100 Year Old .303 Rounds

[Macd]

Being one of the very few people that collects and shoots military surplus firearms in my community of friends I often get asked to help identify rifles and ammunition that they find in the attic or inherit etc. The other day I had these rounds and charger dropped off. The owner wanted to keep them as they belonged to a great uncle and came to him by way of his aunt but wanted them made safe. He had no idea what they were.

.303 1918.jpg

After some research, this is the information I was able to give him. He was really happy. For 100 year old rounds they were in pretty good shape. This is from my email to him.

Have removed powder from the cartridges and used oil to inert the primers. They are in pretty corroded state internally and I doubt they would have fired. They have a corrosive priming compound. The powder is partially deteriorated (decomposing). It is a nitrocellulose, extruded type of uncertain origin. Most nitro powder used in the .303 British was flake but I am sure they had variations based upon availability and sourcing. Here is the technical specs of the the rounds as best I can ascertain.

Type: .303 British Mark VIIz Standard Ball
Manufacturer: Greenwood and Batley, Leeds U.K. ("G" = Government Factory #1)
Year of Manufacture: 1918

Bullet: 174 Grain, cupro-nickel jacketed spitzer, flat open base, with a smooth, low position cannelure (Actual weights were 172.4 and 172.7 grains). It has an aluminum or perhaps cellulose top core and lead bottom core.
Powder: 41.3 Grains extruded nitrocellulose (May have been made by Nobel Powders (Vectan) of France)

Charger
Manufacturer :Greenwood and Batley, Leeds U.K. ("G" = Government Factory #1)
Type: 5 round for Lee Enfield No. 1 Mark III

Case: Standard Cartridge Brass, Berdan primed with indent crimp mid-neck and white? primer sealing. Two flash holes.

Researching head stamps is something I find interesting but loaded rounds I have never collected. Hopefully that "bug" doesn't bite or I am going to have to find some more room and maybe go back to work.

[akuser47]

Pretty cool, Glad you can help out in those situations.

[oscarflytyer]

Surprised by the powder. I once pulled some 303 rounds and they had Cordite in them! When you pull the bullet, your brain does a kind of back flip! Looks like the round has thin spaghetti in it! It's kinda crazy!

[Ranch Dog]

Real nice of you to do the homework!

[Et2ss]

Surprised by the powder. I once pulled some 303 rounds and they had Cordite in them! When you pull the bullet, your brain does a kind of back flip! Looks like the round has thin spaghetti in it! It's kinda crazy!

In 1915 they had to start importing nitro-cellulose based powders fro the US, then other countries.

Their supply of cordite was not sufficient

[daboone]

love the smell of cordite in the morning!

[Macd]

love the smell of cordite in the morning!

I used to do a bit of diving. There are two iron carriers that were torpedoed at a dock not far from here in 1942-43. They are in about 150-200 feet of water but the top decks are within sport diving range. Some of my diving friends brought up some cordite that was used for the 4 inch deck guns. It was in long tubular strands still intact after 50 years under water. We used it for starting beach bonfires and even charcoal BBQ's.

In 1915 they had to start importing nitro-cellulose based powders fro the US, then other countries. Their supply of cordite was not sufficient

You are correct. The demand for cordite for artillery shells was eating up production. The main smokeless powder imported was DuPont M16 which was a flake powder. They also imported from Nobel. Powder was also produced in Trenton, Ontario at the British Chemical Company. It is interesting to see that the Nobel maximum load for the .303B, 174 grain bullet, for their current TU5000 powder is 41.7 grains. This compares with the 41.3 I removed from the cartridges. It is coincidental that the Imperial Munitions Board set up a subsidiary company in Canada in 1915 to manufacture cordite. It was located in "Nobel", Ontario.

[oscarflytyer]

Surprised by the powder. I once pulled some 303 rounds and they had Cordite in them! When you pull the bullet, your brain does a kind of back flip! Looks like the round has thin spaghetti in it! It's kinda crazy!

In 1915 they had to start importing nitro-cellulose based powders fro the US, then other countries.

Their supply of cordite was not sufficient

Damn! Didn't realize how old the rounds were that I pulled!