.303

.303 in South Africa

The .303 Class Bisley Club was founded at the SA Open Championship Meeting in 2005 and the constitution has been accepted by the SABU Council.

The .303 Class has also adapted a unique set of rules from the Target Rifle rules. There are currently only two provinces who actively participates in 303 Class Bisley shooting (Western Province and Gauteng North), but since inception of this class, Interprovincial matches between these provinces have been shot at the Western Province Bisley, Louis le Grange and SA Open Championships.  The first interprovincial shoot took place in Cape Town at the Western Province Bisley in

The purpose of the Club is to encourage and promote 303 Class Bisley target shooting amongst shooters in South Africa.  The Club also keeps a database of scores of .303 Class Bisley shooters of SABU and a ranking list of .303 Class Bisley shooters of SABU in accordance with the rules of SABU.  Membership is open to all SABU paid up members who wish to participate in the .303 Bisley Class at SABU events.

Management Committee

The current chairman of the .303 Class Bisley Club is Darryl Carver (dcarver@polka.co.za) from the Western Province and the vice-chairman/secretary is Brian Carver (brian@railprojects.co.za) from Gauteng North.  The club has their annual general meeting at the SA Open Championships in Bloemfontein and the committee serves for a term of 2 years at a time.  The club also has representation on the SABU Council to look after the interests of .303 Class Bisley shooters nationwide.

.303 Class Rules

All SABU rules pertaining to 7.62 NATO target rifles apply to the .303 Class with the following exceptions.

  1. Rifles must be standard .303 service rifles which were at some time issued to British Empire or Commonwealth armed services.
  2. Rifles may be rebarrelledbut barrels must conform to original weight and length. No bull barrels will be permitted
  3. Rifles must be chambered for a .303 cartridge.  Only .303 174 grain Mk VII Ball ammunition or the handloaded equivalent thereof is permitted.
  4. Rifles must be equipped with vernier adjustable target aperture rear sights as manufactured by Parker Hale, A.J. Parker, Central etc. Rifles equipped with battle sights only will not be permitted.
  5. All other rules with regard to rifles are as per the SABU target rifle rules, including sights, slings and weight of trigger pull.
  6. Apart from the exceptions in respect of rifles and ammunition, as stated above, all the other general rules as laid down, and where applicable, must be adhered to by the .303 Class Competitors