The biggest deer I ever saw was shot with a .303 British. It was shot by my uncle's 78 year old father-in-law Kenneth. It was his first time deer hunting as he farmed and only raised daughters, he never took the time to go hunting. He bought the rifle as surplus in 1967 for $11. The deer is in the record books, it was a 12 pointer with a 26-1/2" inside spread and weighed 238 pounds 2 days after it was shot. It's body alone was a foot longer than any of the 200+ pound deer we shot that year. Several people shot at it including myself, all missed. It came running up by where Kenneth was standing on that drive and stood broadside 30 yards away. Because the head was even with the fence line, with his cataracts Kenneth couldn't see the horns, but knew he could shoot buck or doe and that this was an adult deer. The deer dropped dead with that first and only shot. Because the whole party was registered for the local big buck contest, he won a new rifle for the heaviest buck, and won his choice of any knife in the store because he had the widest rack. I was the person on the drive that scared it up, I look back fondly at that hunt and still am glad I missed it. It gave a 78 year old first time hunter the bragging rights of a lifetime. Kenneth is gone now, but his smile and laugh that day are memories that I will always cherish.

Thanks guys. The .303 was the king of the Australian outback. It could take down camels, water buffalo, big crocodiles and up to the 70's, you could buy a surplus Aussie made Lithgow SMLE in good shape for $65.00. Bayonets were $5.00. That bolt action is fast and the rifles were accurate and well made. I wish I had bought a dozen of them when they were cheap.

You mentioned the Lee Enfield being retired from an Indian State Police in 2020, but it was retired from the Canadian Rangers at about the same time. The Canadian Rangers are a 5000-strong reserve unit in the Canadian North. Their main role is to act as guides, scouts and trainers in wilderness survival for other units. They were issued the Lee Enfield because it is dependable in any kind of weather and had a big enough bullet to stop a polar bear.

7.62x39: I killed more people than any round in History! 303British: Slowly places pint glass down on table and stands up........

In Australia after WWII it was a very popular rifle because so many were available, so almost every household had one. Many modifications were made from sporterizing the stock to necking down the cases to create the .22-303, .25-303, and even .270-303. The .25-303 was very popular for pigs, goats and kangaroo's throughout the 1950's and 60's, until more modern, faster calibres started to show up like the .243, .25-06 and .270. Most people though were happy to hunt with the old .303, it would knock over anything you hit it with out to 500 yards, and further if you were good enough.

Here in NZ 303 was and still is a very common deer cartridge. I still use my no4 to cull mobs of goats.

.303 British has probably taken more big game animals in Canada than every other cartridge combined, literally every rural household had or has one, along with a Cooey .22 rifle!

The Bren Gun was chambered in .303 british and it fed via a top mounted magazine. Loving the cartridge talks, thanks guys :)

I got a No4 mk2 from my grandfather. He bought it back in 1970ish still in the mummy wrap. He really didn't shoot it a lot and just kept it in the safe until I got of age to get my license. Now I'm really spoiled to have a still original Lee Enfield in beautiful condition shooting 3/4 inch groups with handloaded Sierra match kings. It's a lovely rifle.

The “Clicker” scene was in The Longest Day. Which is a phenomenal WWII movie.

The only thing that wasn't really mentioned is how popular Enfield's (both the No1 MK3 and No4 Mk1) became in Canada and the USA post WW2. These rifles were often sporterized and because prolific deer rifles shooting good ol 303. I'm so glad y'all finally covered it!......now on to 7Rem Mag.

The stars ( * ) on British rifles do not have anything to do with an accuracy rating. They are indicators of minor updates made to the rifle or pattern of rifle. Ie the star on a no1 mkIII* would indicate the removed of the volley sights and magazine cutoff. Where the No1 MkIII would still have those parts deemed unnecessary.

This is the first video in the series I watched; i remember when the Enfields were so cheap and plentiful in the USA. An outstanding pedigree and also a story of innovation through incremental improvements vs starting completely over with new designs. Great video.

