothing for deer season.
Buckhorn wanted $45 for a box, told him to keep it.
I am guilty of letting my lee enfields collecting dust, but only my safe queens, not my hunting or target riffles.
To expensive to shoot!
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That's my take on the situation exactly. Considering the number of Enfield in this country, you would think it would be as common as .223 or .308
It costs as much for 20 rounds of .303 Brit as 20 rounds of some .308 Match at $45 a box!?
I am also inclined to think that we may have a million Lee Enfields in this country but 95% of them just collect dust and rust due to lack of ammunition at sane prices sadly...

I don't think bulk producction .303 Brit is a "unicorn" either. Wolf pumps out "military classic" .303 Brit at around $0.67 for sale down in the US. How has nobody started importing sea cans of that exact product?
Even if it ended up at $0.80 to $0.90 a round you wouldn't be able to keep it on the shelves.
 
I'm surprised that you can't buy the ammo in larger quantity's. If a gun manufacturer started building rifles in .303 again that may spur some interest but their is a fat chance of that ever happening.
Most fellas won't shoot their Enfields or at least not often because they don't want to wear out their priceless collector piece.
 
i reload .303 british not only to save a few bucks ,but to have a better choice of bullets and powder ,this was the first rifle i bought at 16 ,and still own and use,
reloading is the way to better precision ,bullets are available from 100 to 215 grains,.311or .312 dia. i have more modern rifles ,but stil like to shoot the no.4 mark 1 with peep sight,
 
buckbrush said:
I do not know how much or how often it happens, but I.V.I. makes bulk runs of .303 in FMJ and softpoint for Ranger use.
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With the Rangers getting new rifles and the stockpiles of .303 that already exist I wouldn't be surprised if manufacturing .303 has already come to an end. I.V.I doesn't exist anymore and I doubt GD OTS has any interest in .303.
 
canmic said:
Is there a semi-auto out there in 303 brit or is it all prohibs that you can't shoot anywhere and bolt actions that people generally don't shoot large numbers of shots per hour at the range out of?

I would guess that the round counts on regularly used SKS rifles are much much higher than 303s even if the ammo was the same price.

I was cleaning out some stuff in the back corner of my gun/ammo room earlier today and I found a box of 20 x 303 brit softpoints, yugo privi's, and the price sticker was still on them -- $9.00 no idea how long that's been in that locker.

I also found some surplus 303, looks like some sort of eastern european markings on it, 50 rd boxes on 5 rd stripper clips. my guess would be that it's corrosive? had about 3/4 of a case tucked away under a pile of cases of russian surplus 9mm
Click to expand...
Yeah. I hate it when I find ammo I forgot about...LOL. (no really... I found 200 rounds of 38 spl and 500 rounds of .223 along with 250 rounds of 12 ga in a box left since my last move)
I have enough .303 thanks to a widow that dropped her beloved's crate of Canadian DA on my desk along with 9 rifles and said "Doc, I'd like you to get rid of the ammo and give the guns away". I gave most of the guns away and have been getting rid of the ammo...one round at a time!
 
The death of the Lee Enfield continues to die the ever continuing slow death, no cheap ammunition
 
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