NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 19/02/25 10:31 PM |
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Re: John Rigby 303 Break Action
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Quote:Quote:Quote:
As I understand sporting rifles in .303 calibre were only made for a short time and then the UK Government banned the use of military calibres in the empire, and so the .450s became the 470s, and some Lee Speeds were chambered for an 8mm round.
HB
I wonder, did the ban on military cartridgevrifles include the UK? I've never heard of the ban of the
303 in Australia and NZ?
There was certainly a ban on military cartridges in India
Puerto rebellion.
Africa? East Africa?
Yes the .470 and similar were created due to the .450 calibre being banned. As ammo components were cannibalised for military .450 cartridges.
Can anyone shed a light on this? Date of the ban? Duration? Extent, coverage in the Empire? Thanks.
Of the plentiful .30f
But certainly if the ban was only, at least, parts of the empire, including India, it would reduce the volume of such cartridge rifles being made. And theNo.1 Mk III number of vintage rifles today.
The 303 was banned in NSW for a time. Hand loaders would cut a 1 MM or so off the case, have the chamber shortened and called it 7.7X what ever it was. Some police would see if they could chamber a 303 round in the rifle, if they could you got charged.
I wonder if that was also why the .22/303, .243/303, 270/303 was created? The misty backyard of my memory now seems to suggest something like that. But also these different calibres made use of the plentiful .303 SMLEs around after WW2. A neighbour decades ago found a No.1 Mk III SMLE .303 hidden away in his shed. Possibly hidden away and lost for decades? Or just a father's rifle stored, hidden away in cashed, he dies, the son never knows it's there. All before Stasi anti gun registration was introduced. Stasi spies note it would have been registered when found.
Not connected to military cartridges but during WW2 all the Australians of German descent had their firearms confiscated by the racist Britischer authorities. My grandfather buried one he thought was unregistered at the time. A WW1 or later .303 may have been similarly hidden away.