Nitro X

My first gun that I ever bought, with paper route, lawn mowing and snow shovelling monies, was an Mk.4 #3 Lee-Enfield .303 but sporterized by Parker Hale of England, with a semi gloss Monte Carlo stock, recoil pad, scope mounts and a Weaver 4x scope.

I thought it the most beautiful rifle I ever saw, even with the ten round magazine hanging down (got a 5 round for it later).

The price, complete in 1964, was $48.98 CDN (I still have the original sales receipt from the Hudson's Bay store).

It is now battered, stock gouged, blueing off in places, rides behind the seat in the truck with me everyday, but still shoots 3 rounds into 3 cm @ 100 M every time.

It has accounted for deer, moose, caribou, seal, walrus, musk ox, black bear, wolf, coyote and beef cows (culling the herd), by myself, friends and relatives for the past 40 years.

I'll probably get the stock refinished, and the action/barrel re-blued, one of these years, and pass it on to the kid. She shoots it now and likes it...will probably get another 40 years of hunting with it.

I hope that you will get the same enjoyment and reliability with yours as I have had with mine.

I haven't read about anything on the cartridge, for conversions. How does the .416/405/375/8mm/280/250 X .303 perform compared to the original of that cartridge and the parent cartridge. I mean is a .416/303 as good as, better or worse than the .416 Rigby/Rem it represents?

My edification awaits your expertise.