By Anthony Mitchell (from the archives)
The .303 British was the former service cartridge throughout the British Commonwealth. It was first adopted in 1888 and served as the standard military cartridge until the 1950’s. During this time it was used in a variety of rifles and machine guns. Most of the rifles chambered for the .303 were the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield bolt action rifles.
The Mark I cartridge used a 215 grain round nosed jacketed bullet propelled by a charge of black powder. Over time, changes were made to propellant, bullet weight and bullet shape. The Mark VII cartridge was adopted in 1910. This had a pointed FMJ bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2440 feet per second. This remained the standard ball round for the rest of the Lee-Enfield’s service life. Other military types included drill, blank, incendiary, armour-piercing and tracer.
In the early 1900’s, the British Army was experimenting with a new high velocity cartridge in .276 calibre. This was rimless round, chambered in a bolt action rifle with a Mauser type action. However, World War 1 intervened, and the thought of changing to a new cartridge was dropped. Post-war analysis showed that the .303 was perfectly satisfactory, so it remained the standard until the late 1950’s. Ex-Military ammunition is pretty scarce these days, but the .303 is still loaded commercially by Sellier & Bellot, Winchester and Remington.
Examples of the .303 British viewed from L-R: Drill, Drill, Sellier & Bellot Commercial, MK VII Ball
Same cartridges, showing head stamps
Drill round, Small Arms Ammunition Factory No. 1, Footscray, Victoria. 1955
Drill round, Small Arms Ammunition Factory No. 2, Footscray, Victoria. 1943.
Sellier & Bellot, current manufacture commercial round.
Mk VII Ball round, Small Arms Ammunition Factory No. 2, Footscray, Victoria. 1941.
That’s a brief look at the .303. Hopefully in a future article, we’ll have a look at the rifle that fired it.
Until next time, have a happy and safe shoot!