No. 1 in .303 British

Has anyone had any experience with the current run of light sporters in .303 British? Seems I recall hearing some grumbling about over-sized bores or something ... can't find it now.

If you own one, accurate or not?

Thanks,
sonvolt

Greetings,

I do not own a 303, but I also recall some grumbling about an oversize bore. However, it could have easily been shooter error. Ruger is well known for thier quality and customer service. Further, if there was a bad batch, you can be sure there would have been more than just a little whimper from the users.

If you can get one at a reasonable cost, better get it because it could be a long time before ruger chambers another run of the 303 in a number one.

Mike 8)

sonvolt said:

Has anyone had any experience with the current run of light sporters in .303 British?
sonvolt

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Current run? Has Ruger made a recent run of these? The last batch I knew of came out a couple years ago.
Chet15

That's the only run I know of and I believe most went to Australia and Canada. Do not think there are that many left in US.

Yes, it probably is the run from a couple years ago I'm thinking of. It's an attractive little package which I'd give my eye teeth for if it only had a tad longer barrel ... do wonder about those bores though. If anyone has any direct shooting history with one, would love to hear from you ...

I have one and am still playing around with loads. The bore slugs at .3135, but I have heard people state that some are .316, which seems a bit extreme to me. I have been getting three rounds that touch, and the next two seem to open up the group to about 1.5". Fine for hunting. There was a Handloading Magazine last year that had an article on the 303, and used a Number 1 for their tests. They had some excellent results. You can get .311 and .312 jacketed bullets, and if you want to try cast, I believe you can get them sized up to .314 from some places. I'm satisfied with my results so far with the jacketed, but may try some cast this summer.

Great to know - thanks. Anyone else actually owned one?

I own one. I only shoot Remington factory 180 gr. loads in it since a windfall of the ammo came my way. It won't win a shooting contest, but will group five at about 2" at 100 yards. I did manage to connect with a ground squirrel at about 150 yards. It cut the little critter in half. I have a Nikon 3-9X scope on it.

dimrod, have you ever slugged the bore on yours?

DeWayne

Hi,

Don't remember for sure where I read this (mighta been 303british.com but don't quote me): the writer was telling how Ruger's boring their .303s "to spec", as originally put on paper, which is "oversized" relative to most bullets available today. According to the article, a .314" bore is about "perfect" (and even some .316"-.318" bores were produced, at least during WWII) but because of the wide variety of wartime production variances, most current bullets are made in .311" and .312" to ensure they'll work in "undersized" bores (my Enfield can actually handle .308" jacketed and .309" cast bullets "well enough" considering what it was designed for.)

Sounds like slugging the barrel and finding some .314" bullets to try might answer most of the questions?

Rick C

my .303 good news/ bad news...

the bad news was that i had heard of the supposed poor #1 accuracy due to the "odd bores".
more bad news was that the only #1 .303 i could locate was kinda homely, with wood grain like a pine plank.
so of course i brought it home anyway.

the good news is that it shoots into an inch all day @ 100 yds!!
.311 hornady 150 grainers with a max load of blc-2. f-c cases, and cci lrs primers.

my homely #1 turned into a real beauty!

Sounds to me like if one's going to take on a .303 No. 1, he'd probably better be a handloader, which effectively rules me out. Not there there are a lot of factory .303 loads available to choose from, but I would like to have a rifle that's accurate with store-bought ammo. I'm a big lover of Enfields and wanted a sort of "commercial companion" to my other .303's, but it sounds like this No. 1 may not be a sure fire deal.

I do appreciate you guys weighing in with your experience - it helped a lot.

DeWayne

No, I never slugged the bore on mine. I have about 1,400 factory cartridges, so mine was either going to shoot with them or not. It'll hit pop cans most of the time at 100 yards, but I won't be consistently dotting a squirrel's eye with it.

Interesting read, I was not aware of the problems. Stirs an old interest that might be worth checking into.

I never had a 303 #1, never wanted one. The No. 4 Mk I* always got it done just fine on mule deer/elk/bear with available commercial ammo. It started doing so in 1955, and still would I suppose if slugged to find out what pills to load for it. Last ammo I shot in it was just for fun decades ago, and probably was mid 60's vintage if not older. P.O.A. removed some weight way back when, made it lighter carry but a little more unruly to shoot. Still would be fun to shoot though even though I stopped hunting big game in the 80's. Hmmm.

sonvolt said:

I'm a big lover of Enfields and wanted a sort of "commercial companion" to my other .303's, but it sounds like this No. 1 may not be a sure fire deal.

I do appreciate you guys weighing in with your experience - it helped a lot.

DeWayne

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My first big boy rifle was an Enfield No4 mk1, and it is still one of my favorite and smoothest bolt action rifles. I also have a jungle carbine with an original bayonet in the back of my safe. I used to buy sardine cans of surplus ammo on stripper clips in bandoleers and shot thousands of rounds through mine. The jungle carbine really hits hard! I would come home with a sore shoulder and still grinning ear to ear. I could hit pop cans at 100yds all day long with the rifle, the carbine was less acurate. I still have one bandolier of ammo, wish I could still buy it by the can. If I wanted to hunt with 303 I would look for one that is already sporterized, they are probably one of the best bolt action rifles ever made. Ed

sonvolt said:

Has anyone had any experience with the current run of light sporters in .303 British? Seems I recall hearing some grumbling about over-sized bores or something ... can't find it now.

If you own one, accurate or not?

Thanks,
sonvolt

Click to expand...

Try searching the canadian gun nuts forum, there are several threads about the .303 No 1.

I've been trying to get my dad's L/E .303 Jungle Carbine - I'm welcome to it but I'd have to import it into the US from Canada at quite a cost. If he fought with it, it'd be a no-brainer, but he just bought it for 50 bucks when he was young and shot groundhogs with it on the farm...

...still..if I had it, I'd definitely want a No. 1 to go with it!!!!!

I recently acquired a Winchester 1895 carbine in 303 Brit. I only test fired it once but it looks like it has the potential to be a good shooter. I've got too much ammo to ever shoot it all in a No. 1.

Yeah, they're terribly inaccurate..........

First 3 rnd group @ 50 yds. Horn 150 gr .312 SP.



And then some @ 100. Horn 150 again.



And Barnes 150 .311 TSX.