I picked up an enfield in 303 today and was just wondering if any one on here hunts with theres? how does it preform, and what ammo would you suggest?

I have only shot a 303 a couple times. That was with open sights so groups were not that impressive but then again we were busting rocks with it mostly. I know a lot of people in Canada still use it for moose and black bear. As to what bullets they use I am not sure.

thanks for the info, I will probably use it for a back up, but we will see how well i am able to shoot it...

.303 have been used in military sporters and custom rifles for dozens of years, sometimes for game bigger than deer. I have tinkered with my .303 rifles and worked one up for a backup rifle before. Mine shot best with the Remington corelocks. The winchester power point should be a good option too.

I have one that I have never shot, dad says its fairly accurate, said you can hit cans and bottles fairly easy with opens at 100.

BTW Remington makes new ammo for it I saw some at Academy a while back.

yeah I bought a box of 180 gr corlockts today at acadamy. that what im going to start with any way. should get to shoot it tomorrow if everything works out.

Thanks for the info, I think this is going to be a fun gun, and I would love to hear more hunting experiance and opinions from yall.

If you've ever seen the movie "The Ghost and The Darkness" Col Patterson used a .303 Enfield to kill the first lion. I can't remember what he used on the next one, but I'm positive he shot the first one with it- his had the magazine cutoff for single round loading.

It is basically the equivalent of a .308 in terms of velocity. It is an extremely durable battle proven design with an abnormally large capacity for a bolt gun. Perfect budget hunting rifle, IMO. I really like mine...

Truth be told it(.303 Brit) and the 7x57 Mauser have probally acounted for the taking of more Dangerous game animals than any of the big bore or NE cartridges combined.

I cannot remember the name of the professional hunter, but Elmer Keith wrote about him in "Hell, I Was There". He killed hundreds, maybe thousands of elephants with the 7x57.

As far as I am concerned, cartridge development for hunting could have stopped with the .308.

I had a .303 British a few years back. I never shot a deer with it but did take a few hogs. Mine shot really well with Norma (I don't believe you can get it anymore) and Winchester ammunition.

The Remington bullets would keyhole when shot in my rifle. I had a buddy that had one and the Remington shot fine in his. I'd try the Remington first since it's easy to find, but if it gives you problems try another brand. I pulled a bullet and miked it and found Remington loaded their .303 ammo with .308 diameter bullets and not .311 as most other manufactures do. The smaller bullet would work in some barrels but not others. Remington may have changed this in recent years, however I suspect they are sill furnishing the same load.

I have 3, 2 #1 Mk III*'s and a #4 Mk I. Out of the three the #4 is the most accurate (it's got the tightest headspace reading and best barrel). Which model did you get? If it's an early one (#1) get the headspace checked before firing it. I love mine, they are all for the most part very accurate with hand loads and seem to do just fine on deer and hog sized game.

mine looks just like this one and is marked lithgow 1942:

http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4475&title=1942-lithgow-looking-good

wierd true story, used one to kill a hog one time, owner had full metals loaded in it, shot a hog about 70 yds and I swear i saw sparks shoot out of that hog, had bone fragment shoot towards me and hit dirt 10ft away from the hog.
Thats my only exp with it.

Yeah..have the headspace checked. The propellant in the standard Mk VII ammo that the Brits used was string Cordite (looked like lengths of uncooked spaghetti packed in the case with a cardboard wad disk then seated the bullet over it.) and was really hard on these rifles especially on the barrels, chamber and bolt face areas. Very corrosive stuff. That and they had relatively loose chamber dimensions..you could darn near throw a cat in the chamber with the round.

I will check the head space, but the good news is looking down the barrel and the chamber the gun is very clean and the rifling is very crisp... I dont anticipate any problems, but will check it out befor I fire it.

Excellent!! If the rifling looks good then you are half way there. I have a 1918 BSA No.1 that has a barrel (6 groove) that looks like ten miles of bad road. Had to get a #4 bolthead to get it to headspace. After hand stoning it a bit, it's one of the more accurate Enfields I have, second only to the No.4.

the lithgows were made in australia and were some of the better ones

They sure were..I still need to find a "Down Under" .303. Most of the time you'll get a rifle that is in MUCH better shape maintenence wise than the British manufacture. It's a shame that for a number of years the Aussies used the same kind of ammunition the Brits did. Heck, .303's were (and are still) used all over the world by different countries and used all sorts of different mfg. ammo. Some of the Ishapore arsenalled rifles were good ones too, except for the ones converted to 7.62 NATO.

a 303 killed the man eater of tsavo

If anyone has any doubts as to the utility of a good .303, Read "The Man Eaters Of Tsavo" by Lt. Col. J.H. Patterson. If you liked "The Ghost And The Darkness" you'll love this book. The Tsavo incident was only a small part of his adventures in Africa, and he always had his .303 with him. Lions were only one of his favorites..

working on the book now. have not had a chance to check the head space yet, but should get to tonight. going to look around this week for more ammo locally this week.

These headspace on the rim and its ok to not be perfect. I only checked mine with the field. The original military gauge actually had a much looser tolerance than todays commercial gauge. And if it is bad, as already mentioned, you can hunt down another bolt head from one of the surplus parts suppliers. They are numbered 0 or 1 through 4. Can't remember. If it closes on the field, find the next size bolt head and you should be good to go.

does any one have a set of gauges for 303 brit in east texas that I could borrow or bring the rifle to you and check it?

I have a field guage, but already looked for it. I have no idea were it is. It was one of those things where it was cheaper to buy one than to pay a local smith to check my rifles. Being a one time deal, there is no telling what I did with it. I would have mailed it to you to borrow if I could find it. Sorry.

If that is all you bought, a field would cost about $30 shipped. A full set would get expensive.

http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/BrowseProducts.aspx.303