No. 4 Mk1* ammo

[Stanforth]

When I bought my Savage Mk 1* I heard all sorts of things about boat tail bullets being inacqurate in 3 groove rifle s. Nonsense. My rifle is spot on up to 6ooyards with PPU and S&B boat tail ammo and with me home loads. Shoot and enjoy.

I should have said 2 groove rifling.

[Brian Dick]

There's nothing wrong with 2 groove barrels. If they were inferior in any way, they wouldn't have been adopted.

[Stanforth]

. If you do not reload see if anyone in your club who shoots well reloads and is prepared to sell you ammo.

I hate to tell you this but, in the UK, selling reloads is illeagal.

[CINDERS]

Buying another persons reloads, no way known no matter how good a mate or reloader they are would I ever buy someone else's reloads to fire from one of my rifles...............

[Hoss]

You only need an .064 Go and .074 No-Go gauge to check headspace.

This is interesting. The stuff I read says all you need is the field gauge to determine if it's safe to shoot. They say the go and no-go gauges are more for armorers who are actually adjusting the headspace. The instructions I read for the no-go gauge even say that if it closes on the no-go, it's still safe to shoot if it doesn't close on the field gauge. Any thoughts on that?

[Brian Dick]

The .064 and .074 are the only gauges relevant to the Lee Enfield Rifle. The Field gauge doesn't exist in British and Commonwealth circles. American SAAMI specs are .064, .067 and .070 or .071 depending on which manufacture gauges you buy. This is where the mass confusion is. That's wonderful for fitting/chambering new barrels on sporters but useless for checking/fitting original military surplus barrels. The Go gauge is the same but the Field gauges are too tight. There was a looser emergency use specification out to .084 I think so these rifles are very safe. If it doesn't close on the .074 it's in spec and plenty safe to shoot. I haven't got a clue what "stuff" you're reading since British and Commonwealth Armourers only used the two gauges as shown.

[Hoss]

I bought Forster gauges. I can't find the actual lengths online, but they do claim to use SAAMI specs. The action didn't close completely on either the field or no-go, so it sounds like it's well within spec. The stuff I read probably came from the instructions included with the forster gauges. They say if it closes on the nogo it is still safe to shoot if it doesn't close on the field. I can see now the no-go gauge was a bad buy. I should have either saved the money or gotten a go gauge.

Or, you know, looked harder and found some that used the british specs.

[P246]

I shoot Privi than reload it. 39 grains H4895 over a Sierra 174 BT. My No 4s shoot it well, the No 1s...not so much. I scrounge improperly stored surpluses 303 on the cheap, pull the bullets and reload them for the No1s in Privi brass. Allot of the coffee can garage stored ammo can be had for free but it's drying up.

[Brian Dick]

Hoss, If it won't close on an SAAMI No-Go or Field gauge, it's tight as can be and probably good forever. Shoot and enjoy it.

P246, Try some Sierra 180 grain Pro Hunter FB projectiles next time you reload for your SMLE. They should work perfectly. They will out perform the SMK in most well used Lees and they are a little bit cheaper.

[enfield303t]

Have fired countless PPU and found it to be more than acceptable. I reload it and all my other .303 cases using a couple different powders (Varget--H4895) and Sierra 174gr BT's with no issues on accuracy.

Consider getting into reloading, it is a great way to enjoy the sport even more.