The 303 British was actually the model/parent of our first smokeless cartridge, the 30-40 Krag. It is so close in dimensions that you can reform 303 cases into 34-40. The neck will be a little short, but it works.

Happy New Year! The reason the soldiers used 5-round stripper clips was that (unlike the U.S.) these rifles were issued with ONLY ONE magazine, which had the same serial # as the rifle, and all resupply ammo was in stripper clips. The Mad Minute was 15 rounds @ a 12" square target @ 200 yds. The .303 is the land-to-land measurement and the real size is .311 which is the groove-to-groove measurement.

The .303 was always intended to be a smokeless cartridge, but the earliest marks were made BEFORE the British had discovered/invented a smokeless powder (i.e. nitrocellulose based) so they used a compressed blackpowder charge in the case as a temporary measure. The early cartridges used round nosed bullets, just like all their military contemporaries, and switched to spitzer bullets in the first decade of the 20th century (again, like most of their military contemporaries). The militaries of the world were eager to abandon the older .45+ caliber cartridges to get higher velocities and make lighter ammunition, but the technology to make what was then named "small bore" barrels (6mm to 8mm) was only reaching industrial factories in the 1880s. The discovery/invention of smokeless powders happened at just about the same time and combining the two was very obviously a good thing. Cordite is NOT shock sensitive and will not go off if you just drop a round (even an old round). Cordite is a mix of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine (what we would now call a dual-base powder) and it is formed in spaghetti-like strands. Like all other smokeless powders it can decay with age and poor storage conditions, but it is not substantially worse than other smokeless powders in this regard. In the .303 case the cordite strands are actually slightly compressed by the bullet during seating, thus requiring a firm crimp on the bullet. There were semi-auto adaptations made to the SMLE (the World War I-era model) made as experimental rifles in the inter-war years, but no mass conversions were ever attempted. The Lee-Enfield underwent a large design change in the late 1930's which evolved into the No4 rifles (like the one you have in the video) to improve the handling and especially the ease of manufacturing versus the older SMLE (No1 Mk3) rifles. The majority of the No4 rifles were made during WWII by Savage Arms (USA) and Long Branch (Canada). The last No4 rifles were made in England in 1955. The Indian arsenal at Ishapore continued making the No1 Mk3 style rifles until the 1970s. Rechambering to .45-70 makes getting ammunition for hunting MUCH easier for many folks who don't want to reload and you get a bolt action repeater, rather than a single shot or lever action as most purpose built .45-70s are. The .45-70 may be a better cartridge for some North American big game, too. The story that the better shooting LE's had "extra stars" is entirely made up. No such markings were ever done to the LEs to indicate accuracy (some English made wartime No4's which produced very good groups during test firing were selected for being modified into the No4 Mk1 (T) sniper rifle variants). The 1903 Springfield rifles in the inter-war years could be bought with "star-gauged" barrels which had small star stamp at the muzzle to show the barrel met a tighter tolerance- this didn't necessarily prove they were more accurate however. Otherwise I don't know where he's getting this "star = accuracy" story.... The British were hoping to abandon the LE and its .303 round in the first decade of the 20th century in favor a Mauser-style action using a rimless case with better ballistics and a 7mm (.276") bullet, having been very impressed with the performance of the 7mm Mauser rifles in the hands of the Boers. They had small numbers of test/trials rifles for this new system (the Pattern 1913) but the start of World War I in 1914 stopped any plans to switch over in the middle of the war. The .303 SMLE turned out to be a very good battle rifle and the British didn't seek to replace the basic action or ammo until after WWII. Of interest, the Pattern 1913 evolved into the Pattern 1914 which was chambered in the standard .303 and was produced in large numbers by American factories during WWI for the Brits. The Pattern 1914 was modified again into the American Model of 1917 to use the .30-'06 and was produced in huge numbers for the American army. The movie reference they were looking for is from "The Longest Day" where an allied soldier uses his "cricket" clicker to try to identify friends in the darkness, but somehow (and I can't imagine how this is anything more than made-up Hollywood drama) mistakes the sound from a German soldier cycling his Kar98k Mauser action as a friendly "cricket" being clicked. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qap8lq6iu8W7mnU.html

That "clip" is actually called a charger. My regiment were still using the sniper version (No.4T) in 1978 with the close ops platoon in Northern Ireland.

