Thread: SMLE 303

go spade in hand with new post and get it fixed......wont take more than half n hour and you will remeber the experience forever more.

Originally Posted by Jusepy

Ok hello friends...
Today i went down to the "range" and let loose with the 303. At first , my groupings were all over the place due to getting used to the high scope and no cheeck weld on the 303. As the day progressed i found my groupings definitely closing up. Got it on paper at 30 yards then went to a 100 yards .
was out with the brother in law and his mate , who were shooting modern 308's and other rifles.
I reckon with more time on the 303 and a bit of patience , i will be able to smoke a deer at 100 yards.

I am pretty happpy with the performance of the 303 , was unusual the height of the scope and trying to use chin weld instead of cheel weld but I think i will be able to adept nicely.
I wont put pics of my grouping on here because it was pretty nasty.

Your groups are closing up as you're shooting because, in my experience, 303's like fouled barrels. That's why I no longer fully clean mine after a shooting session, just three passes with a boresnake style pull through and the third pass with a bit of oil on the end, then one pass of the pull though at the start of the next shoot session to clean out excess oil. Only fully clean your barrel if you've shot corrosive military ammo. Micky Duck is right about a cheek riser, makes a world of difference. Also be a good idea to find the lowest scope rings you can find.

My first rifle I bought at 18 was a beat up, black barreled cosmoline soaked Mk III that i bought from Century Arms for about $60. at that time in the States .303 was relatively rare so that also got me into reloading with a cheap Lee press and dies. Now 43 years later and a couple of hundred guns later i'm back enjoying the .303 Could have something to do with Jacinda taking away all my E-cat toys but I've accepted reality and find my kicks were i can. All the cheap military stuff only goes up in value as more countries outlaw guns. I imagine we will be the last generation to enjoy relatively unfettered gun ownership.

Hello again friends !
Today took the 303 for another shoot at the "range" after making a home made cheek riser out of foam ( making a temporary one till i see if it works out)
Went really well at 35 meters , then went to adjust the scope to zero the old girl and then we started playing around the world again with the target.
Went out to 50 meters and it was horrible....
Oh well back to the drawing board i guess.

Here is my temporary cheeck riser , made the rifle feel so much better and more stable.

I think i need to work on my hold or somehow make my grouping tighter .

threes things pop out to me.....
fit a slip on rubber butplate...just cause it eliminates the recoil factor
get someone else to shoot a group for you...someone who normally shoots well with thier own rifle...eliminates the YOU factor
borrow another scope of known pedigree.....you DONT NEED TO ALTER ZERO..... so can take out of mates rings,screw into yours for test and then he can put it back,morethan likely wont shift his zero by more than fly pooh...good excuse for him to check zero......eliminates the "scope is faaarked" factor
there is little in this world more frustrating than a scope that wont hold zero,you can never trust it and will waste a lot of ammunition trying to sort rifle when its scope causeing issue.

bugger,if had seen WHERE rifle was coming from,could have tested it for you before you purchased...too late now. @Cordite what say you about the top wood??? is this an issue???@Gundoc any insite here.....cant recall whats the accepted norm its been so many yers since Ive cradles a SMLE.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

bugger,if had seen WHERE rifle was coming from,could have tested it for you before you purchased...too late now. @Cordite what say you about the top wood??? is this an issue???@Gundoc any insite here.....cant recall whats the accepted norm its been so many yers since Ive cradles a SMLE.

The top wood shown is the bare minimum, to stop burning your fingers. Not enough to prevent mirage from a hot barrel though. But for hunting neither is an issue. Nice SMLE sporter there. Protect your ears.

From the photo I've seen, its missing the mid barrel band. So that barrel could be whipping all over the place.

It looks like the charger bridge is gone as well.
Really needs someone to check to ensure the receiver is fitted nice and flat to the stock and the trigger guard is nice and flat underneath.

Thanks for still reading my thread lads !
So last night i did some more research and found a useful utube video , This video looked at different groupings from an enfeild which then pointed to different problems with the gun and how to fix them. My groupings ( loosely used term as it was just spraying bullets around ) was pointing to a loose stock and also loose trigger guard.
Thanks dogmatic your on to it !
Thanks everyone else , I will also try eliminating my shooting and get my brother in law to have shoot with it and also try a scope off one of my other guns to eliminate those areas too.

I will report back later on today when i have got emily out of her warm bed and had a decent look over her.
Cheers

Sooooo ,
I gathered up my courage and took the old girl apart.
I think I found something weird in the stock but unsure , The big silver rod with a piece of rubber glued to the end.
Not sure if its to do with the old owner trying to supress some of the recoil or add weight to the gun ( why would you )?
It also had a small piece of brass , a shim perhaps under the barrel under the wood.
I dont have a long enough screwdriver to see if the stock bolt is tight enough and to complete the dissasembly.
Anyways heres some pics..

Originally Posted by dogmatix

From the photo I've seen, its missing the mid barrel band. So that barrel could be whipping all over the place.

It looks like the charger bridge is gone as well.
Really needs someone to check to ensure the receiver is fitted nice and flat to the stock and the trigger guard is nice and flat underneath.

Does anyone know where i can get a mid barrel band ? I have noticed , now you mention it , the front of the foregrip can wiggle side to side alittle bit. A band of some sort would tighten this up .

Originally Posted by Jusepy

Does anyone know where i can get a mid barrel band ? I have noticed , now you mention it , the front of the foregrip can wiggle side to side alittle bit. A band of some sort would tighten this up .

I sold like 6 of them last week!

The band worked in conjunction with a spring pushing the barrel upwards from the nose cap.
It was all to dampen the barrel harmonics, especially when the barrel was heated from rapid fire.
Most sporters required some tweaking to get shooting well to compensate in the absence of them.

Originally Posted by dogmatix

From the photo I've seen, its missing the mid barrel band. So that barrel could be whipping all over the place.

It looks like the charger bridge is gone as well.
Really needs someone to check to ensure the receiver is fitted nice and flat to the stock and the trigger guard is nice and flat underneath.

Good point. My first sporter started shooting really badly when I misplaced the little spiral spring washer which went with the screw retaining the mid barrel ring -- that was obviously part of the barrel tuning too.

Originally Posted by dogmatix

I sold like 6 of them last week!

The band worked in conjunction with a spring pushing the barrel upwards from the nose cap.
It was all to dampen the barrel harmonics, especially when the barrel was heated from rapid fire.
Most sporters required some tweaking to get shooting well to compensate in the absence of them.

Bugger !
do you have any left ??