Many rifle cartridges come and go. And just because some are obsolete doesn’t mean they stop being fun or enjoyable to shoot. The legendary .303 British is one of those rifle cartridges.
Reaching Out with the .303 British
It dates back to 1889 and is old enough that the first generation was loaded with black powder and heavy, slow, round-nose bullets. It first saw use with the British Lee-Metford rifle before eventually finding its way into the legendary Lee-Enfield family of military bolt-action rifles.
With a 70-year service life, the .303 British coevolved with the rifles and machine guns of British Commonwealth until 7.62 mm NATO replaced it in the years following the Second World War as the Cold War ramped up.
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During that 70-year service life, the .303 British saw many iterations, including the famous Mk.VII round loaded with Cordite, the spaghetti-like solid strands of propellant, along with a 174-grain spitzer bullet. The Mk.VII more or less became the standard, and its official numbers had it pushing that 174-grain bullet around the 2500 FPS range–maybe just a level below .308 Winchester.
Although the .303 British retired from military service a long time ago, the cartridge hasn’t completely disappeared. Like the .30-30 Winchester and 7.62x54R, .303 British is one of the few surviving and relevant rimmed bottlenecked rifle cartridges. It is still relevant for some sporting applications, especially in Commonwealth countries.
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Pushing .303 British Far Beyond
This leads me to my next point. I came across this Australian ELR shooting YouTube channel called “MarkAndSamAfterWork.”
One of their videos caught my attention. Not only is it about ELR (extreme long range) shooting, which is cool, but it involves the venerable .303 British, for which I have a soft spot. Granted, they’re not shooting an SMLE or No.4 rifle with Mk.VII out to 3000 yards either. I think that would involve dumb luck more than anything else.
To hit the 24 x 24 inch target 3,018 yards, Mark and Sam are using a modified bolt-action rifle that’s built around a Howa 1500 long action and a modern .303 British barrel complete with a massive brake. The barreled action is bedded to an MDT Oryx chassis.
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Granted, while I’m not an expert on ELR topics, anything involving distance, scopes, and rifles tends to be deep rabbit hole material for me. I am utterly fascinated by the logistics of sending a .30-caliber 174-grain rifle bullet to such distances in an accurate manner. It involves both a 60 MOA scope mount and a Charlie TARAC “periscope.”
Using the power of light, angles, and optics, this little device basically provides the shooter with additional elevation adjustment. The “come-up” from the typical scope and scope base isn’t enough. The Charlie TARAC allows shooters to count on an additional 250 mils (850 MOA) of elevation.
Of course, all the ammunition they’re firing is carefully handloaded with 174-grain Sierra Matchkings (SMK).
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