The Canadian Rangers carried the Lee Enfield up until just a few years ago, it was replaced by a Colt Canada manufactured Tikka T3 Arctic with a deployment kit.

Some were amazingly accurate. In South Africa, when PMP was still operational there was a sponsered shooting competion, using PMP ammo. One year it was won by a woman shooting a no4mk1 303 with a scope. 7.7mm centre to center.

Suggestion: 7.5 Swiss Another interesting aspect of the early black powder 303British loads was that they contained 70 grains of a very fine black powder; approximately the same amount used in a 45-70. Anyone who has tried to load black powder in a 303 case will know that only about 50 grains of ffg black powder will fit in a 303 case. What the brits did was load a precompressed black powder pellet into the case before the case was formed into the bottleneck shape thus allowing 70 grains of powder to be loaded. This practice was carried over into the cordite era of the 303 and 375H&H cartridges.

They went from .577 to .455 to .311. I have a nice No 4 Mark 1. Shoots great. I’ve heard told regarding bolt guns brought into WWll, the Germans had a hunting rifle, the Americans had a target rifle, but the British actually had a combat rifle. This was used as you said in the Vickers which was a British take on the Maxim and the Lewis Gun LMG among others. There’s a video somewhere on the net of a British trooper during WWll demonstrating fast CQB with an Enfield and he’s shooting it so fast it sounds like a semi-auto.

Comment Number two .The stars on a Lee Enfield are Modification marks to signify that a particular rifle had been upgraded at some point , Not because they were in anyway special just they had been upgraded for detailed info on this You need to watch the C&Rsenal Lee Enfield videos , certain individual Lee Enfields rifles which were proven to be slightly more accurate than normal (even modern rifles vary from rifle to rifle !) would be selected to be given to snipers and scopes of the day fitted as appropriate . You Really need to Watch C&Rsenal Othias & Mae have tons of info on a video devoted to just this sort of thing , as does Ian at Forgotten Weapons . Thanks Guys.

Hey guys, very interested to see your take on what is my favourite rifle (Lee Enfield) and what it shoots, the .303. Savage made these in the US, as well as Longbranch in Canada, what you have is a No4 made by these two as well as in the UK. Australia and India kept with the No1 MK III, stars were not allocated to indicate accuracy as was stated, they were allocated to indicate the modifications made to the rifle. A machine gun version was made by NZ called the Charlton, but most were lost when the stores burnt down in a fire. When the British first fitted magazines to their service rifles, they were for emergency use only and were not meant to be removed, but could be, they were held on to the rifle by a chain to avoid them getting lost. Even with the rifle you have there the No4, they were not designed to have detachable magazines for the purpose of carrying many magazines for what is now the standard reason. The stripper clips, allowed you to load 5 rounds at a time into the 10 round magazine, this was the way that the British and other Commonwealth countries loaded the magazine. .303 projectiles are normally about .311, if you are reloading you can put 123grain projectiles from 7.62x39 over the standard projectiles. Great book and DVD's from Ian Skennerton, and Ian from Forgotten Weapons has a few videos as well.

Absolutely love how you guys are coming at us rapid fire with the cartridge talks.

The position of the bolt handle means it can be closed and the trigger reached with the middle finger without letting go of the bolt. "Bloke On The Range" has several videos demonstrating how quickly he can blast through a mad minute using the technique to go through rounds faster (and still accurately) than he can with any other bolt rifle.

