Ammo for 1896 Enfield?

J

JDMLandscaping

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Hey all,

So my father passed down an 1896 Enfield rifle to me. It is chambered in .303 and has been sportserized. Action is tight, rifling looks good, I can’t find anything wrong with it as far as safe to fire is concerned but I still plan to have a gunsmith go through it to be sure. That said what ammo is safe to use in a rifle this old? It car about right in the black powder/smoklesspowder turn of age and I am concerned that it may not handle today’s modern ammo pressures. I do reload and will for this rifle if it is the only way but for how much I plan to shoot it it would be easier for store bought. My dad said he shot it up to the mid 1980’s then put it away and has not touched it since. Any help would be great. Thanks!
 
Hi,

Without seeing a photo I have to assume what you have but from the date of manufacture it is probably a Long Lee with an Enfield barrel. Does it have the letter E stamped on top of the barrel just ahead of the action? If so it has Enfield rifling. These guns were initially made with Metford rifling but that did not work so well with smokeless powder so they switched. These guns were always intended to use smokeless powder the early black powder rounds were only loaded because it took a while to figure out what kind of smokeless was to be used and then when they did figure out that Cordite was what they wanted they had to solve a shortage of Acetone, which is needed in production.

These guns can handle the modern MK VII .303 British rounds that were the standard WW1 loads, but they were not sighted for them, unless you have one that had the sights upgraded to handle the MK VII ammo. Originally they are regulated for a round nose bullet that weighed about 200 grains and moved at about 2000 fps. I use a hard cast bullet and Alliant 2400 to produce a mild load that shoot to point of aim at 100 yards.
 
The Lee Metford went into production in 1889. Initially, yes, the first ammo that was used was black powder. But this was an interim cartridge until the development of a smokeless propellant was complete and with it the introduction of the Cordite Mk.I cartridge in 1891.

All long Lees, both Metford and Enfield were proof tested to 18.5 tons per square inch for smokeless, this spec did not change over all the many years of the 303.

Cordite is brutal, its main ingredient being nitro glycerine. It burns very hot and can create issues with throat errosion. Many barrels that have been fed a diet of cordite rounds during their service life and onwards might have accuracy issues. But there are work-arounds for this.

Modern commercial loads are nitro cellulose and burn much cooler than the cordite cartridges with less of a pressure spike. Due to legal concerns, commercial ammo will be pretty mild stuff as ammo companies always worry about liable suits if their ammo blew up in an old rifle.
So I guess that I m trying to say, if the gun checks out to be in good condition, have at her with modern commercial ammo, no worries.
Try different brands. Your rifle will have a preferred brand that will work better than others. Try to stay away from boat tailed bullets, flat based ones tend to do better for some reason.

Stay away from army surplus stuff, it might have corrosive primers.

If you hand load, you will find many different recipes. All kinds of bullets. Most older barrels prefer flat based bullets and a touch oversized. A stiff load to give the bullet a good kick in the arse to help obturate into the rifling. There will be a sweet spot for your load and bullet.

The chambers in military rifles are very generous to allow for battlefield conditions. The cartridge was designed to be a one shot disposable. Reloaders will find it a challenge to reload their brass multiple times as it stretches to seal in the large chambers, as it was intended to do.
Most hand loaders will fire form the brass to the chamber and keep segregated for each rifle. If neck sized only, the life of the brass can be extended. There is a trick with rubber o ring when fire forming the brass for the first time. It works!
 
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Thanks for the very informative information! I did have a look and it is stamped with an E so has Enfield rifling. Once my gunsmith goes through it and gives the thumbs up I will grab some factory ammo and see how a 123 year old rifle shoots!
 
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