Recently, I had a chance to take a Short Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) to the desert and shoot it. The rifle was a No. 4 MK 1 and retained its original chambering in .303 British. I’ve been privileged to shoot Lee-Enfield rifles before and have always found them to be worthy of their reputation as well built, accurate rifles. This one was no different. Show The Lee-Enfield rifle was first adopted by the British as a military arm in 1895 and later modified with a shorter barrel in 1904. The shorter barreled version was dubbed the Short Magazine Lee-Enfield or SMLE. In one form or another, the Lee-Enfield rifle served as the standard issue rifle for British and British Commonwealth forces during both World Wars, the Korea War and in countless other conflicts around the world. Over that time the Lee-Enfield earned a well-deserved reputation for ruggedness, dependability and accuracy. It also sported a 10 round magazine, which was far superior to other bolt action military arms in use at the time. I should also mention that the Lee-Enfield’s 10 round magazine held two more rounds than the famed M1 Garand carried by American troops during World War II. In addition to its larger magazine capacity, the Lee-Enfield rifle was admired for the smoothness of its bolt action and its ability to be rapidly reloaded with stripper clips. While the Lee-Enfield was designed with a detachable magazine, soldiers were instructed to remove the magazine only for cleaning. Reloading the rifle was accomplished through the use of five round stripper clips, rather than the modern practice of exchanging a spent magazine for a new one. The British army of that time was considered the best trained military force in the world. British soldiers drilled with their rifles regularly. In fact, it was said that a trained British rifleman could hit a target at 300 yards distant more than 30 times in one minute using his Lee-Enfield rifle. The British called this training exercise “The Mad Minute.” While “The Mad Minute” might be simple to achieve using modern semi-automatic firearms with optical sights and large magazine capacities, it was no simple project using an iron sighted bolt action rifle with a magazine limited to ten rounds. This is particularly true when you consider that the magazine could only be reloaded using five round stripper clips. If you don’t believe me, get your hands on a Lee-Enfield and give it try. I think you will develop a healthy respect for the British soldiers of bygone days. The Lee-Enfield Rifle may have been taken out of military service as a main battle rifle by the British decades ago, but it could be found in the hands of the Canadian Rangers until as recently as 2014. For a military service rifle to serve in some official government capacity for 119 years is an amazing accomplishment. Unofficially, the rifle is still being used in battles around the world and is occasionally seen in the hands of fighters in the Middle East. As with any other surplus military rifle that I have reviewed, the inevitable question arises regarding its suitability as a survival weapon for doomsday preppers. Since I know the question will come up, I thought it prudent to answer it here, although the answer should be obvious. If you are considering a 30 caliber rifle as an addition to your survival firearms battery, you might examine the following criteria:
Let’s look at these requirements one at a time:
The bottom line is that you simply need a reliable, accurate, durable rifle along with some extra parts, ammunition and the knowledge of how to use the rifle effectively and how to repair it when needed. Someone who spends a fortune on a high-end AR15 and never takes care of the other items on that list would have been far better off with an inexpensive Lee-Enfield combined with the other items and training I mentioned. So there you have it. Getting away from the survival topic, the fact is that Lee-Enfield rifles are a boat load of fun to shoot and useful for a variety of purposes. The first bolt action rifle I ever owned was a No. 4 Mk 1. I loved that rifle and enjoyed shooting it often. I was broke at the time, so that 303 rifle was all I could afford. I bought it for $60. It was my hunting rifle, my fun rifle, my personal defense rifle and my “anything else I needed a rifle for” rifle. It never let me down. The rifle I used in the embedded video is quite similar to the one I had once upon a time. It was built in 1945 and still runs flawlessly, as you can see in the video. It may not be pretty and it may not have much collector value, but who cares? It’s a great rifle just the same. Is 303 British a good deer rifle?The . 303 British cartridge is suitable for all medium-sized game and is an excellent choice for whitetail deer and black bear hunting. In Canada it was a popular moose and deer cartridge when military surplus rifles were available and cheap; it is still used.
Can you use a 303 for hunting?Yes, the . 303 British is A GOOD CHOICE for whitetail deer hunting, under average conditions, from a mid-range distance, with a medium grain expanding bullet, and with correct shot placement.
What is the effective range of a 303 rifle?A deadly weapon
303 or 7.7×56 mm rimmed rifle cartridge that was deadly with a sure-shot kill range of at least 500 m.
How accurate is a British 303?How accurate was the 1918 British 303 rifle? The SMLE was, and in fact remains, one of the most accurate service rifles ever made. It was for very many years the rifle of choice for marksmen and remained competitive well into the 1970s. I was using one on the 1,000 yard range at Bisley in 1966.
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