Love seeing the old war dog cartridges getting some air time. Suggestion: 8x57, 6.5x52, 7x57 (or just a video on Mausers and their plethora of chamberings. Edit: They made 45-70 Enfields, I’ve seen 410 chambered ones that the Indian government used by the police during the time Britain still had it as a colony. There’s also a 22lr trainer Enfield. There were 45-70 Mausers made for the Siamese.

In Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels the Bren gun scene demonstrates the most formidable use of the .303 British as I have ever seen LOL.

Ryan is correct on many things, and he continues to be so with his recommendation of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

My Dad bought a #4mk1* in 1958 for like $15.00 still in cosmolene and paper These were used wherever the British Empire was. A very rugged and well built rifle. Thanks

Hi guys this is my first comment. The reason for the strange to us operating format during the “made minute” drill is faster recovery on the trigger. The bolt is lifted with the thumb and forefinger, the bolt is closed with the thumb the trigger is operated with the middle finger. This is the way I was taught while working with the Brits

.303 was originally intended to be a smokeless cartridge, but they temporary started it as blackpowder while they were looking for the best propellant to use.

Ruger made a limited run of their beautiful Number 1 in 303 British, most of these came into Canada, and like a fool I never bought one, now they are selling for almost double their original value.

Made my first long range kill on a large eight point buck with a borrowed 303 in 1985 at 597yds with ten of my relatives betting 100dollars that I couldn't do it! I used the money to get an exact same rifle ! Have it and the antlers to this day ! From a surplus rifle to a priceless memory ! Open iron sights and stiff action with a 7pound trigger . Thank you for making my day with the memory of this truly wonderful rifle! Have a blessed new year !

Thanx guys ! Owned my '44 No.4 mrk1/2 for 12 years now, and love her. You got a few things really right and a few things a little off.. Until last year, the Canadian Rangers, the small force of indignienous scouts, were issued No.4 mrk2's. I think the Indians still produce them. Re. the mad minute. They used a special technice. They used the sling around their left arm to stabilize the rifle and keep it on target - and operated the bolt back and forth with with their right thumb - hand laying flat over the trigger, witch were operated by their pinkie finger. ( Sounds difficult, but after the first 200 shots, it makes sense, part of my usual routine on the rangedays) The books by Skinnerton are the best source of information about the Lee Enfields. All accounts i have read states that the round nose boat tail bullets are the most accurate. My girl likes Privi ammo best, S&E casings split in the chamber reguarly. Beutiful Long Branch there - it will last for the next 100 years. Thanks again from Denmark.

Hope you guys had a Merry Christmas. Love the longer podcasts.

My first centerfire rifle was a SMLE Mk ll with the ladder battle sight. I was 15, it was 1969, I had my lawnmower money and I walked out of a local gun store with that rifle a 440 rounds of spam can packed corrosive ammo for $65. The following year with 180gr Remington Core-Lokt ammo it accounted for a 6 point buck and 2 doe in the Adirondack mountains. It still resides in my safe and comes out with my M1 Garand and 1903 Springfield on the 4th of July for a little exercise and education with the grandkids. I still have all my stripper clips and full of my reloads at 68 I can still perform the "Mad Minute". The cartridge is great especially if your a reloader, my 123gr (7.62x39) SP bullets are deadly on Whitetails to this day cracking along at over 2700fps just for fun holding 2 moa and filling the freezer.

.303 is possibly the most popular rifle here in New Zealand, I would say that is possibly one of the biggest deer killing rounds in the world. After WW2 and up until the 80s or so there was a government run deer culling operation where guys were sent out into the mountains for months at a time to hunt deer in the millions. Almost all of the cullers were armed with iron sited .303 rifles. Also as for a full auto Lee Enfield, there was one made in WW2 in New Zealand (and copied in Australia). My grandfather was the one who test fired it during development. He was given a few thousand rounds by the army and told to try to blow it up. It was basically made by putting a gas piston and cam track on the right side of the gun. Cheers for the video.

