I actually found some Hornady Interlock 303 Cal (312) 174gr RNSP bullets at Titan Reloading. They should be here tomorrow or Friday. 37 grains of H-4895 should get me close to 2400 FPS. That oughta' leave a mark.

Lithgow SMLE #1, MkIII*

Those shoot well in my No4 Long Branch, nice score.

I've tried many bullets in my #4 MKI, but it loves the Privi Partizan 180-grain SPBT. I use 45-grains of Hodgdon's Hybrid 100V for 2185 FPS. My rifle has a 20" barrel.





I'm really a lever-gun-nut, but this rifle has become my favorite.

I should have stated that I harmed no SMLE. I bought the No. 4 because it was a chopped, ugly ranch rifle that had hit rock bottom. I saw many of these rifles back in the sixties through the early seventies on the ranches and deer leases I hunted through. Decent money had been spent on it, as a real gunsmith had drilled and tapped it for the Weaver mount. It took me about two months to get the fouling out of the barrel, and with that, it was an MOA shooter that holds its own with my Savage Scouts.

I discussed the rifle's potential as a scout project with Robert Bose of NE, and it got in-line and was returned a year later. I'm a bit more into the rifle than the Savages, but it was money well spent. When Robert sent me the pictures out of the blue, I was extremely pleased.





The smith paid attention to the details, installing a custom ramped front sight regulated to 100 and 300 yards with the flippable peep sight. The charging slot was not ground off like it was on many sporters so that the magazine can be charged with 10 rounds in seconds. I found spec 10 round-magazines of new manufacture (not Mag-Tech) and bought three. I waited about a year for a shooting supply in England to restock their custom five-round magazines. The wait and money were worth the product; I purchase three of those as well. The five-round is my choice for hunting.

I went through many different powders with this cartridge. Remembering that it is not a smokeless cartridge, I decided to test powders that could actually fill the case without within the pressure limits. I found a 1 lb jug of Hybrid-100V and soon had eight pounds in the reloading room. Hodgdon hit the nail on the head when it comes to the 303 British; this powder fills the case and has produced better MOAs than others (I have many powders, everything that Hodgdon offers and many from other manufactures).

Privi Partizan has become my first choice of rifle brass. I like that you can actually see that it has been annealed. I also condition every primer pocket before use; the pocket itself is uniformed, the flash hole, and the pocket mouth beveled. PPU leaves the least material on the prep station over any other brass I've tried. After the first shot, I only use the Lee Collet Die. I anneal them again after on their fifth cycle and have not had to full-size them since.

I've lost track as to how many hogs this rifle has killed since it arrived. This month alone, it has plunked ten large boars.

Now, for you, SMLE sporter guys. Let me introduce you to Mr. Gibbs.