Uberti "Stalking Rifle" in .303 British,,,

A

aarondhgraham

New member
I was perusing the Uberti website looking for possible retirement rifle,,,
I noticed their new Courtney Stalking Rifle.

I said to myself "Self, that's a nice looking rifle."

Then I saw that it was chambered in .303 British.

My question on this is,,,
Why?

Is the cartridge popular somewhere I don't know about?

Does it have some special ballistic quality I've never read about?

I had an surplus British .303 rifle as a kid,,,
I mean, back in the early 60's,,,
What kid didn't?

I never hunted anything with mine,,,
But it did as good a job on rats as my K98 Mauser did.

Anyways, I'm just curious as to why they only make it for that one cartridge.

Oh, while I'm here,,,
I remember pulling one cartridge apart.

It didn't have powder,,,
It had something that looked like 2" of very thin pasta.

Was that what they called Cordite?

Aarond

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Aarond, that is a dandy of a rifle.
.303 brit chambering must be an homage to the rifle's namesake.
Its an excellent round- pretty much between .30-30 win and .308 win.
it is still quite popular in Canada and the European continent.
yes, original rounds were loaded with Cordite, a stringy mass of nitrocellulose.
 
Hello mikejonestkd,,,

"it is still quite popular in Canada and the European continent."

Canada, of course,,,
Why didn't I think of Canada.

I've known of many a deer being taken with the .303 British,,,
It was a very popular mil-surp when I was a kid.

I just hadn't heard of a modern rifle chambered for it.

Thanks again.

Aarond

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Only downside of the 303 British is that it uses a .312" dia bullet rather than a .308" dia. First developed in 1888 as a black powder cartridge, it was adapted to smokeless powder in 1891 and remained Great Briton's standard rifle cartridge until the 1950s.

It's the reason that many of the Russian calibers are .311/.312" as they copied the 303 British cartridge and used it for many of their designs.
 
Aarond, do you reload your own ammo?

If so, there is a wide variety of .311/ .312" bullets available for the .303 Brit. i load for .303 brit, 7.7 Jap, and 7.62 x 54R all with the same bullets.

If not, the ammo is still fairly available from several manufacturers. It may not be as common as buying a box of corelocts for a thurty-thurty, but its not a relic cartridge by any scale.
 
If I hadn't used up (and then some) my gun budget for this year, I would seriously consider getting one of those .303 uberti's. You could pretend you're Denys Finch-Hatton, romancing Isak Dinesen on her coffee farm in 1920's Kenya.

As for modern production rifles, in 2010, Ruger manufactured a run of #1-A's, chambered for .303 British. Some went to Canada, and some stayed here. I have one. I have always wondered why no one has made a modern production bolt action rifle, chambered for .303 British. I think it would sell in Canada like hotcakes.

@mikejonestkd: What weight and brand of bullets do you use in the .303 brit? Have you ever tried woodleigh bullets? I've been tempted to go totally nostalgic and load some 215 grain woodleigh's in my .303, but the price of nearly 1 $ per bullet has held me off.
 
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Cool looking rifle. 303 British is still very popular in Africa for medium, deer size game, even lions. The styling of that rifle reminds me of the British rifles that were so popular for African hunting 1870 - 1920's.
 
the gun companies are scared at the idea of making a rifle using a rimmed cartridge that doesnt work with existing cartridge rim diameters based upon the x57 mauser or .223 remington head
 
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Hey, I like it! My favorite single shot action (High Wall), a traditional English stalking rifle design, a good English cartridge (I probably would have shosen something a little different, but it works). OK, Uberti finally did something I like!
 
My favorite single shot action ([Browning] High Wall)
Click to expand...
^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^
(and that's all "this" is.....)
;)










postscript:
I like the High Wall too....
38-55-ACC38-320-BP-sm.jpg

325gr/Accurate Molds (another one ordered on Saturday/Arrived in Thursday/Cast on Friday/Shot on Saturday)
MVA mid-range tang sight
 
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as a youth in the hayday of milsurp rifles, i used a ex condition .303 british longbranch(14.00 dollars) ww-2 rifle that i took about 2 pounds of weight off and killed many deer with remington factory heavy round nose bullets. today it would be a sin to treat a ex milsurp like i did. but as 15 year old hunter who had to use a single barrel shotgun with slugs, it was like dieing and going to heaven. a friend has a unfired ruger #1 in 303 B that i,m trying to buy. i do have a winchester high wall carbine made in japan in 30-40 krag, but have not fired it as i have the set in 30-40 krag-38-55 and 45-70.
 
I remember pulling one cartridge apart.

It didn't have powder,,,
It had something that looked like 2" of very thin pasta.

Was that what they called Cordite?
Click to expand...

Yes, that is Cordite. Propellant in the form of a cord, right?

It came out of the powder mill in the form of a rope wound on a reel.
The ammo plant would feed it off the reel and cut it to length - powder charge given in the number of strands in the rope and cut length to the 1/20th inch instead of grain weight.

The section of rope would be inserted into the partly formed case, which was necked down after the Cordite went in.
 
Hello mikejonestkd,,,

"Aarond, do you reload your own ammo?"

No, I mostly shoot .22 rimfire,,,
In fact the only centerfire rifles I own are,,,
A K98 8mm Mauser that my grandfather gave me when I was eleven,,,
And an H&R Handi-Rifle in .357 that I bought on a whim to match my H&R .22 Sportster.

I have a few handguns in .38 special, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, and 9mm,,,
But again, I don't shoot enough of any of those cartridges to make reloading worthwhile.

I usually just gather and leave my empty cases at the range for those who do reload.

"...there is a wide variety of .311/ .312" bullets available for the .303 Brit. i load for .303 brit, 7.7 Jap, and 7.62 x 54R all with the same bullets."

That's a very interesting factoid to read,,,
I would never have thought they could use the same size bullet.

Aarond

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Hello Jim Watson,,,

"Yes, that is Cordite. Propellant in the form of a cord, right?

It came out of the powder mill in the form of a rope wound on a reel.
The ammo plant would feed it off the reel and cut it to length - powder charge given in the number of strands in the rope and cut length to the 1/20th inch instead of grain weight.

The section of rope would be inserted into the partly formed case, which was necked down after the Cordite went in."

Thank you for posting this very informative factoid,,, :)
I always like to read an interesting piece of fiery-arm knowledge.

Aarond

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I understand the .303 to go along with the British stock style, but I could have hoped for a .30-40 Krag to gain the superior rimmed cartridge and shoot the same .308" bullets I keep for .30-30, .30-06 and .308.

Ballard Rifle Co., Rifle Works and Armory, and Wyoming Armory have made rifles of the type, but lots more expensive.
 
Rule "3 - 0 - 3," may have been mentioned by C NB from a movie quote... from "Breaker Morant"

If I'm wrong here, it's still a great movie.
 
303 British

Aarond: That is a really classy looking rifle that You are thinking about. I sure would like to have one like it. I like the 303 BRITISH and my Son and I have three of them. Two sportized 303 Brit rifles and a stock issued WW11 Jungle Carbine. I belive they call it a Model 4 or 5. I just bought 15 boxes of cheap Herters 150gr SP`s from Cabal's to add to the ammo supply. I hope they shoot well in our rifles. Like I said I like the 303 Brit, and have carried and hunted with one alot over the years. And carried one on all my canoe float trips back when I was young. But I don`t know the 303 Rule either. So I hope some one fills us in on it.
ken
 
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