I reloaded the 303 for a friend years ago, I pulled a bullet on an old surplus round to show him the strings of cordite. The 303 is definitely a classic.

"Liberator pistol" "Sounds impractical" Well, when the goal is to arm as many people as possible, to give them a chance to take the enemies weapons to use for themselves, makes a lot of sense.

Cordite is nitrocellulose (guncotton). It is double-based smokeless powder that contains nitroglycerine (NG)/nitroglycol (EGDN).

I love my 303 mk4. I've shot numerous NRA competitions with it and next year will be taking it to Afirica for a Wildebeast and Impala slam. Great video! I love the history yall discuss on these cartridges we all love.

My favourite hunting load in the 303 is 47gr of Hogdon BL-C2 behind the 150gr Hornady soft point, which gives close to 2800fps at low pressures. This is so close to a 308 as to make no difference and is perfectly safe in a Lee Enfield, which action us a little 'springy' but a lot stronger than it is often thought to be. Because of the spring it pays to only neck size fired cases until the point where one feels resistance on extracting or bolt closure (usually 4 or 5 reloads) at which point just barely 'bump' the body in the die. This way a lot of full power reloads can be obtained from each case (I am using Remington and Winchester brass) without risk of head separations which can occur quite quickly in a Lee if you full length size each time. These ballistics are quite a bit more than a 30-30 in fact and are deadly at any range that a 308 can reach. Modern powders and bullets make a big difference. Here in NZ in the past the 303 has killed more deer than all the other calibres combined... a bit like the 30-30 in the USA, but the 303 is a much better long range round due to better bullet selection available for it due to the box mag. It does need a near 30-06 length action though....

Thank you so much for talking about my 303 brit! Carrying a #4 long branch hunting in Central N. Carolina just feels comfortable. I am shocked what the PPU 150 sp does at 100! Three round groups off a sandbag ; no bigger than 1.5 no smaller than 1.25. Great channel!

I enjoyed this episode, and the banter between you guys. Very nice!

The UK army refurbished no.4 Lee Enfields into 7.62 L1A1 sniper rifles and used them in the Falklands conflict

Yes there were machine gun conversions of the Enfield 0.303. Probably the best known is the Charlton in New Zealand - Forgotten Weapons channel has a video on it.

Cordite was particularly used in the Commonwealth ammo because it was particularly durable, stable and reliable in the hot tropics where other smokeless propellants were unsuitable at the time.

Never listened to a podcast and seen 10 minutes with a 30 minute video and was skeptical but you were intelligent and entertaining. Very well done.

The stars are slight variations on current model IE No4 MkI* which Long Branch models were. Never heard of more stars the better.

The "Clickers" in the movie reference were known as Crickets. The movie was The Longest Day, starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and Robert Mitchum, made in 1969 and (surprisingly) rated G.

The stars were nothing to do with quality of the weapon, they relate to the level of updates applied to the rifle in manufacture. The magazine whilst technically removable, they were only removed for cleaning, ammo was delivered in 5 round clips and always loaded via the top clip guide (no second mag was issued with the rifle)

Hi guys. Just wanted to say that I enjoyed watching this, as my dad fought in the Second World War in the RAF Regiment and I know he used a Lee-Enfield rifle. It brought back some memories and I remember when i was a kid, I had some of the old war memorabilia that he brought back with him including the clips that would feed into the Lee-Enfield. Anyway thanks again, for the 10 minute talk.

Not sure what he was saying about putting more stars on them if they shot well. I believe a No4 Mk1* means a factory retrofit of an older model.

According to Othais of C&Rsenal the rim on the .303 British is an important part of the Lee-Enfield gas handling system: Use of the rimmed case was thought to diminish the need to build elaborate gas control paths into the bolt and receiver. Some writers have noted the rear locking Lee-Enfield bolt was subject to compression and resulting headspace creep. The quick fix to that was an easily replaceable bolt head, a selection of which, in various lengths, was stocked by battalion level armorers so that headspace could be returned to its proper dimension.

