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A venerable rifle

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jonoMT View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jonoMT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: A venerable rifle
    Posted: October/20/2014 at 14:41
According to

http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1187420/lee-enfield-rifle-phased-out-by-canadian-military-after-100-years-of-service/ the Lee-Enfield, which was being used as an effective, reliable protection against polar bears (hey, it's Canada) rather than a military weapon is finally being retired.

Reaction time is a factor...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cheaptrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/20/2014 at 15:02
I didn't know the Canadian's still had them in service. Wow. 
If at first you don't secede...try..try again.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/20/2014 at 16:12
Most of the big game in Africa was taken with 303s during the last 100 years.  The most common rifle around.   
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SVT_Tactical Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/20/2014 at 22:12
Last Wednesday they did a special on them on Midways gun special show.  Showed them still in use and everything
"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be" - Abraham Lincoln
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote magshooter1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/21/2014 at 07:17
I've got an Australian made one my Grandfather sporterized back in the 50's or 60's.  Remember him telling me he paid like $17.50 for it.  Quite accurate actually.
Some people are educated BEYOND their intelligence.
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jonoMT View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jonoMT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/21/2014 at 16:02
That would be cool to see a picture of.
Reaction time is a factor...
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koshkin View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote koshkin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/21/2014 at 20:26
I've got a Lee-Enfield and it is a neat old rifle.

Still, I have seen a polar bear or two and I would much prefer a main battle tank with some air support if I had to face one.

ILya
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tip69 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/22/2014 at 06:57
ILya....   alll you need for a polar bear is a smoke pole...  just ask Jim Shockey! 
take em!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Son of Ed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/06/2014 at 20:32
Lots of polar bears have been shot with 6.5X55 Swedish Mausers as well as thousands of MOOSE ( Elk ) in Scandinavia. 
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anweis View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote anweis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/06/2014 at 21:20
I've worked in polar bear country for a few years. We always went in teams of 3 people. One to actually do the work, perhaps with just a little help for a second or two from the other two, The other two carried a shotgun and a rifle. The shotgun was loaded with, in this order: some sort of whistling flare, two shells with rubber bullets, and 2 lead slugs.  The rifle was almost always a Sako or Husqvarna 6.5x55 loaded with Norma heavy 160 grain round nose bullets, or such. All team members had to pass a " three shots into a pie plate at 50 meters off-hand" test. Sounds easy at the bench, try that with barking dogs and charging bears and screaming people around you. We used the 6.5 because of lower recoil and that;s what they gave us.   
The polar bears cannot be "read", their behavior rarely shows any indication of intent to attack. They charge from 100 meters away or more and they do so extremely fast.  Two pairs of eyes are needed to watch in all directions at all times. In rolling terrain they are very skilled at stalking out of sight, they can be on top of you before you detect them.  
We tried dogs as deterrent, but that attracted the bears and got the dogs killed. I was never charged, but we had one team that had to shoot a very hungry and emaciated female. They shot her with the 6.5, bullet, went through the entire length of the bear, from chest to rear ham. Can't remember if it exited or not.  Had to file reports.
We camped in camps surrounded by 3 concentric fences of electric wires rigged with loud sirens (loudspeakers that also played sounds of angry dominant male bears) and fireworks. Arctic foxes always tripped the alarms, could not sleep more than 3 hours at a time. Every 6th to 10th alarm was a curious or hungry bear, we shot them with rubber bullets and pepper spray. Most effective was the angry male sound. 
Quite a few team members quit early. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bugsNbows Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/07/2014 at 07:27
Wow, that sounds rather adventurous! Shocked
If we're not suppose to eat animals...how come they're made of meat?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jonoMT Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/08/2014 at 12:22

Originally posted by anweis anweis wrote:

I've worked in polar bear country for a few years...

That does sound adventurous...and tense.

Reaction time is a factor...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Peddler Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/08/2014 at 14:47
NOT!!!!!

Loco
When you are dead, you don't know you are dead.It is difficult only for others.

