Yesterday at the Michigan Antique Arms Collectors show, My dad and I purchased an Austrailan Lithgow SMLE in absolutely beautiful condition!  The stock is beautiful with clear markings.  The bore is immaculate with nice sharp rifling.  Pictures will be coming soon.  It does need some cleaning in the action... as the bolt is a little sticky due to some old gummy grease or oil.

Butlersrangers (being there) inspected it for me and declared it a "Great Buy!" 

So... my question is this:  What would be a good accurate load?  I plan (if it's acuracy is what I suspect it will be) is to shoot it this year in the Vintage Match!  I need to get some brass and stripper clips.  I think I can use the same bullets I do for the Arisaka (174 gr HPBT sized at .312) unless there is one that is better suited to accuracy.

Slug the bore first, but, that should be an excellent projectile for the .303 British.

IIRC - The Japanese copied the .303 cartridge, when they came up with their 'rimless' 7.7 mm Arisaka cartridge.

Check, but, possibly your '7.7 Data' is a good place to start. There is lots of data for the British cartridge.

BTW - The British copied the Japanese Arisaka bayonet, when they decided on a longer 17 inch blade "Pattern 1907" bayonet for the S.M.L.E.

(The first S.M.L.E. bayonet was the Pattern 1903 with a 12 inch blade).

Yes, I remember reading that the 7.7x58 was an almost exact copy (case notwithstanding) of the 303 British.  The 174 gr bullets actually say 303 British on the box, LOL.  I will slug the bore though.  I'm looking forward to a range trip as soon as it warms up!

Because of throat/groove dimensions, many .303 Lee's don't perform well with boattail bullets. Furthermore, at 200 yards you don't need either the weight or BC of those 174's. Try working up some loads with a ~125 grain flat base bullet or a 150 grain FB like the Sierra spitzer soft point (#2300). These will kick less than 174's and may group better.

For a longer-range load that comes close to duplicating the Mk7 trajectory for which the sight is graduated, I like the Sierra 180 FBSP (#2310) with maximum 42 grains of 4895 in my Lithgow (fuzzy :( pic attached).

Don't assume the .303 will take the same handloads as the 7.7 Arisaka, which has more case volume and a stronger action. Maximum loads run about 3 grains lighter for that SMLE.

PM me if you have trouble finding brass or chargers (but only if you promise not to write "stripper clip" again :-/).

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Awesome advise Para... Thanks very much.  I might just do as you suggest and get some flat based 150s.  And yes, chargers!  😬

Well, I shot the Lithgow today in a Vintage Match.  My first sighter was literally the first shot I've taken with the rifle.  Took me 4 sighting shots to get it dialed in.  Overall, it performed great.  Parashooter, those chargers really worked fantastic, Thank you so very much!  I still need to get used to the sights... but I think I could eventually do well with it.  The load I used was rather light, and I may bump it up a hair too - Hornady 150 gr SST bullets (.312 dia), 36.0 grains H4895, CCI-200 primer, and new Winchester case.

My SMLE hated boat tails I’ve had good luck with Speer 150gr hot core and 40gr IMR 4895