Thank you for zooming in on the cartridge. Love the cartridge talks

Hey, you did the 303! Cool! Glad you mentioned the Martini action - terrific single-shot action.

My next-door neighbor when I was a kid had an Enfield Jungle Carbine chambered in .303 British, he wound up giving it to my older brother who still has it. I only saw my brother fire it once, so I've actually shot it more than him. It is a cool looking little carbine. The movie you're talking about with the German soldier running the bolt on his Mauser was called 'The Longest Day' (D-Day Invasion).

I love these cartridge talks. Can you please discuss the 9.3x62 and the 6xc some time.

I had numerous Lee Enfiend's which have all been sold off but my favorite was my 303 Parker Hale with flip up sights and removable scope mount. Like an HD Scout Rifle. They rebarrelled these in 308, 30-06, and some Whelens.

Throwing 256 Winchester Magnum in for a throwback episode attempt #2! Love the caliber talks guys!

You forgot to mention the different sight systems which are interesting! My original 2000 yard barrel sight was bent so I put a Williams receiver sight on mine and now have a peep sight better for my old eyes. Mine is sporterized and has good rifling and was a $200.00 pawn shop purchase! I’m happy to shoot it and am sorry you gentlemen didn’t talk about it’s ballistics. I intended to load up some blazing rounds but have lowered my expectations so it will serve another generation! John Russell used to carry a sporterized version of that Enfield in a 1950’s tv series about the adventures of an African Guide! I never forgot it! JWC

I watched another video about the Enfield and they stated a British army SGT managed to put 38 rounds on a 10 inch target at 300yrds in a minute, now that's a record to beat 😁

Ahh, guys, any British rifle, including the mighty Lee Enfield, marked a with a star(*), DOES NOT mean it’s more accurate! It means it’s been updated with slight upgrade to a later mark, is all….

My dad used the 303 British as his deer rifle his entire life ( '54 - '22)...actually wore out the barrel on his 1st rifle & acquired a 2nd one. Always worked. Simply had the bayonet lugs removed , fitted a custom sporter stock on it, and a Weaver scope. Can't remember him ever not getting a deer either...It was a cheap working rifle...

Absolutely love .303 Brit. It's easy to reload and Enfields rock.

Most popular rifle in Canada. And I’m concerned we can not buy ammo for them. Even spitfires used them in their machine guns.

A note about the detachable mag vs the charger clip, there were numerous accounts of soldiers not liking the detachable mags because they were both heavy and cumbersome to carry multiples of. You could carry significantly more ammunition on charger clips in your pockets and pouches than you could in magazines.

Machine gun belt feeding with a rimmed cartridge requires a 2 stage feed where the cartridge is first pulled backwards out of the belt, dropped down and then pushed home into the chamber. It has its pros/cons over the single stage typically used with rimless but it's still in reliable service on many of the Russian 7.62x54r PK variants.

A great cartridge and certain models were very accurate sniper rounds. It's hard, even now, to find a better bolt action and round feed.

You may or may not know that that cartridge armed the Spitfire and the Hurricane with eight 303 machine guns in the wings.

I like watching your videos, especially when you discuss old cartridges. I've got an old model 70 (1965 era) in 225 winchester. I think it's about as obsolete as one can get. I found some old factory ammo and I've got dies for it. It's very accurate. One day, you might have a discussion about its brief history.

You can still load the .303 in black powder for the .303 Martini. Works well.

The "mad minute" .303 shooters I've seen all manipulate the bolt with the thumb and index fingers, and fired with the little finger. I don't think the star has anything to do with accuracy. Don't quote me, but from memory it's a modification indication. Most SMLE's in Australian service were No.1 Mk3* for example.

The film Jim mentioned with the clickers is The Longest Day, and it was shown in the UK over Christmas. Great film, sadly they don't make them like that anymore.

