.303 Enfield No. 4

[Singleshotsam]

Hello all,

A local gunshop of mine has been getting in a fair number of No. Enfield .303's.  Most of them coming through have had great looking bores and some have some decent wood.  What is a fair price for one?

Also can anyone tell me what .303 ammo has been running lately?

Thanks in advance!
Sam

[AtlLaw]

Also can anyone tell me what .303 ammo has been running lately?

Hadn't looked in a while, but there hasn't been any decent surplus 303 ammo since the Greek stuff ran out years ago.  Last I saw was Pakistani or some such they were trying to pass off as British and was rated very poorly over in the surplus rifle forum.  I think you're pretty much relegated to Privi if you want decent ammo.  Check AIM

P.S. I still got plenty of the Greek stuff!   

[351 power]

probably worth more if they have not been sporterized, 100-200

[AtlLaw]

I assumed they were unmodified.  Iagree with you, not much if chopped up.

[DCRthe3rd]

Last ones I seen for sale were those ones marked U.S property , they were about 179.00 in the gunmarts , of course have not seen this for about the last ...... oh , 2 - 3 months.
I am still hoarding some South African 303

[AtlLaw]

Last ones I seen for sale were those ones marked U.S property

I believe the ones marked that way are all Savage manufacture.  That's what I have.   

I am still hoarding some South African 303

That's good stuff to!  Also long gone.     I wish there was some decent surplus 303 out there.

[DCRthe3rd]

For hunting loads I have some of that priv and pmp stuff in soft points. No experience with the POF stuff but I hear its not good , but it is cheap , or it was for the short time I seen it around , at one time I paid , now listen to me , $6.50 for a box of 50rds of the S.A stuff.
I am too young to have so many "back in the day" stories
I should have bought one of those savages , I was "going to".........
anyhow, my No.4 is awful to look at , the bore is a mess , the muzzle is beat and yet is shoots better than it's supposed to.
Kneeling , all 10 shots stay in a 5 inch circle and I am by no means a "sniper"

[Mikey]

DCR:  The No4 Mk1 should run between $100-200.  The best No4s are the American made rifles by Savage - they never went to war and never saw the deprivations of battle.

The best ammo for the 303 Brit is the Sellier and Bellot - comes in either 150 gn soft point or 180 gn ball.  It is quality stuff.  The brass will last longer for you if you reload by you making sure the rifle does not have excess headspace.  Many of these rifles were made with looser tolerances for battlefield conditions where reloading was not an issue and many were made with 'generous' chambers.  The bolt heads are numbered on these rifles and you can close up some excess headspace and get some longer life from your reloaded brass if you get a bolt head that gives you a closer fit.  Check the Shotgun News and places like SAMCO, SARCO and Gun Parts Corp for these bolt heads.

PRVI also makes good ammo but the S&B is the best and is loaded to original mil-spec.  American made ammo is good for bullets and brass.  Greek surplus is excellent and if the Portugese ever made 303 Brit that too would be excellent.

Do not purchase middle -eastern surplus, it may not be to specs and may even be backyard reloads.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Victor3]

 I recently got a No4 in good shape. I shot it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Good advice to check the headspace; I didn't, since I got it from a friend who had shot it quite a bit already.

 I was shooting surplus ammo with a headstamp that reads "A80" over "7.7 R1M 3Z". I don't know who made it, but it seemed to be accurate. I burned about 50 rounds, and there was no sign of a headspace problem on the fired cases.

 Then I fired one round of Winchester commercial stuff. Upon examining the fired case I saw that I'd almost had a case-head separation. It was cracked 1/2 way around, about 1/4" up from the rim. It was back to the rack for it after that. My bolt head is #1. Need to check the gap and get a longer one.

 Wear your safety glasses folks....

[Mikey]

Victor3 - you are liable not to see excess headspace indications on mil-spec brass as I believe it is a bit tougher than commercial. 

The separation you saw twixt the shell head and shell case are the excess headspace indications that can be cured with a newer bolt head. 

Here's how you check your need ror bolt head size:  take a shim - about a 10/1000s shim - you need to mic it to make sure.  Insert the shim between the bolt head and a new, unfired case; if you can close the bolt then you need the next size up bolt head to tighten up excess headspace.  If you place two shims and can still close the bolt you need a bolt head two sizes up.  If you can't do that then take it to a gunsmith and have he or she headspace the rifle and get the correct bolt head, which are just screw ons.  HTH.  Mikey.

[AtlLaw]

excess headspace indications that can be cured with a newer bolt head. 

What if your bolt head is a #4?     I'm serious!  My No. 4 has a #4 bolt head and I still think the headspace is a little sloppy!   

Here's how you check your need for bolt head size:

Pretty neat!      I think I'll try that for my own piece of mind.  I assume .010 is the difference between the each head number, correct?