303 ammo in SMLE

[Double G]

I have a 42' Lithgow SMLE I am having trouble with firing ammo. When I purchased the rifle I also recieved some Pakistan ammo. It actually would hardly fire, and when it did it would "hang" fire, scary stuff. I went and bought some south African ammo and this is similar, about 50% of this stuff shoots. Do I have a problem with my rifle or is it the ammo?

I have a couple K98 Mausers and at one time had problems with non-firing ammo. I installed a new firing pin spring and now the k98's fire almost anything, is there a similar fix for the SMLE or do I just have bad ammo?

Thanks, Gene

[doughboy334]

POF is notorious for being ****ty ammo. What year is the headstamp on them?

[Springfield45]

Surplus 303 ammo has gotten scarce over the last few years. What is left is the bottom of the barrel and has many miss fires. A hang fire is definitely bad ammo and not your rifle. Try a fresh box of new manufactured ammo. Most gun shops still carry it. If it still misfires try Numrich gun parts for a new firing pin spring.

[freakshow10mm]

Buy crap ammo, expect crap results.

Prvi Priztan (sp) runs well in my SMLE as does Remy and Federal, etc.

[doughboy334]

Surplus 303 ammo has gotten scarce over the last few years. What is left is the bottom of the barrel and has many miss fires. A hang fire is definitely bad ammo and not your rifle. Try a fresh box of new manufactured ammo. Most gun shops still carry it. If it still misfires try Numrich gun parts for a new firing pin spring.

Yea, too bad its almost not worth buying new ammo. That stuff is really expensive, like $12-$14 for a box of 20 cartridges!

I've been thinking of reloading...

[Sampachi]

Time to learn to reload and pull the bullets from the crappy cases and load them into virgin brass.

[Double G]

POF is notorious for being ****ty ammo. What year is the headstamp on them?

67', I'll have to look at the SA again later. And I'll try the way overpriced 303 and a new spring, I know I can afford one of those! They don't give this surplus stuff away either, guess I'll stick to my 8mm's!
Thanks for the replies.

[doughboy334]

Try some British made .303

https://www.samcoglobal.com/Ammunition.html

[gun toting monkeyboy]

That may not work, as most of the surplus .303 has Berdan primers. And those are NOT for begining reloaders. They are a PITA for most of us old hands as well, assuming that we can even get our hands on the right sized primers to begin with. The only exception to the berdan rule is the Greek HXP headstamped .303 ammo. It is mostly gone now, but those are some really good cases. Boxer primed, very strong brass... I love that stuff. Your other option is to find some of the 1990s vintage Winchester ammo in the white boxes. It still pops up from time to time. As for the ammo you have that isn't firing, pull the bullets for future reloading, dump the powder (if it's powder, not cordite) in the garden and wet it down to use as fertilizer. If the cases are filled with orange spaghetti like stuff, or what looks like little tubes of cut orange pasta, it's cordite. Great stuff to play with, but not that great for reloading. It is fun to put in the fireplace to help get the fire started. Or bang with a hammer to start it burning slowly. If the brass is berdan primed, soak it in soapy water for a few days, let it air dry, and then sell it for scrap. Then look at getting into reloadin. For around $100-150, you can start reloading several calibers. That initial investment will pay for itself in just a few trips to the range.

-Mb

[Quiet]

POF is notorious for being ****ty ammo. What year is the headstamp on them?

I agree.

I wouldn't use POF ammo, even if it's free.

[caldude]

Try some British made .303

https://www.samcoglobal.com/Ammunition.html

I have some of this British .303 in clips. It's from 1937, but has shot very well. It's not clean, with both dirt on the cases and firing residue afterwards. I'll probably pick up some more loose rounds next month.

[gtmmark]

I have a Wolf 24lb. striker spring in one of my No.4's that I use specifically for shooting only POF and have very few hangfire's.

[smle-man]

The 1960 South African ball has a lot of hang fires just like the POF.

[hybridatsun350]

I use Prvi in my No.4, and I feel it's well worth the money. It may be $0.50/rd, but it shoots every time, it's accurate, and the brass is reloadable. I don't shoot my Enfield that much anyway.

[AaronHorrocks]

You're buying the absolute worst .303 ammo available.
I wouldn't shoot the stuff in my rifle, or anyone's rifle.

The only thing that it's good for is the brass casing and the bullet. So tear down the componets and get rid of those primers and powder.