Question on Enfield ammo compatibility

[Stoli&Cranberry]

My father thought he remembered that the ammunition that normally was used in the British Enfield rifles .303? .308? could be used in the the American's M1s, but the American ammo couldn't be used in the Enfields. Or it may have been the other way around and the American ammo could be used in the Enfield, but the British ammo couldn't be used in the M1s.

Sounds confusing, but does anyone know the answer?

 

[444]

British Enfields were in caliber .303 British. During the Enfield's use in WWI and WWII, the US was using the caliber, .30-06. You couldn't interchange anything anywhere.
Enfields have been made in British colonies all over the world including India. Indian Enfields were made in Isupore India and are thus called Isupores. The Indians made the .303 rifles, but also made Enfield rifles in .308 Winchester (acutally they probably made them in 7.62 Nato). This cartridge is also not interchangeable with either .303 or .30-06, but it obviously uses the same ammo (7.62 NATO) as the FN-FAL, M-14, M-60 MG, HK etc).

 

[Borf]

Actually there were Enfield rifles in US service. The P-14 (pattern 14) Enfield was adopted as US rifle M1917 and chambered in 30-06 instead of .303 british. A significant number of these rifles saw service in World War I & II.

Could he somehow be thinking of a 30-06 Enfield? I'm not really sure how... but...

also - cartridge dimensions are completely different between the two. A 30-'06 will *not* come anywhere close to fitting in the chamber of a .303, and a .303 will only part way enter the chamber of a 30-'06 (big 'ol rim seems to get in the way for me anyway )... maybe with the help of a really big hammer? (I'm KIDDING)

 

[madmike]

REminds me of the old wannabe story of the "'Nam vet" who carried an AK because "I could always get 7.62 from the gunner and use it when everyone else ran out of 5.56"

There are so many technical and logical errors on that statement that I won't even begin to go into it.

 

[Freedom in theSkies]

Yep, the .303 and 30-06 are in no way interchangeable.
The #5 Enfields were sometimes chambered for 7.62 NATO and that may be the only interchange you can find with U.S. manufactured Military arms.
-Unless you include those arms manufactured under the "Lend-Lease- Act. But that's another thing altogether, because those arms were not used by U.S. Forces.

_In a word- Don't try to get your M-1 to swallow .303....

 

[James K]

This is just one version of the "they could use our ammo" stories that was common in WWII. None were true. No U.S. issue cartridge could be used in any enemy weapon, and no enemy issued cartridge would properly fit in any U.S. weapon. The same was true of our Allies unless we had furnished them the weapons.

That story may have its origin in the fact that Americans in both wars called the U.S. Model 1917 "the Enfield" because of its British origins. The Model 1917 does, in fact, use the same ammunition as the M1 rifle, the .30-'06. So, in one sense, "the Enfield" could fire the same ammunition as the M1 rifle.

Jim