I remember when you had my father and I on back on episode 68 we talked about the 303 british. We also opened up and original mk 7 round to show the condition. Also with Ryan talking about black powder cartridge we have the 2 british cartridges that came before the 303 british.

I love when you guys talk about old cartridges.

Siamese Mausers were also rechambered for 45-70 gov. Another convert is 30-40krag like mine 😁. If I were to get another one I’d probably stick to the original 303. Also our Model 1917 rifles were originally based off the P14 Enfields made by **Winchester, Eddy stone, and Remington. Thank you comment below I was thinking too fast for myself or something.

Great discussion. Another historical note. After GB moved on from the SMLE and like Mk. IV bolt rifles in the 1950s, they gave tooling and production machinery to India. The Indian arsenal at Ishapore then contined for many years producing the WWI traditional SMLE model but using higher quality / stronger steel for the receiver and chambering the rifles in NATO 7.62 /.308, often referred to as Ishapore Enfields. They are more afforadable now than a WWI - WWII era SMLEs but are fine rifles for target shooting, and 7.62 generally is cheaper than .303. Most were rode hard and put away wet and rearsenaled with ugly black paint - but they shoot, although the original SMLE sights are horrible and difficult to see for a 50 something like me.

Glad to see the Brit! Would really love to hear y'all talk about the .30-40 Krag!!

The official Mad Minute was 38 shots on a 12” target at 300 yards in 1914. Stars did not rate the quality of the Rifle it only indicated a modification with one star, maybe 2. The Spitfire Fighter Plane initially used .303 machine guns as well.

Good to finally hear about the 303, still crossing my fingers and hoping to get an episode about the 35 Remington

The film with the clickers in was The Longest Day. I fired this round as a 17 year old cadet. Straight as a die, with a good kick.

Mad minute. You held the bolt in the thumb and first finger. Your second finger dropped to the trigger and you flicked the trigger. Till the mag was dry - you never let go of the bolt. Then dumped 2 clips in and kept running. It was battle accurate. Enough to do military targets at short to long range. Short is out to 300 - in the late 70's - I had a WW1 Vet shooting a 30" target at 1000 yds. It was a 5 ft square target - I patched 30 inches across. Quite a shooter. Me - a grandson of a Canadian WW1 Vet.

Please guys, if you're gonna talk about the 303 and/or Enfield's in general, please learn the history. There was in fact several ways that was implemented toake them fully automatic (Charlton device) , the detachable magazine was strictly for cleaning , they were made in England , USA, Canada, Australia , India, Pakistan, and of course, kyber pass copies. The mad minute was designed to teach the average soldier to lay down a volley of accurate fire. They didn't use the palm of the hand, they pinched the bolt with thumb and index finger and fired with the middle finger. The striker stays back on the way forward, after it has been fired it will not spring back on its own. The Enfield is a very fascinating piece of industrial history as well. Just study the sights on the thing , that I a very in-depth history all in its own right. I'm not criticizing or making fun of y'all, I just happen to be an enfield junkie and really want the story straight for other that are not enthusiasts. Thank you

Gentlemen they are not clips, they are chargers. Yours faithfully, a UK historic competition shooter.

Brought back a Martini Henry Mk IV and a MLE back from Afghanistan. The Brits were on the verge of abandoning the SMLE in 1913/1914 and were going to adopt the Pattern 1913 in .276 Enfield but war was declared, and they needed lots of rifles yesterday. The P13 was put into production instead in .303 and that's the Pattern 1914 which were made in the USA by Winchester, Remington and Eddystone. This rifle would later be rechambered for the .30-06 as the M1917

Good video. The 303 was used in Canada by the Canadian Rangers from 1947 till 2018. ( is a sub component of the Canadian army. ) Used in arctic patrols. Saying something about the reliability and performance of the round. Still used by many hunters for moose and deer hunting.

I like the old military cartridge topic I’d like to hear you guys talk about the 7.5x55 Swiss !

Love these videos! Would love to see 6.8 Western and 7mm PRC.

