60-96 year old mil-surp .303, and something I've never physically seen in my day

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  • philbert001

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    So, my dad gave me a sporterized Enfield in .303 the other day, along with a bunch of old mil-surp ammo. Mixed headstamps, with the oldest appearing to be dated 1918, and the newest dated 1954. A fair amount of the ammo had a good amount of corrosion, so I sorted out all the rounds with even a hint of corrosion, and started pulling.

    After this thread, I hope that those of you that ask if corroded ammo is safe to shoot think twice before taking the advice of, "Tumble it and shoot it!"

    The majority of the heavily corroded rounds looked like this.
    100_8294_zpsa54e59f5.jpg
    100_8293_zps88c89fd2.jpg


    As you can see, some of the powder had enough moisture and corrosion in it, that I couldn't tap out ANY of the powder.

    ...I'm pretty sure this shouldn't be shot!...

    There were a few that seemed to have corrosion on the case, but none around the neck. Those ones came out clean, and the powder looked shootable. (I kept all those projectiles for later reloading!)


    I then came across a handful with this headstamp.
    100_8291_zps9555ce0b.jpg


    These appear to be manufactured in 8 of 54, and I assume the 7 stands for MKVII, as most of the ammo is stamped VII on the head.
    I broke one down, and discovered what appeared to be wadding. I picked it out, and when the powder wouldn't exit the case, I assumed it too was stuck in the case. I was a bit confused when I couldn't get even a grain to come out, so I took my tubing cutter, and cut the case in half.

    Here is what I found!
    100_8289_zps0c695fb2.jpg


    THAT, folks, is cordite! I was kinda shocked to find it in cases stamped 1954 though! I thought they stopped using it in small arms during WWI or WWII. I ended up finding about 10 more, with the same headstamp, and another 4, with a different headstamp, also with a "7", instead of VII. (K50 7) These also contained a wad and a cordite charge!

    I thought I'd share, for 1. the corrosion lesson, and 2. for the cordite chunk of history!
    I HAD to burn some cordite, so I could possibly be one of the younger people to quote Patton, saying, "I love the smell of cordite in the morning!", and know what he meant!

    The rest of the ammo, while old, and probably corrosive, appeared to be fine after breaking down a few of each headstamp, to see what I had, and I'll likely shoot them, unless someone can tell me why I shouldn't. Most was stamped "K1931 VII", "FNM 50", or "PS VII 1950".

    After I do a little more research on the Enfield, (As in, weather it's an Enfield, or an Ishapore), I'll start a long gun thread, so the INGO SMELLEE guys can educate a youngster!
     

    BogWalker

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    Should be stamped right on the receiver who made it.

    I'm sitting on 224 rounds of Paki click-bang I got for a steal a year or two ago. All cordite, all 1950s. Not sure if I'll shoot it or what.

    I wonder if those would have fired or if the corrosion would have provided enough resistance to create an overpressure scenario?
     

    philbert001

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    Should be stamped right on the receiver who made it.

    I'm sitting on 224 rounds of Paki click-bang I got for a steal a year or two ago. All cordite, all 1950s. Not sure if I'll shoot it or what.

    I wonder if those would have fired or if the corrosion would have provided enough resistance to create an overpressure scenario?
    If it helps, all the cordite that I broke down was internally clean. No signs of corrosion. I'll probably keep it, just because it's kinda cool to have! Unfortunately, all I'm seeing on the receiver is an engraved date of 6/47, and a 4 digit serial number. Pretty shallow and hand engraved. I'm assuming it's an arsenal rebuild date. Seen a "47" stamped in a couple places, but also seeing "12" here and there. Removed the forend, and still nothing obvious. I took pics. I'll get a thread up tonight after the kids are in bed. If you are a SMLE guy, please keep an eye out for it! I do see a couple of crown stamps, so I kinda assume it's a SMLE, not an Ishapore.
     

    Leadeye

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    An interesting find, I would have figured that all the Cordite 303 would have been long gone.:)
     

    philbert001

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    An interesting find, I would have figured that all the Cordite 303 would have been long gone.:)
    Probably is! This has all been sitting in my dad's reloading room for over 20 years! It was all in bags of 20, priced gun show style at $4.00 per 20. Gonna assume that would kinda date when it was broken up from crates, but my gun show price database doesn't go back that far! One bag had a "Grants" pricetag on it, if that rings a bell for anyone!
     

    philbert001

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    Only here enjoying the green side of the grass for a while. I'd miss INGO too much to kick off just yet

    EDIT: and on the positive side....I'll probably forget and get surprised all over. LOL!
    Good to hear! I have a list of people I'd like to see kick off, and thus far, nobody on INGO has made the list!
     

    philbert001

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    Not yet. Was hoping it would show more in pics, but they almost look copper in the pics. Only the very orange looking one is a copper jacketed bullet. Anybody know what jacket material looks like tin?
     

    BogWalker

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    Not yet. Was hoping it would show more in pics, but they almost look copper in the pics. Only the very orange looking one is a copper jacketed bullet. Anybody know what jacket material looks like tin?
    Like a silvery colored jacket material? That would be cupro-nickel.
     

    philbert001

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    Like a silvery colored jacket material? That would be cupro-nickel.
    Thank you kindly! Pughead has already googled your answer, done the legwork, and filled me in! I assume it was a euro-thing? (All my American old mil-surp has been copper jacketed!)That's what most of this is. (Probably explains why it shows the copper in photos!)
     
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