A FEW years back, I wrote a series of articles themed “What everyone knows about firearms,” showing how often some beliefs prove to be myths which all too often point shooters in the wrong direction. Why bring this up now? Because a couple of rifles recently turned up which underlined the fact that there are still plenty more wrong notions out there that need editorial light shed on them.
What was unusual about these two rifles? Their barrels were marked For W R .303 Special Cartridge. What did that mean? Now, ‘everyone knows’ that the standard British and Commonwealth .303 service cartridge has become known as the “.303 British” and has its appointed place in the Lyman and other Stateside reloading manuals, so that should be the end of the matter. But it turns out that it’s not.
Checking the Internet, I found at least one robustly expressed opinion that, if you can get a regular .303 cartridge into the chamber of a WR .303 Special and fire it without catastrophe, then the .303 Special must be, Volume 4, you will find the W-R .303 Special along with the comment that Mr Winfer has never found an example with rifling in good condition except for one which slugged out as requiring a 0.308" bullet instead of the 0.311" to 0.312" of the regular .303 Mk VII. Clearly, the Westley Richards .303 Special was something else again, but if it wasn’t the “.303 British” then what was it?
