Lee Enfield 303

I thought I would post the photo's of my Christmas present. A 1943 Lee Enfiled 303, naval version. The rifle is in Florida at my brothers house so unlike the UK is a fully operational firearm.

WE have 100 rounds of 303 military load ammunition which was produced and packaged in 1949. The rounds looked a bit suspect so we took one round from each five round clip to the public range close to where he lives.

The most dodgey looking two went first and I managed to get two in the bullseye, a relaod with a further three and we had three in th outer as reloading the magazine had changed my shooting position.

The recoil from the 303 is greater than the SLR we had with us. The bolt action was a bit stiff and the feed from the magazine was suspect as it was jamming every third round so it looks like a new spring is required. The 303 itself has not been fired for at least 20 years so we expected a few problems with it and also the odd dud round as the ammunition is over 60 years old. We where both really suprised and impressed with the 303's performance and tonight will be spent giving it a really good clean, prior to the full on shooting at the range tomorrow.

the only down side if any, was that the previous owner who was a British weapons collector had varnished the woodwork which makes it a very sticky weapon to handle in the Florida sunshine so the next project will be to fully restore the furniture to its original condition and patternation.

When I lived in Australia I owned a Mk 4 SMLE which I used for shooting wild pigs. It was a lovely weapon to use, it almost became an extension of ones self. I also had a German Mauser 98k and a Japanese Arisaka 6.5mm the two standard axis infantry rifles. The Arisaka had a very long barrel and with the 14" bayonet made it lethal when in hand to hand combat as the Jap would have the advantage of greater reach. The bayonet could also be used as a small sword or as a machete. However, I still think the Lee Enfield was the better rifle.
Unfortunately, I had to sell them prior to my return to the UK.
You are lucky to be able to to use yours.

I have a Lee Enfield Mark 3 dated 1916 de-activated of course ,which is here near me .i have the bayonet for it Once I thought iheard someone in the house one night and went downstairs with the bayonet fixed ,,,, thank heavens no one was there,,,

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 20/07/2010 04:27:26

We went to a gun show in Palmetto and bought some modern 303 ammunition and a new magazine.

When we went to the range the new magazine ejected all the rounds out of the bottom after the first round so its back to the original WWII version. The new ammunition is slightly shorter that the 1949 batch so caused no end of jams and wouldn't load with the speed loader.

The recoil difference between the two types of ammunition is really noticible with the new batch hardly producing any at all.

Todays shooting went really well and all in all it was a good day, the range safety officer had not seen a 303 before and was impressed with its perfomance and balance, he favours an FN 308 (SLR) but as he said the weapon is only as good as the person pulling the trigger. Over 100yrds on iron sights I managed to maintain a 12" group with a few good 10 round groups at around 6" spread.

Given that I haven't fired a full bore weapon for two years and 14 years before that I was quite pleased. Pity my pistol shooting was not as good ( I have a 9mm Glock 17), but I have the problem of not being able to see the foresight if I can see the target without my reaing glasses and not being able to see the target but can see the foresight with them on! Still I managed to get most of the pistol rounds on target but more of a shotgun splatter than good grouping.

Thats my last shooting until 2012 when we come back over

It is illegal to have a .303 caliber rifle in the UK?

I'm from Argentina and I'm about to purchase one. It's legal here, for those who are authorized.

It's a pity, since there must be a lot of Lee Enfields in the UK.

José Maffeo

Jose, its legal to own rifles but very complicated, expensive and difficult. before you can apply for a firearms licence for a rifle you have to join a gun club. Then there are the police checks and the expense involved in purchasing and storing the weapon. its much easier in the USA plus I can buy the bullets when I go shopping at Walmart!