Cartridges based on the .303 British

Cartridge Collector > Cartridges > AUSTRALIAN SPORTING RIFLE > Cartridges based on the .303 British

At the end of the Second World War, Australia found itself with large stockpiles of 303 service rifles. From 1948 onwards, restrictions were placed on jacketed ammunition by the government and that had the effect that various individuals started wildcatting the .303 British case. From and old 1991 ECRA newsletter, there were some colourful names attributed to these developments namely: 303/22 WASP, 303/22 SPRINTER, 303/22 FALCON (also known as the full length), 303/22 RIMLESS, 303/243, 303/25 (or 303/250), 303/250 MAGNUM (an Australian Ackley type, or straight shouldered version of the .303/25), 303/250 RIMLESS, 303/27, 303/27 MAGNUM (also an Australian Ackley type, or straight shouldered version of the .303/27, 303/35 and the 7.7x54R.

The SPRINTER, FALCON, 303/25, 303/27 and the 7.7X54R went into commercial production and many were made from military cases by the RIVERBRAND Company, who marketed these cartridges under the RIVERBRAND, VIPER, SNIPER, SPRINTER, BENZ, MYRA, POLLARD and SPORTCO brands. The SUPER CARTRIDGE Company also produced sporting ammunition, but closed down in the late 70’s – early 80’s. The brand as well as the machinery was taken over by Bertrams.

**This is a listing of mainly .303 British based developments with measurements**
CARTRIDGE	RIM Ø	HEAD/BASE Ø	SHOULDER	CASE LENGTH	BULLET Ø
303 WASP	13mm	11mm	33mm	44mm	5.6mm
303 SPRINTER	13mm	11mm	41mm	52mm	5.6mm
303 FALCON “FULL LENGTH”	13mm	11mm	45mm	56mm	5.6mm
303 RIMLESS	11mm	11mm	41mm	52mm	5.6mm
303/243	13mm	11mm	44mm	56mm	6mm
303/250	13mm	11mm	44mm	56mm	6.5mm
303/250 RIMLESS	11.5mm	11mm	45.5mm	56mm	6.5mm
303/270	13mm	11.75mm	44mm	56mm	.277″
7.7X54R	13mm	11.5mm	43mm	54mm	7.7mm

First specimen has a 45,8mm case and was one of the many variations on the 303 British case.

These two specimens hava a 50mm case length that is shorter than the 303/22 Sprinter listed below. There were a lot of wildcatters that were active during those early years and many of these experiments did not make it to commercial production.

303/22 SPRINTER

This cartridge has a 52mm case and was produced commercially by Riverbrand as the 303/22 SPRINTER.

The cartridge above has a 55mm case length and a 43mm shoulder that might have been one of the wildcat experiments that did not make it to commercial production.

303/22 FALCON

The specimens below are the 303/22 FALCON that were produced by Riverbrand and is also known as the “FULL LENGTH.” It was also one of the earliest attempts by a Mr. J. Black in the search for higher velocities. The problems experienced however were the same as those by South Africa in the development of their version of the full length 303/243 called the 6mm MUSGRAVE and that was that the correct powders were not available to achieve what they set out to achieve and secondly that the old military rifles were not made to handle the higher chamber pressures needed to achieve the higher velocities to equal the then newly developed 243 Winchester.