.303 enfield sniper hunt

Something a bit different, i took my old 1941 lee Enfield no4 mk1 T .303 Sniper rifle out for a hunt on Sunday on some public land, and i managed to shoot a big old hind with it at 275 yards away! Now that distance dosent sound alot to most of you but try lugging a heavy old rifle around the scrub all day without scratching it and then looking through the 2.5x scope! I've been wanting to shoot a deer with it for a while now I've finally done it, have shot a few tahr and wallabies with it now too. It ain't no safe queen!
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Nice to see it isnt a safe queen. very cool rifle.

Brilliant Ton, my 1st centrefire was a Parker Hale 303 and I've often thought if I could find a really good one I'd buy and take it out a couple of times a year (If I ever get home)

Big old hind probably saw what you had and thought nah I'm safe as over here.
Great job there!


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Was a shame the stag that was with it beded down, otherwise it would of been more picture friendly!! Im sure my arm is 3" longer from carring that heavy old thing all day!

Oh and my day bag with two back legs and back steaks and rifle total weight was 39kg.... farkin nearly tore the shoulder strap out of my day bag not to mention my shoulders!!!

Haha nice mate

Nice pictures...thanks for sharing !

Wow. That’s something not too many of us can claimed to have done. I hauled a .303 around for a while but used a scoped .308 to shoot my first deer.

Is it a genuine rifle or a reproduction ?

Genuine one, a early Maltby, also NZ marked too.
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Really; c'mon..... Those pics of a sniper 303 should really have an R18 XXX rating...... Was nearly too much for my old ticker....... ;)

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Originally Posted by tonyd

Genuine one, a early Maltby, also NZ marked too.
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Mate that is very very cool. Thanks for sharing.

Greetings All,
A future walk with my severely bubba modified No 4 needs to be included in planning. Perhaps I could take it up past Makino hut and give that rock I shot with my uncles P14 in 1963 another couple of rounds.
Warning the following picture may upset some people.
Regards Grandpamac.Attachment 162429

Well done, great result for the old girl....

Awesome - nice bit of kit you have there.

And shot with some ammunition from a packet marked seconds just to increase the level of uncertainty. Bloody well done.

Very neat rifle still doing its job. Good stuff.

Greeting Mooseman, Moa Hunter, Viper, Mathias Mimms, and All,
Thanks for your likes and comment on my unique .303. The rifle is one of three from my old soldiers cabinet that has connections to now departed friends. Amongst the other modifications is that it has been fitted with a PH base intended for a No 1 Lee Enfield. It has always shot well even with a badly pitted barrel, since replaced with a nice shiny two groove. The scope rings had been butchered to fit and were past further use but another set was found in the parts box to suit. The scope is a 2.5 power Lyman. Also in my box of bits there is an old Pecar 4 power reticle moving scope and some 26mm rings that would need to be modified slightly to fit. If I get especially bored one day I might look at fitting it. Still as is it is still a fair example of what a young hunter may have had when I started hunting in the late 1960's and I think of my friend every time I pick it up. That is probably enough.
Regards Grandpamac

I have an old Aldis scope that I would some day love to put on a original rifle. To shoot an animal with that would certainly top it off.
Though I was warned by another member that perhaps the scope may fall apart if i shoot with it...

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....s-scope-59735/

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Originally Posted by G.I_Joel

I have an old Aldis scope that I would some day love to put on a original rifle. To shoot an animal with that would certainly top it off.
Though I was warned by another member that perhaps the scope may fall apart if i shoot with it...

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....s-scope-59735/

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Greetings G.I_Joel,
The Pecar has been on a rifle recently and shot but is an absolute pig to Zero and needs good alignment to start with. One day perhaps.
Regards Grandpamac.

Super cool, thanks for posting!

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Originally Posted by G.I_Joel

I have an old Aldis scope that I would some day love to put on a original rifle. To shoot an animal with that would certainly top it off.
Though I was warned by another member that perhaps the scope may fall apart if i shoot with it...

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....s-scope-59735/

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Greetings Again GI_Joel,
Another option would be to fit it to a .22 and go shoot some rabbits with it. No stress on the scope. You might want to check that the adjustment still works before starting. You would likely need a Windage base as well.
Regards Grandpamac.

really like the 2nd photo of rifle on hind.....respectful of the hind ,very much in good taste......
I started out using a tired old mk3 ,shot numerous goats and a couple of big pigs with it before moving on to the 30/30.....shot a few wallabies with another years later and must confess I bubbafied that one a bit...cut it shorter and it wore a scope towards the end,before it went off to another home....sometimes I think it would be nice to have another in cabinet for wet days...but nah,dont go out in rain often and did try opens on the x39mm and couldnt hit wallaby at 50 yards so gave up and went back to scopes....

Haha no harm in trying I guess, but sorry the spotter will never be for sale as long as I have the rifle and the rest of the setup, the correct scout reg telescopes are thin on the ground here!

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Originally Posted by tonyd

Genuine one, a early Maltby, also NZ marked too.
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Fantastic wee collection you have there , great photo

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Originally Posted by tonyd

Genuine one, a early Maltby, also NZ marked too.
Attachment 162415

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Out of curiosity what sort of accuracy do you get with this set up and what does the rifle with scope weigh ? I am into early sporting rifles but have never gone down the military route but the more I see them , the more interest I have .

Great hunt job well done!

That’s awesome! Good stuff

Circa 1978 I was on the last Sniper Instructors Course at Waiouru to use the the No4 Mk1 T. I recall my rifle was made around 1936 - it was one of the trial No4's which were hand made and subsequently requisitioned for sniper use when WW2 broke out. It had a Mk32 (Mk 1 ?) scope which was one of the early ones with less fine adjustments than the later models. I think they were originally designed for fitting to the BREN but then adapted for the No4 sniper. Notwithstanding the fact it was around 42 years old it still shot well - part of the badge qualification shoot was moving targets at 500 meters and stationary at 600 which they all capable of doing. The only problem with mine was the scope which was inclined to be temperamental past 400 meters. I actually qualified using someone else's rifle with the finer adjustments. Great old weapon which also served well as a staff when climbing steep hills ! The Parker Hale Mk82 with Khales ZF scope that replaced it was a better weapon but didn't work quite so well as a staff...

Beautiful to see. thanks grandpamac.

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Originally Posted by Lucky

Out of curiosity what sort of accuracy do you get with this set up and what does the rifle with scope weigh ? I am into early sporting rifles but have never gone down the military route but the more I see them , the more interest I have .

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with 50s cac fmj i can get around 1.5 moa and sometimes 1moa on a good day. It ain't no target rifle. Total rifle weight would be around 11lb, but feels like 20lb at the end of a long day on the hill!

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Originally Posted by tonyd

with 50s cac fmj i can get around 1.5 moa and sometimes 1moa on a good day. It ain't no target rifle. Total rifle weight would be around 11lb, but feels like 20lb at the end of a long day on the hill!

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Nothing wrong with that , I hear you , everything feels heavy at the end of the day now LOL .

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Originally Posted by inozz

Beautiful to see. thanks grandpamac.

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Thanks for that @inozz,
The rifle belonged to a departed friend. The barrel was badly pitted but shot really well. Fortunately I had an as new no4 barrel that I picked up for a pittance about fifty years ago and even more fortunately it shot just as well. The rifle weighs 3.7 kg including scope. The scope is an old Lyman 2.5 power. Light loads with the 174 grain Hornady round nose are used that don't need FL sizing. Even use my friends Lee Loader for some of the handloading steps.
Regards Grandpamac.