It is the same when you are stupid.
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anweis View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote anweis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/08/2014 at 18:06
Originally posted by jonoMT jonoMT wrote:

 for a few years...

[/QUOTE]


summers only

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Alan Robertson View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Alan Robertson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/08/2014 at 20:56
Can't use dogs because they eat the dogs? And you only bring 3 guys and 2 guns?

"Garg'n uair dhuisgear"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote anweis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/09/2014 at 11:28
This was a large scale scientific survey project in the early 1980s. Almost all teams had women. The bear that i remember getting killed was shot by a female geology student from Germany. 
Problem with dogs was that if we took one or two as guard dogs with us in the field they actually attracted bears and there were more bear sightings when dogs were present. 
If we kept them in the permanent camp they barked  their brains out 24/7 at every fox and everything else and did not keep the bears away from the fenced camp.  In my first summer there i hated the dogs more than the bears. 
I think the scariest i ever experienced was a large male following us for 25 miles, over a period of 2 days, always looking at us and sniffing from about 200 meters away. Later when i went to Africa in lion country i felt relaxed, by comparison. Until i found a black mamba.  
Back to the .303, i shot one and was surprised at how fast i could reload and fire again. I can't remember the sights, but i'd want a large peep for such a "bear rifle" 
  


Edited by anweis - December/09/2014 at 13:21
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anweis View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote anweis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/09/2014 at 13:20
with the regular service loads, the .303 does kick and jump, but it also puts down anything alive. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote koshkin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/09/2014 at 15:01
SMLE is still one of the fastest bolt guns in existence.  There is a biomechanical advantage to cock-on-closing actions.

A lot of the classic clabers do not get the credit they deserve, 303 being one of them.  I am building myself a hunting rifle based on an old Mosin action made in 1896.

The FrankenMosin is still a work in progress, but I like the 7.62x54R round and I think I will finish with this rifle by the end of January.



ILya
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Alan Robertson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/09/2014 at 15:24
Originally posted by anweis anweis wrote:

This was a large scale scientific survey project in the early 1980s. Almost all teams had women. The bear that i remember getting killed was shot by a female geology student from Germany. 
Problem with dogs was that if we took one or two as guard dogs with us in the field they actually attracted bears and there were more bear sightings when dogs were present. 
If we kept them in the permanent camp they barked  their brains out 24/7 at every fox and everything else and did not keep the bears away from the fenced camp.  In my first summer there i hated the dogs more than the bears. 
I think the scariest i ever experienced was a large male following us for 25 miles, over a period of 2 days, always looking at us and sniffing from about 200 meters away. Later when i went to Africa in lion country i felt relaxed, by comparison. Until i found a black mamba.  
Back to the .303, i shot one and was surprised at how fast i could reload and fire again. I can't remember the sights, but i'd want a large peep for such a "bear rifle" 
  
Speaking of women in the field, did you happen to have a chance to work with Dr. Susan J. Crockford? I regard her as the world's foremost authority on polar bears.
http://polarbearscience.com/about-2/ 

When I was a boy, the Father of one of my friends had worked for a time in the Arctic and had brought back a .303 Lee- Enfield in a sealskin case- most impressive to us kids.

"Garg'n uair dhuisgear"
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anweis View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote anweis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: December/09/2014 at 17:25
Nope, but i read stuff written by her. 

Koshkin, i also will be building a 7,62x54r sporter next year. Mine will be a single shot break open German style  stalking rifle with double set trigger. The action is very strong, the wood stocks are very nice wood in good condition, but the barrel is rusted and shot out. I have a very old but unused new .3085" barrel blank with 1:10 twist that i suspect (i really don't know) was made in Belgium for the  Finnish rifles but never built unto a rifle.  The gentleman i bought if from was into mil surplus and he told me he bought that from one of the big suppliers. Will use that as a liner for the original tube. I already have Lapua brass, dies, and i can cast some pretty mean slugs. The rifle had German claw mounts. 
It looks like you still have the original barrel there on that nice old rifle. I had one in the past with a very large bore, and Hornady .312 bullets made for the .303 shot very well. 
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