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I have just been asked to look at building a lightweight Sporting .303 repeating rifle for Deer and occasional Boar. The rifle needs to be magazine fed, up to 5 shots, carbon steel barrel and wood stocked with 'scope plus open sights.

Now this is rather interesting as the rifle is specified as being a repeater and with a new action. This excludes the humble Lee Enfield so I was thinking of a new clone Mauser action however this is a clean sheet of paper so does anyone have any views on a suitable action. The only design brief is the rifle must be of traditional look and build and light to carry.

An interesting concept, but why .303 - does it have to be .303? If it does, I would say that the Lee Enfield action is best suited to the rimmed cartridge. What about customising a Lee Enfield action with a five-shot and thus shallower magazine, and new barrel - what has the client got against the Lee Enfield?

Yes, .303 is an excellent round, but being rimmed it's not ideal for most magazine-fed bolt-action rifles. That aside, it was certainly used in non Lee/Lee Enfield rifles, for example the noted Edinburgh maker Daniel Fraser offered Mauser-actioned .303 rifles.

Much as I love the old .303 round, there must be better more suitable rounds for such a rifle.

An interesting project.

How about something similar to the MAS36 action, opposing rear locking lugs?

Can you even buy new actions with 303-compatible magazines?

Sounds like a Lee Speed sort of idea



May be worth a read up on those and adopt a similar approach with a Mauser action?

P14 action.

Although why exclude the Enfield action seems odd?

Classic Rifles wrote:Sounds like a Lee Speed sort of idea



May be worth a read up on those and adopt a similar approach with a Mauser action?

That is gorgeous.

The P14 action is a great idea - it is a Mauser after all, grind off the horrible rear sight and it could be a good starter.

A friend has a very nice BSA sporting rifle built in the 1920s based on a P14. It was originally in .280 Flanged and has an original Aldis scope. Looks great for a 90-odd year old rifle - I've shot it, shoots very well.

The customer has asked for a new build .303 with a 'new' action so a P14 or Lee Enfield is not really an option as they are not available as new actions however I can source shiny new UK produced CNC machined Mauser clones however they come at a premium price so it would be good to offer some alternatives.

Sounds like he is cutting of his nose to spite his face wanting "new".

I just don't understand why it has to be .303.

If the customer wants a classic cartridge for deer/boar with similar bullet weights/MVs why not 8x57mm, 7x57mm, .30-06 etc. all of which can be had in almost any bolt-action under the sun and have been around just about as long as the .303 round.

Trying to get a bolt-action to feed rimmed rounds reliably without perfect stacking à la Lee Enfield stripper clips one-up/one-down etc., is a pain in the Gluteus Maximus to put it mildly.

I guess it can be done but there has to be an easier way.