303 British

But why bother? It's standard look is quite "sporty" without changing anything.
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Couple of things.
That horrible reduced width, hard as a rock "butt-pad".
A slightly higher comb for better cheek welds.

Now look at the Gibbs No7 & take a look at the sights. Horrible short open sight base (even shorter with the barrel bobbed). Why? because they were NOT made from No4's those are converted No1s of differing versions which is why I specified factory-made NO4 sporters, because of the massively better iron sights. The one illustrated is also in 7.62 (.308) so its not what he wanted , a .303 sporter, anyway.
 
From Gibbs website. The one the pictures were from. That,s where my info; n them being made from No.4 rifles. Because that is what the builder taid!

When British and Commonwealth Jungle fighters needed a fast handling carbine for extreme conditions, they created the “Jungle Carbine”. Developed in 1944, the No. 5 was based on the sturdy and accurate No. 4 action, and chambered for the venerable .303 cartridge. Each No. 5 starts out as a hand selected No. 4 Enfield barreled action. It is cleaned, inspected and refurbished, then mated to a new modern manufactured stock. A flash hider with bayonet lug is added to recreate the original dimensions. This improves accuracy and eliminates the fabled “wandering zero”, so they outperform even the originals. The No. 5 Jungle Carbine’s lightweight, rugged construction, and fast handling have made it a favorite of collectors, guides and sportsmen worldwide for over 50 years. Peep rear sight. Will accept all No. 4 Enfield “no-gunsmithing” type mounts. Weight - 7 3/4lbs, Bbl Length - 20”, OAL - 40” Cal 303 British
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Why? because they were NOT made from No4's those are converted No1s
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If you believe the people who actually made the Gibbs rifles, the No. 7 they sold started life as a 2A from Ishapore in India.


Originally an extremely rare experimental design, the Australians designed the No. 7 for their jungle fighters in Burma. Now Gibbs Rifle Company has recreated this carbine using the modern, stronger 2A barreled action made from chrome vanadium steel. Chambered for the popular .308 Winchester, each No. 7 starts out as a hand selected, barreled 2A action, and is then cleaned, inspected and refurbished. The original wood is retained and reconfigured, and a flash hider with a bayonet lug has been added to recreate the original Jungle Carbine dimensions. The No. 7 Jungle Carbine is a short, powerful carbine, perfect for today’s collector, shooter and sportsman. Weight - 8 lbs., Bbl Length - 20”, OAL - 40”, Cal - .308 Winchester.
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There's a lot of hokum in that ad. Look at the bit about the flash hider fixing the wandering zero for example. They all came with them & some had it & some didn't. It's a case of buy the rifle, not the tall tales used to hype up the price.
 
When I was 12 years old in 1963, a broomhandle Mauser was $35.

In Bill and Ard's sporting good store, Ardell was the brains. She said that a Jungle carbine demands a premium price compared to other 303s.

Given the market forces, one can only imagine how many 303s have been converted to jungle carbines in the 50 years since Ard said that.
 
Jungle models being bad shooters are not a rumor from my experience. I had some Mark III's that had been "Lightly" sporterized that were unbelievably accurate. I used one for a while that had so many ordnance stamps on it that it must have been around the world twice. Ugly as sin, but really shot well. Others, not so well. Back to the original post. A .303 Brit is OK, but not a great round. The rim doomed it in this country other than in some lever actions and single shots.
 
This 303 has never been shot... It is a Golden State Arms Sante Fe Jungle carbine....It was a no.4 they made a jungle carbine out of.... I really don't know how it might shoot.... I know of no new 303's....
 

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I have a NO4 longbranch and it is very accurate, haven't changed anything about it but a new stock and sights are in the works. Just cant decide which ones.
 
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The original/gennie No.5 Jungle Carbine (with a flat LH receiver sidewall), I once owned, shot & held zero just fine - so I'd WAG the issue was/is hit-or-miss. ;) (pun intended . :p )



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To get back to the original question, very few U.S. makers made rifles in .303 British for the simple reason that there was no demand. The .303 has about the same ballistics as the .30-40 Krag, and the .30-'06 is superior in almost all aspects. I seem to recall reading that Winchester made one (1) Model 70 in .303 for a hunter who was going to what was then a British colony in Africa, where U.S. ammo was scarce.

Were it not for the thousands of tons of surplus rifles sold on the U.S. market after WWII, the caliber would probably be nearly unknown here.

Gibbs, incidentally, never "made" any rifles; all their products were converted or "sporterized" surplus rifles.

Jim
 
I agree if it was sporterised it was shot, possibly a LOT before being sporterised.:D
Many of the "shortie" ersatz "jungle carbines", "tankers" Etc were actually shortened to remove cord worn muzzles from the war & military service.

very few U.S. makers made rifles in .303 British for the simple reason that there was no demand.
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On the subject of not many domestically made sporters I suggest an alternative reason. No domestic rifle manufacturer could, or would compete with the $15.00 price tag of the thousands of milsurps.:D
 
Bigfats, that is about the nicest looking .303 sporter I have ever seen.
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Thanks. It was a labor of love. I couldn't afford a Lee Speed- which was what I really wanted- so I thought an SMLE set up like an African rifle would be the next best thing, and at a fraction of the price.
 
One of my Enfield #4/Mk/1s had two-groove rifling. Almost every Savage and Longbranch has this type of bore.
Even though the bore had good rifling and lots of shine, the fresh ammo made nasty "keyhole" gashes from 100 yards.

Most newer .303 ammo has these (BT) boat tailed bullets which can cause keyholes in some Enfields with only two grooves.

Most of the #4 rifles mfg. in England have 4- or 5-groove rifling, and the trio which I own never made any keyholes in a target.
 
Keyholing with 2-groove bores, especially worn ones, is a fact of life with the Lee-Enfields.
I just use flat base bullets & the problem is gone. There are several flat-base bullets in 150 & 180 gr weights, so you just need to check what you're getting in advance to avoid the problem.

That's one reason why I avoid 2-grooove bores as well.
 
If you're looking for a bolt action in .303 British then search around for either a Midland or Parker-Hale. They are/were commercially built on Enfield actions. Many of them are pretty decent rifles but they don't have any collectors interest so they can be found fairly inexpensively. Much cheaper then trying to do the same yourself!
 
I just thought it would be fun to hunt white tail deer with.

Given that quite a few hunters in Canada still go after moose with a .303, I think you won't have a problem. :) Best of luck finding your dream rifle. :cool:
 
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