The stars designate a change within a given Mark....and has nothing to do with quality. Next, the original Lee patent rifle was in 45-70, which predates the Brits adoption of the action. Next, the .303 cartridge was designed as a smokeless round, but was briefly loaded in black powder pending the full development of cordite.

Short bolt throw versus long bolt action. One comment on these ammo discussions (which are amazing and thank you very much for your work and knowledge) is the length of the bolt throw. It recently struck me that one significant difference between a lot of these rounds and their popularity is the bolt throw. Short versus long, and the older ones tend to be long throw. Just an observation that might be worthy of including in the discussion.

Great talk….lots of info. Happy & Blessed New Year Jim, Mark and Ryan.

Great video! But it should be "The 308 basically a 303?" since the 303 predates the 308 by 60 years. The stamped star indicates the rifle has a different method of mounting the trigger.No4Mk1 * It's a 'charger' NOT a clip. The British soldier was not expected to remove the magazine except to clean it (as they would undoubtedly have lost it in the excitement of battle) The Japanese used the 7.7 round which was a copy of the 303 British .311 dia. In Australia post war there were few calibre options available to the hunter, so a great variety of wildcats were developed based on the 303 British. Several .224 calibre rounds from the 303/22 Wasp a very short case necked down to .224, up to the 303/22 Sprinter which was just a full sized 303 necked to .224. There were 303/243s, 303/25s, 303/270s, 303/35s and a straight walled 'pig buster' the 303/375 (I have several cases). The British understated many calibres: e.g. 303 = .311" 310 = .323" America overstates some calibres: e.g. 38 = .357" etc. The British were not 'sporting' about their ammo and when soft nose ammo was banned, they developed a bullet that was inherently unstable. A cone of Bakelite or aluminium was put inside the nose of the ball (FMJ) bullet that then made it base heavy and very likely to tumble after encountering the body of the enemy. I found this out to my dismay after throwing a pulled bullet into the lounge room fire and having it go bang as the molten lead was expelled through the hole in the base by the burnt bakelite. Mum was not happy with the burnt carpet.

I have a 1942 Enfield and have taken many deer with it over the years in Maine. Great in the brush and can stretch it's legs in the open very well. Love it.

Interesting note: The Canadian Rangers were issued with the .303 Lee-Enfield No4 in 1947. The rifle and cartridge remained in service until it was replaced by the C19/T3 in 2015. Apparently, it was a well-liked rifle that worked really well in the arctic conditions.

I had an Enfield in .45ACP. You can ask why, I will say that it used 1911 magazines ( detachable) fired common, off the shelf ammo with subsonic results and yes, I fitted it with a silencer. Beautiful suppressed rifle. I wish I had kept it. I even hot loaded some rifle specific rounds that chrono'ed at 1200FPS.

I shot these as a cadet back in the day. The full size was a beast. We also shot 22lr conversions which were lovely to shoot. I also shot a converted Martini which in my opinion sucked. Horrible balance but the 22 Enfield was fantastic. I even won a competition with it.

When I dived in Gallipoli there were millions of .303 rounds. I grabbed a few and the string cordite was still dry after 100 years underwater. The .303 used in the machine guns was a very round bullet.

The movie mentioned where a paratrooper mistook the sound of the Kar 98k for the clicker was The Longest Day. Awesome movie and that was a great scene.

The .303 British, (particularly the SMLE rifles), are still very popular in Canada. Mostly for hunting, as well as target use. MANY moose, whitetail deer, and black bear have been bagged using the old .303. Even with FMJ bullets, often with the spitzer tips filed down to expose the lead core in effort to promote expansion. Although the lack of sufficient velocity allowed much expansion. The heavy FMJ (surplus) ammo, even at 2500 or so fps velocity usually gave very deep penetration. The SMLE's were not only rebarreled to .45/70 Springfield, but also converted to .45 ACP with the receiver altered to allow use of detachable 1911 .45acp magazines.