Thread: Oldie but goodie

Hi there , here is a photo of my no 4 mk1 303.25 my dad shot lots of deer with it , I shot my 1st sika with it when I was 14 with my own hand loads , it sat in cuboard for many years but have started loading and hunting with it again .

Thats a very interesting looking stock, 25/303 is one of those post war attempts at making high velociy rounds from what was available?

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Thats a very interesting looking stock, 25/303 is one of those post war attempts at making high velociy rounds from what was available?

From what I've read I thought it was a way for Aussies to get around laws restricting military calibres, a law that must have been dumped a fair while back

nice love old stuff

Yes that's right the Aussies laws after the war was what brought around these 303 wildcats , about 6-8 different one but the 303/25 was by far the most popular, love my one , 1-12 twist makes loading a bit limited but having fun .

Went and looked up an OLD reloading book by Cyril Waterworth, it lists the 25/303, velocities and energy are the same as the 250 Savage so it's quite a performer!

Old Skool Cool

Originally Posted by Gur1

Yes that's right the Aussies laws after the war was what brought around these 303 wildcats , about 6-8 different one but the 303/25 was by far the most popular, love my one , 1-12 twist makes loading a bit limited but having fun .

John Barsness (of Rifle/Handloader fame) measured the twist rate of his rather old Model 99 in .250 Savage because it seemed a bit slow. He found that it was closer to 1-15" than the official 1-14". I gather that this was not an uncommon problem prior to the mid 1930s. Given that fact, I would imagine that any jacketed bullet specifically designed for the .250 Savage, such as a flat-base round-nose bullet up to 100-gr or a flat-base spitzer up to 87-gr should work perfectly.

Thanks for showing us the rifle.

The 303 wildcats coming into existence were more about a lack of variety of calibres at that time rather the Oz ban of rifles of 303Br chambering. They got around the 303Br ban by taking up the 303 barrels by one thread and calling the resultant shorter chambering a 7.7x54. Projectile had to be pulled on std 303 round, shoulder pushed back, and projectile reloaded. The only ones that could have a proper 303 were graziers, ex service men, fishermen, rifle club members, pest eradicators. So the restriction was a tad full of holes. Outfits like Mick Smith Sports (large Sydney gun shop, now closed) did well out of selling the conversions.

Shooting 100 gr pro hunters very nice and 75 gr vmax are very good aswell not so good for the late night possum that pokes there head out around home haha , did try some 80 gr Barnes but a 15 sampler pack was not enuff to sort them out , keen to try so more tho .