Martini Enfield .303

Leon123

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Good day I am playing around with the idea to hunt with this clasic rifle. I am stil waiting for my firearm licenced to be approved so I am going mad. But have the idea to hunt a blue wildebeest with it next year hunting season. Its in near perfect condition for a almost 120year old gun. What loads whould you guys recomend
 
The .303 brit has been taking game all over the world for many years its a classic and you have it in a nice rifle by the sounds of it. What ammo do you have available?? Or are you going to be loading your own??
 
The .303 brit has been taking game all over the world for many years its a classic and you have it in a nice rifle by the sounds of it. What ammo do you have available?? Or are you going to be loading your own??
Here in South africa the brand you can find the most is PMP think its 150gr and 174gr. Most guys have shot that brand the most American ammo is to expensive. But was thinking of reloading. She is still in great condition small amount of rust on the outside of the barrel but will be removed brass brush and some WD40. The bore I could not check out realy the crown looks little brown but thats what I could see the wooden handgaurd is still there action is so thight a new gun wont be nearly as tight
 
Leon123, try putting a Rust Eater of some kind on 0000 steel wool to remove light rust. Rust eating chemicals can be found in Automobile Parts stores. I use 0000 steel wool wrapped around a phosphor bronze brush to remove light rusting from bores on rifles that I purchased online. It cleans them up very nicely so long as there is no pitting. I see that IvW has already informed you of the best bullet to use in your SMLE.
 
Love the old Martini's. This is one I did with n o s barrel and restocked which bought it back up to as new condition. Sold it on and its first outing had a spiker to its credit. The aperture sight is a fine addition and I made it so that it simply needs longer trigger housing and pivot screws so it can be returned to original at any stage if needed.
Martini Enfield 303.jpg

Deer with the Martini (Paul Manton).png
 
Love the old Martini's. This is one I did with n o s barrel and restocked which bought it back up to as new condition. Sold it on and its first outing had a spiker to its credit. The aperture sight is a fine addition and I made it so that it simply needs longer trigger housing and pivot screws so it can be returned to original at any stage if needed.
View attachment 315178
View attachment 315179
This one looks great what wood did you use for the stock. I am thinking of also putting a new stock on to safe the old on from getting damage somewhere
 
Leon123, try putting a Rust Eater of some kind on 0000 steel wool to remove light rust. Rust eating chemicals can be found in Automobile Parts stores. I use 0000 steel wool wrapped around a phosphor bronze brush to remove light rusting from bores on rifles that I purchased online. It cleans them up very nicely so long as there is no pitting. I see that IvW has already informed you of the best bullet to use in your SMLE.
Will give that a try also have gotten a .30cal Tornado brush to get rid of rust if there is any in the barrel. This one is not the SMLE but uses the same barrel as them is just a falling block action. There no rust in the chamber and could not see any fresh rust in the front part but did not have a flashlight with me to shine down the bore
 
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https://www.somchemreload.com/search?c=8&f=122

355 May be too slow and have had some inconsistent batches, better suited to magnum calibers.

Try S335 or S341

S341 may be the best starting point
Sorry I missed tiped I wanted to tipe S335. Will start with the lowest load and work up dont want to blow up a 120 year old rifle. The guy has shot a round that he used at that time in his lee enfield threw it
 
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What year model is that one the one I got is on oneside 1875 or 76 cant remember and the other side 1900. Do you fire standard factory ammo with it
VR Enfield 1879.
VR Enfield 1896 ME .303. 1.

No factory ammo in any of my rifles (bar the 22LR) as I cast bullets for all except the small 6.5 and 20 cal
 
Garry, I'm still chuckling over your homemade aperture sight. I assume the brass piece was used to lock the sight into position when raised. Was that your design or did you get the idea from someone else? Is this the same rifle used by the "Brits" against the Zulus? :):)
 
VR Enfield 1879.
VR Enfield 1896 ME .303. 1.

No factory ammo in any of my rifles (bar the 22LR) as I cast bullets for all except the small 6.5 and 20 cal
I know this one would have had more than a few 303 mkvii rounds as South Africa made a lot for the English during Ww2 and most people use to shoot them. But I am rather going to reload for it and keep the presures not to high
 
Garry, I'm still chuckling over your homemade aperture sight. I assume the brass piece was used to lock the sight into position when raised. Was that your design or did you get the idea from someone else? Is this the same rifle used by the "Brits" against the Zulus? :):)
The action could have been there in that one but at that time it would still have been a 577/450.
 
Garry, I'm still chuckling over your homemade aperture sight. I assume the brass piece was used to lock the sight into position when raised. Was that your design or did you get the idea from someone else? Is this the same rifle used by the "Brits" against the Zulus? :):)
I thought this was a good idea so used it as a base to make mine and llike all aperture sights it made for good accuracy with the target showing the 38.5gn 3031 load under the 184gn cast bullet at 2300fps at 100yds. Pressure was in the 36k psi range
RSbig_0401_470F.jpg

Photo1675.jpg

Martini 303 3031 velocity data.png
 
You may want to have a competent gunsmith check out the barrel and action for you to ensure it is in good condition before pushing the limits on the action.
 
You may want to have a competent gunsmith check out the barrel and action for you to ensure it is in good condition before pushing the limits on the action.
As stated above it was a new barrel and professionally installed with the appropriate checks done
 

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