My .308 re-barreled LE No. 5 has a correct .308 mag, but would a standard .303 mag work just as well with .308 rounds? (I haven´t got a standard .303 mag or I´d try it myself)
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My .308 re-barreled LE No. 5 has a correct .308 mag, but would a standard .303 mag work just as well with .308 rounds? (I haven´t got a standard .303 mag or I´d try it myself)
Short answer is no for multiple rounds.
For single loading, yes, as per L39's, but care is required.
The feed lips of the 303 magazine will not allow the base of the 308 cases to sit high enough for the bolt head to reliably strip them out of the magazine.
After fitting any more than 4 308 rounds in the 303 magazine, the magazine spring loses command of the stack and jams occur.
There was a thread from several months ago which showed a modified 303 mag being used for 308, it had a different follower set-up. Thead title "Happened upon an interesting No 4 last weekend"
Thanks MS for that!
Also seen a few commercial (and private) conversions where they fitted a single-stack mag like a Tikka or Rem 788 .308 mag inside the .303 case; OK for a 3 or 4 shot setup.
The one I have in "The Shed" came off a .243Win conversion of a No4, allegedly done by SAKO in the late 50s/ early 60s. However, I suspect that the closest it ever got to "SAKO" was possibly firing some of their ammo.