As promised, here’s the .303 Brit.
A rollmark I never thought I’d see…
And the .303 next to its big brother, the .450/.400 Nitro Express 3″. A very British pair.
The Nitro Express on top has a 24″ barrel with a medium-heavy contour, while the .303 Brit has a light 22″ barrel. The big gun is also outfitted with a NECG white bead front sight and an NECG peep sight on the rear scope mount base. The .303 will be getting the same sight set-up in the next few weeks.
.303 Brit and .450/.400 rounds. Few know it today, but the original Cordite load for the .303 was almost a perfect Mini-Me of the standard load for the .450/.400. It drove a heavy, long-for-caliber 215-grain bullet (sectional density .318) at 2050 fps, while the .450/.400 launched a 400-grain bullet (sectional density .338) at 2125 fps, give or take.
I’m hoping to get both guns out to the range on my next “weekend” (two weeks from now) to get zeroed before Blogorado. The Nitro Express just got fitted with a new, slightly lower front sight and the .303′s never been fired, so both guns need some sighting-in work.
Now that’s just plain nice. As usual Ruger has their head-up-their-ass and probably didn’t/doesn’t plan to sell any of those here in the states. I have several .303′s including an 1895 Winchester as well as Lee-Enfields and 1914 Enfields.
And according to H. Beam Piper, the Nitro Express is just the gun for taking down a Zarathustran damnthing.
(From this SF book.)
I think I need to amend my wish list to Santa.
Nice!