.318 Westley Richards

Have seen a couple of .318 WR's over the years and finally had the opportunity to buy a circa 1920 one this weekend. It is as classic an English light express rifle as one can imagine. Curious if anyone has had any field experience with the round. BC must be terrific with the heavy and long for caliber 250 grain bullets at 2400 fps. Westley Richards and Kynoch load that ammunition, and I can't wait to take this wonderful old rifle back to Africa next summer as my light rifle.

Now we're cooking with gas! The 318 W-R has to be one of the all-time great African PG cartridges ever developed. I'm in the process of having one built on a commercial Mauser 98 action. I had intended on taking it with me to Namibia earlier this year but some obstacles came up and that didn't happen. Things are back on track now and, hopefully, it will be completed some time in '10.

The W-R and Kynoch loads should work well for you, but they are spendy. I was very surprised to learn that reloading components are fairly easy to obtain and there is actually a selection of bullets out there. My guess is that it's right there performance-wise with the standard 8mm's and 338's.

Congrats and some pics would be appreciated.

I would love to see some pictures, also.

Pinotguy, who is building yours for you?

pics would be nice.

Originally Posted by doubleoctagon

pics would be nice.

Pic's are mandatory.

Von Gruff.

Well, here's mine, a W. W. Greener "African Game Park Warden" model. I bought it direct from Kynoch and took it to Mozambique back in 2006. Let me tell you, the exit wounds are awesome!



I replaced the original express sights with a Lyman 48 from about the same period. I love that caliber!

Hey pintoguy,

Your opener reminded me of a saying my dad who is 87 used to say, "Steam is on the beam, and the janitor's cooking with gas!" Never heard anyone else say something similar.