.303 British ballistics chart
The .303 British trajectory with a 150-grain soft point: drop, wind drift and retained velocity from a 200-yard zero out to 600 yards.
What is the .303 British?
The .303 British was the standard British and Commonwealth service cartridge from 1888 until the 1950s, chambered in the Lee-Enfield and the Vickers and Bren guns. It is a rimmed cartridge firing a .311-.312 bullet, so it feeds well from the Lee-Enfield's magazine but does not stack as neatly as a rimless round.
Today it is mostly a hunting and historic-arms cartridge. Factory loads run a little below .308 Winchester velocity, and with a 150-180 grain soft point it remains effective on deer at normal hunting distances. Bore and groove sizes vary between old rifles, so slugging the bore before handloading is worthwhile.
Typical uses: Deer and similar game, historic military-rifle competition, and shooting surplus Lee-Enfields.
Sample load
The trajectory below is calculated for this representative factory load in a standard ICAO atmosphere. The bullet is an entry from the app’s bullet library, so the calculator opens with it already selected. Your rifle will differ — enter your own chronographed velocity and verified BC in the calculator for numbers you can dial.
- Bullet
- Hornady 150 gr Soft Point
- Muzzle velocity
- 2,685 fps
- Ballistic coefficient
- 0.361 (G1)
- Zero
- 200 yd
.303 British key figures
- Muzzle energy
- 2,402 ft⋅lb
- Supersonic to
- About 830 yd
- Point-blank range, 6 in zone
- 259 yd (221 yd zero)
- Point-blank range, 3 in zone
- 202 yd (174 yd zero)
- Drop at 300 yd, 100 yd zero
- 15.9 in
Point-blank range is how far you can hold dead on and still hit a target zone of that height, using the zero shown. Work it out for your own load with the maximum point-blank range calculator , or see how the .303 British stacks up in the cartridge comparison chart .
.303 British trajectory table
| Range (yd) | Velocity (fps) | Energy (ft⋅lb) | Drop (in) | Elevation (MIL) | Elevation (MOA) | Wind 10 mph (MIL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 2,559 | 2,182 | 1.0 | -0.6 | -1.9 | 0.1 |
| 100 | 2,437 | 1,979 | 2.2 | -0.6 | -2.1 | 0.3 |
| 150 | 2,318 | 1,791 | 1.9 | -0.4 | -1.2 | 0.4 |
| 200 | 2,203 | 1,617 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 |
| 250 | 2,090 | 1,456 | -3.7 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.7 |
| 300 | 1,982 | 1,308 | -9.4 | 0.9 | 3.0 | 0.9 |
| 350 | 1,876 | 1,173 | -17.3 | 1.4 | 4.7 | 1.1 |
| 400 | 1,774 | 1,049 | -27.6 | 2.0 | 6.6 | 1.3 |
| 450 | 1,677 | 937 | -40.8 | 2.6 | 8.7 | 1.5 |
| 500 | 1,584 | 835 | -57.0 | 3.2 | 10.9 | 1.7 |
| 550 | 1,495 | 745 | -76.7 | 3.9 | 13.3 | 1.9 |
| 600 | 1,412 | 664 | -100.3 | 4.7 | 16.0 | 2.2 |
Learn more
New to reading a table like this? These guides explain the numbers: