303 British Ammo
The 303 British Ammo is so named because it was the standard British and Commonwealth cartridge from 1889 until the 1950s for their rifles and machine guns. It is more commonly known as the .303 and was invented by James Paris Lee. It has its origin in the United Kingdom though it was first developed in Britain as a black powder round before undergoing adaptation in 1891. The .303 British Ammo has since been produced and stayed in service from 1889 up until the present. It served in world war I, II, the Irish war, and the Greek war, amongst a host of others.
The .303 British Ammo is one of the few rimmed bottlenecked centerfire rifle ammo still in use today. It has a bullet diameter of 7.92mm, a neck of 8.64mm, a shoulder diameter of 10.19mm, and a base diameter of 11.68mm. Its rim diameter is 13.72mm, and it has a rim thickness of 1.63mm, closing off with an overall length of 78.11mm.
Due to its fast twist rate, the .303 British Ammo fires long and heavy bullets with a high sectional density. It also possesses an excellent penetrating ability. It is suitable for all medium-sized games and an excellent choice for hunting whitetail deer and black bears. The .303 British Ammo has a large rifle primer type with a muzzle velocity of 844m/s when fired with a bullet mass of 10g. It assures a sure shot kill in a range of at least 500m.
Developed in 1888 as a black powder cartridge, the .303 British was the standard issue rifle cartridge for Britain and Commonwealth countries until the adoption of the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. Cordite was the first smokeless powder used for loading the .303 British.
.303 British History
.303 British Usage
.303 British Usage
While developed for military use in rifles and machine guns, hunters are the primary user of the cartridge in modern times. South Africans hunters used surplus rifles for hunting non dangerous game. It is still in military service in some nations globally.
.303 British Trivia
The original rifles chambered in .303 British were Lee-Metford rifles. The smokeless powders available in the beginning caused excessive wear of the rifling, so the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield created a new barrel with different rifling. The new rifles were introduced in 1895 as the Lee-Enfield rifles.
.303 British Trivia
.303 British Design
.303 British Design
The .303 British is a rimmed, bottleneck cartridge with an overall length of 3.075” and a case capacity of 56.2 grains (H2O). It fires a .312” diameter bullet using large rifle primers with a maximum pressure of 49,000 PSI. Standard rifling twist is 1:10”.
.303 British Types
Modern ammunition options include full metal jacket, soft point, and hollow point in round nose or spitzer bullet types with weights ranging from 150 grains to 215 grains. Surplus military ammunition often used corrosive primers, so proper cleaning after use is required.
