.303brit accuracy in Nr1MKIII

rhino519

rhino519

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got to take my ozzy Enfield to the range yeasterday, was a blast by the way,
started off with 50yrds and here is my grouping(not the best of the day, but first one)
shootin001oh2.jpg


reason its that high is because I had a washer under the rear sight, the gun use to hit low and to the right, since I corrected the windage, its been shooting high, and in line, after taking the washer out, whats not in the pic, is other groupings, went for center and got 5 round grouping right on inside, and then repeaded the same by putting 5rd grouping into the bottom left corner circle

I know, here is the question, we moved on into 100yrd after and I was lucky to put 3 rds onto a paper, and forget about any grouping, what gives??? by the way it was really windy there yeasterday, but I dont think .303, 180gr would be so flimsy
 
Target contrast!!!

You just need a better target.

Go to this address, ht tp://uspalma.com/Targets/targets.htm
Download a good big 6" black bullseye on grid, copy it and print it on a letter-sized sheet.

Go to your nearest Staples store and have it printed on thin card stock.
You can have another target pattern copied to the back so the target is more versatile, too.

Try to achieve a constant 6 o'clock hold, sight in then, at the last moment, focus on your front sight, correct and shoot.
Do not go past 15 seconds for sighting; if you do, your visual acuity will decrease. Instead, just relax your grip, close your eyes and go at it again.
S-Q-U-E-E-Z-E your shots, don't hurry them.
Above all, try to have a good stable rest up front with a small sandbag under the buttstock to correct elevation.
This should do the trick.
Good shooting!
PP.:)
 
I wear glasses (chronological gifted eyesight) and my best groups are also fired at 50 yards, I use a set of flip up sun glasses with a pin hole in the lens to “cheat”. The small pin hole acts like a camera lens set at a high F-number and gives you a much greater depth of field or puts everything into sharp focus.

Below the clip-on sunglasses with hole drilled in lens and a suction cup aperture for sticking on your glasses, I like the clip-on sunglasses the best as they can be flipped out of the way when not in use.


IMGP4309.jpg
 
There are apertures available (or were) for shooting pistols, but that's ingenious, sneaky, and cool - I love it.
 
also an easy way to get decent accuracy out of the old Smellie is to use a square aiming-point....... something perhaps 4 i8nches on a side, very black against white. You aim at a CORNER of this and try the rifle for grouping.

There's nothing wrong with your rifle. That 50-yard group looks nice, but I'll bet that the rifle will do just as good at 100. I have an Aussie SMLE that is doing half an inch at 100. Only reason it doesn't do it all the time is that my eyes now are going for crap...... but the rifles are okay: it's the humans that often are the weak link in the chain.

Properly bedded, there is no real reason that an SMLE with a good barrel cannot be made into a 1-MOA rifle. Just be sure the bedding is okay, FIX THE DAMNED CRACK..... and feed it what it likes. I find that a Sierra 180 flatbase (Enfield rifling does NOT like boat-tails) starting out at about 2250-2300 ft/sec often will group exceedingly well in a Lee rifle. Give it a try.

Good luck and remember the most important part: have fun!
 
thanks guys for feedback,

question regarding the clip-ons, how do you establish where to drill the hole? I dont think there is much room for error, and eny misplacement will result in acward aiming position

the grooping was shot with PRIVI PARTIZAN(?) 180gr, the other groupings were done with FMJ mixed army ammo, cant even be sure of manufacturer, some with green primers if that means anything, and some reloads I belive since I was getting a sticky bolt
 
rhino519 said:
thanks guys for feedback,

question regarding the clip-ons, how do you establish where to drill the hole? I dont think there is much room for error, and eny misplacement will result in acward aiming position

the grooping was shot with PRIVI PARTIZAN(?) 180gr, the other groupings were done with FMJ mixed army ammo, cant even be sure of manufacturer, some with green primers if that means anything, and some reloads I belive since I was getting a sticky bolt
Click to expand...

Get a small piece of paper that covers 25% of the lens, put a small pin hole in the paper and then using masking tape “move” the paper around until the hole is located in a good position. Then drill a hole using the paper hole as the guide hole.

Note: the clip-ons can move from side to side slightly and also up and down so there is a built in fudge factor for different shooting positions.

I got the idea from a German website that specializes in blind pistol shooters and didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg to buy a “real” one. (Yes I’m a cheap bastard) :rolleyes:

cheaters-a.jpg


We use special sunglasses like above here in the U.S. to score hockey games when the Canadians play U.S. teams. :D

27250.jpg
 
Keep practicing and don't let the nay-sayers give you any guff about the No.4 sights being better. I shoot the SMLE in Highpower and can easily average 9s at 600m and of a string of 20, would expect 2 Xs and 4 10s in the bunch.

That's with Prvi Partizan ammo and a pre-1915 windage adjustable rear sight on my '45 Isaphore SMLE No.1 Mk.III*.

Starting to re-load and expect some improvement but will stick with the FMJ bullets for now. Some LEs don't like BT bullets but mine has a good barrel so may be OK.

Also, a lot of guys find the 190gr bullets group even better than the 174s. I've generally heard that heavier is better with SMLEs.
 
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