The paperwork finally came through for my old cheapie SMLE .303.

it is a No1. MkIII from 1920 from the Australian Lithgow Armoury.

Just bought it for nostalgia as I have always wanted a MkIII full wood rifle. Originally I wanted it to hang on the wall as a working decoration, however with the new laws, now its into the safe

. As a kid I remember seeing a SMLE and a Mauser 98 from WW1 hanging on the wall of a local "stately home" now a museum and thinking, "Great".

I did buy some mil ammo as well so will bust a few plastic bottles with it.

I do think the old .303 is an under-rated calibre and will kill anything in Australia, though buff on foot is probably not the wisest. I do like the 10 shot magazine, and another one or two might be added one day. A sporterised version perhaps for one in .303 with peep sights and another in .405 or .375/.303 as a "big-bore" SMLE. I have always liked the .25/.303 too (oops what was I recently saying about the .25

) That's for the future though.

In the meantime I aim to have fun with this bit of Australian history.