Chopper wrote:Good on ya Razer, PS Who is your modern day Percy Pavey ? if I may ask Chop
If I had to pick one it would be the quiet achiever, JC, that is James Corbett.
I have seen 303 actions blow up but not on the range.
In the late 1950's is cost a fortune to buy a brand name centre fire. We used .22 rimfire, Hornets and 25-20's to shoot pigs.
It was illegal to own a military calibre so many had 303-22 and 303-25 calibre conversions to get around this.(Sportco I think had barrels made for conversion).The 303/22 was the pro roo shooters choice.
Ammo was supplied mainly by Riverbrand(SA) who bought the used military brass, hydraulically removed primer and reloaded for these calibres(also for the 243 later). I would hazard a guess and say they possible still used cordite for propellant but never pulled any to see, but, when we got single flash hole brass, we would reload using the very accurate method of so many sticks of cordite taken out of pulled 303 ammo.
The .243 was coming into vogue and some bright spark decided to import some, so, got Sako to convert Mark 4's to .243w.
After they passed customs safety regulations and were approved for public sale, these crazy bastards stopped the Sako conversion and barrels and got used Mark 3's converted in India. Needless to say the Mark 3 didn't take to kindly to the pressure of .243 and quite a few blew up.
The horse had bolted, so to ensure shooter safety, all 243w factory ammo was slowed down about 400fps so as to not stress the Mark 3.
I have a Sako converted .243W in my safe that I bought new in 1958. It even came issued with a proof test card which worked out at about 58000psi.(Sako only used new actions)The bolt conversion is a delight to see, machined to perfection.
It still shoots brilliantly, is on a sporter stock with Monte Carlo cheekpiece which is made from American Walnut, also fitted with a Sako micro-groove barrel and with over 12000 rounds down the spout it is still 90%. Has only come out of the safe and fired the odd shot or two for the last 25 years. The biggest drawback was the magazine was reduced to 5 rounds.
It cost 28 pounds and that was well over 2 weeks wages back then. I have an old 'Shooter' magazine from then with the advert in it. Yes, it has huge sentimental value to me.
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