my friend has an enfield no. 4 mk 2 in .303. He is considering using it for deer hunting. what do you all think? Does anybody have any experience with this rifle/round?

It will do fine in taking deer. Not the most modern or high powered, but will do the job.

The last time I had one was in the 60's in the Philippines andI gave it to a Filipino friend before I left. He hunts Cebu which are water buffaloes that have escaped from their owners and have become wild. Before I left, I had ordered a case of ammo from Hong Kong.

Yes,It will take Deer and Black Bear!

The .303 SMLE is a fine sporting cartridge for nearly everything in North America. Regards, Rick.

That was my first high powered rifle. I killed several deer with it. I can tell you it will do as good as any out there. No its not the blazing speed and no its not new and fancy but it is a great round for any animal in NA. It is some what similar in bullistics as a 30-06 & .308. So if they can kill it so can the .303.

Yes, I do. The No. 4 is probably the BEST bolt-action combat rifle ever built. It is both accurate and FAST in operation-so fast that in WWI, using the earlier version (No.1), trained British troops could lay down aimed fire so rapidly the Germans thought the Brits were using machine guns!

The .303 round is in about the same power class as the .308 Winchester or the .30/40 Krag, so it can be used for deer, elk, and moose. I'd use the 180-grain load.

There is but one MAJOR drawback to the SMLE action-they lock up at the rear, so they tend to flex on firing. This makes the cartridge case stretch a little every time it is used, so brass wears out after two or three full-charge reloadings. This is a real problem for a handloader, and the damn things are just plain UGHLY!

Other than that, have fun!

el,what about the springfield 1903 as the best bolt action ever built.
I agree the enfield is one of the best, but no. 1?

Yep! I would have to say the 98 and Garand.

It is true, I have read many references to this. Dominion soldiers (UK, Canadian, NZ, Aus etc..) were trained to use their middle finger as their trigger findger, so they could hold on to the ball of the bolt with their thumb and index finger and never let go, even when pulling the trigger. The butt never left their shoulder and they never removed their eye from the peep and just kept rattling rounds off as quick as they could take aim.. With a well trained solider, the Lee Enfield could shoot as quick (with target acquisition) as any semi-auto.

I have also read that more moose have been taken by the .303 then any other round in the history of huntingthanks to the surplus rifles in Canada and the US. And now with the popularity of exotic calibers like magnums and short mags, that record should hold for sometime since everybody has something new and different and old standards like the 30/06 are getting left at home. Need a .325 WSM or .338 Win Mag for moose now.

On occasion I run into local natives harvesting moose where I hunt and they almost exclusivelycarry sporterized .303s.. So no doubt with the fact that they don't have to wait to get drawn for moose in our WMU, they are keeping the .303 moose killing spree going..

The Garand is not a bolt action rifle.