The Poor Man's Rifle

[Riflechair]

Premiered Sep 25, 2022

For many people this is considered a poor man's rifle. I've been looked down at by other shooters at the range simply because this is what I was shooting.
I don't get upset about it anymore but I think nicely sporterized enfields are just common sense.
Sure it doesn't weight 5lbs but this Parker Hale No1Mk3* Heinze 51 parts gun was built to shoot in the mud and the bore and headspace is good - what's not to like?

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Maple Leaf Up

[Dewey Cox]

If I supported you as a patreon, you could afford a better rifle, and then we wouldn't have anything interesting to talk about.

[Riflechair]

HA - Perfect Response - you gave me a healthy belly laugh at least
Its a Paradox indeed and I hate ever raising Patreon but every penny helps for me to have a channel with CDN content.
We're all a dying breed.

[Gunexpert007]

Nothing wrong with an Enfield , and Mausers' are in the same boat . Take a look at this Mauser with double set triggers in the " Public Enemy " ( 2009 ) movie .

[labradort]

Poor man's rifle was okay years ago. My Dad bought his 303 for $60 back in the late 60's. He harvested moose and caribou with it in the 70's. Today there is no 303 ammo available. To my mind you select a gun with the caliber based on the ammo availability and price, unless it's just a collector item.

In terms of caliber selection for hunting purpose, that has a lot more latitude than people give it. 270, 308, 303, etc. they are all able to do the job in similar ways. One of the moose my Dad got in Labrador was one he encountered by surprise, and all he had with him was 22 Magnum (which was for geese hunting at longer range). Four quick shots in the lungs and it was down. This wasn't unusual thinking for him. He grew up in the depression and subsistence hunting was part of how they lived. Some smaller deer seen on the farm were taken by 22. But more often the 22 was used for hunting ducks on the bay. One would never hunt like that today because, aside from laws, the density of homes and people is much higher in the countryside. No more flipping 50 cent pieces up in the air and hitting them with the 22.

Calibers selection for hunting gets discussed to mythic proportions. It's almost as bad as getting into "scentless belts" they sell in the hunting department.

[M1917 Enfield]

Poor man's rifle was okay years ago. My Dad bought his 303 for $60 back in the late 60's. He harvested moose and caribou with it in the 70's. Today there is no 303 ammo available. To my mind you select a gun with the caliber based on the ammo availability and price, unless it's just a collector item.

In terms of caliber selection for hunting purpose, that has a lot more latitude than people give it. 270, 308, 303, etc. they are all able to do the job in similar ways. One of the moose my Dad got in Labrador was one he encountered by surprise, and all he had with him was 22 Magnum (which was for geese hunting at longer range). Four quick shots in the lungs and it was down. This wasn't unusual thinking for him. He grew up in the depression and subsistence hunting was part of how they lived. Some smaller deer seen on the farm were taken by 22. But more often the 22 was used for hunting ducks on the bay. One would never hunt like that today because, aside from laws, the density of homes and people is much higher in the countryside. No more flipping 50 cent pieces up in the air and hitting them with the 22.

Calibers selection for hunting gets discussed to mythic proportions. It's almost as bad as getting into "scentless belts" they sell in the hunting department.

Yeah, I seldom if ever see .303 ammo for sale as of late and when I did it was over $60 a box for just average hunting ammo. The only way to get decent .303 hunting ammo is to reload but like a lot of other good hunting calibre ammo like .45/70, .444 Marlin, 7x57mm, 8x57mm .243 even getting reloading supplies like primers, powder, projectiles and cases has become almost impossible or also highly expensive.

I find the only way to get reasonably cheap hunting and shooting done now is to shoot either a .22lr, .223, .308 Win, .270 Win or .30-06! There is still decently priced and easy to find ammo, reloading projectiles and cases in those calibre's!

I look forward to the day when reasonably priced and freely available .303 is back on the shelves in most dealers shops! I'm keeping my .303's for when that day returns!

[Kenwp]

Some of us had to buy a 303 again to use up ammo we had left from the 70s