Help
 

I need to get some advice on something.

I dont know much about guns and am a victim of canadas gun laws.

Anyways,i bought a house a while back and it had one of those old 303 british rifles(maybe from ww2?).I got it proffesionally cleaned up.

But i was wondering,is it safe to use todays ammo in it?
Is our ammo more powerful?

Re: Help
 

Is it a No.4 MK2 (WWII) or the older MKIII (WWI)? It should be stamped on the receiver.

These No.4 SMLEs were rebarreled and sold to the civilian market after WWII, and are/were quite common in Canada and we see a number of them here in the U.S. The .303 Brit is very popular with Canucks for hunting game up to and including moose. .

Did you have a competent gunsmith check headspace? It may have a #0 boltface which is usually standard issue for battlefield conditions, but results in rather loose chamber dimensions and causes excess case stretching. You can have the gunsmith replace it with a #1 or #2 (tighter) boltface to minimize stretching and afford a little better case life for reloading.

How is the bore? Sharp rifling? Is the throat pitted or corroded?

If the rifle has proper headspace and is in good working condition, then there should be no problem with modern ammunition.

Re: Help
 

How does it look? Any deep pitting on the receiver particularly the receiver ring where the barrel screws into the receiver? Barrel? Bolt?
Take it out of the stock and check the bottom of the receiver /receiver ring. Any deep pitting?
Get the headspace checked. Get a gunsmiths opinion on the rifles condition.
If the headspace is good and there is no deep pitting on the bolt or receiver
or barrel it should be ok to fire.
You could tie a tire to a bench , tie rifle to tire, tie string to trigger
and stand aways back behind a tree and fire 5-6 rounds through it.

Re: Help
 

It says no 4 mk I* long branch 1942
I dont see any pitting or corrosion,i have gone out and shot it a few times,but then stopped when i guy i new went out hunting and had a gun blow up in his face and he died.So i just thought i would quit.

When i have shot this thing i can hardly hit the broad side of a barn.

I know how to aim a normal gun,but this thing has two flip up circle sights,and i cant figure out how to line up my sight at the end of the barrel and the circle sights?

Re: Help
 

The Long Branch SMLEs were made in Canada.

Sorry about your friend. He may have had a defective rifle, incorrectly reloaded ammunition, or a bore obstruction, etc. Fatalities are extremely rare in the shooting world, and are often the result of ignorance, carelessness, or improper handling.

To aim, put the tip of the front (post) in the center of the rear aperture (circle) and align everything with the point on the target you want to hit. You may have to adjust the front sight left or right a bit to get it centered on target. If you need to raise or lower point of impact, use the flip-up rear aperture sight and adjust it either up or down to get on target.

With good ammo, you should be able to keep shots within 2-3 inches at 100 yards--if you do your part.

Re: Help
 

the ammunition of today is indeed safe and actually slightly less powerful than the WWII stuff. The original .303 rifles were not as strong as the MkIII and MkIV mdoels, there fore the ammunition manufacturers "detune" all the rounds so they are safe in the older models. same with the 8MM Mauser. the 88 Kommisars also fired 8x57 rounds but werent nearly as strong as the K98 models, the K98 round is the 8x57 JS ,round considerably more powerful, but North American manufacturers make the 8x57 to operate in ALL Mausers so Kommisar owneres dont hurt themselves. A MkIV is a fine weapon and I wouldnt worry one bit.

Re: Help
 

Thank you guys for the info.