Value of a 1944 dated box of ammo?
- Thread starter H Wally
- Start date
If the box were unopened, about $75. Now that it's open, $50.
303 Brit goes for over a buck a round. Privi runs around $25/20, once you get it out of the store or shipped to your house. Maybe more.
Many of the milsurp guys like that stuff so they can have a few chargers full of period ammunition to go along with their rifles and kit.
It is probably corrosive as well but that stuff is usually reloadable with single flash holes.
Good brass as well, if you reload.
303 Brit goes for over a buck a round. Privi runs around $25/20, once you get it out of the store or shipped to your house. Maybe more.
Many of the milsurp guys like that stuff so they can have a few chargers full of period ammunition to go along with their rifles and kit.
It is probably corrosive as well but that stuff is usually reloadable with single flash holes.
Good brass as well, if you reload.
For a comparison, I picked up a full box of 48 rounds of VIIz just like that one, but without the labeled wrapper/tape at the Calgary Easter Gun show today for $30, and another two boxes of VII, pristine and unopened, for $25 each. I'm happy with those prices for sure.
I too would like to know the answer, as the opinions have differed when I've asked previously about surplus .303.
Here's what I've gleaned, and perhaps others with more knowledge can correct/add.
The "z" in the VIIz indicates nitro-cellulose, rather than Cordite, so that's a plus. The primer may, or may, not be corrosive. I've found no single source of clarity on this, but the DI stuff should be, looks to be, Boxer primed, so is reloadable.
For my part, I intend to treat all ammo of this vintage as corrosive, and clean my rifles accordingly, and will take a peek to count the primer holes every time I access a new box.
Don't think I shed much more light on this, but it's all I've got.
Here's what I've gleaned, and perhaps others with more knowledge can correct/add.
The "z" in the VIIz indicates nitro-cellulose, rather than Cordite, so that's a plus. The primer may, or may, not be corrosive. I've found no single source of clarity on this, but the DI stuff should be, looks to be, Boxer primed, so is reloadable.
For my part, I intend to treat all ammo of this vintage as corrosive, and clean my rifles accordingly, and will take a peek to count the primer holes every time I access a new box.
Don't think I shed much more light on this, but it's all I've got.
Catch 22 eh?
Di z 303
I inherited some from my Father & when I enquired at several different forums the general consensus was that DI was a new factory built during the war & used non corrosive primers from the get-go. I have shot & reloaded some & it is Boxer primed.
Not a bad idea to assume all war time ammo is corrosive & clean accordingly...better safe than sorry.
Peter (Burlington, Ontario)
I inherited some from my Father & when I enquired at several different forums the general consensus was that DI was a new factory built during the war & used non corrosive primers from the get-go. I have shot & reloaded some & it is Boxer primed.
Not a bad idea to assume all war time ammo is corrosive & clean accordingly...better safe than sorry.
Peter (Burlington, Ontario)
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
Have fired a lot of that. the only stuff I am keeping is a box of .303 issued to the Rangers.
ALL the Defence Industries ammunition (DI headstamp) was (1) noncorrosive, (2) nonmercuric, (3) Boxer primed with standard .210" primers, (4) crimped primers, (5) the nicest reloading brass you will ever encounter.
All OTHER wartime ammunition on our side is corrosive, the British and Commonwealth, including Canadian, is mercuric to boot.
APART FROM Defence Industries production, the only World War Two Allied ammo that you can count on as being NC and NM is the .30 Carbine, which was made to commercial specs, thus noncorrosive and nonmercuric.
The bullets in this box are cupro-nickel-plated steel jackets over a 98-2 lead-antimony alloy and they have a 3-grain aluminum filler-plug in the nose to rebalance the bullet. When it was made, this stuff was superb on a range. If you intend to fire any, you should 'bump' the bullets very slightly to break the seal inside the case. You get better, more consistent shot-start and your groups will tighten up a lot.
To prolong the life of brass, load to about 20% below milspec; this also is your most accurate loading. Segregate your brass by rifle. Neck-size only. Keep your cases trimmed to length, and this goes double for the .303. Anneal your brass after 8 to 10 firings.
How long will it last? I don't know. There's a box here that's going to the range with my Ross for the 15th time fairly soon; it is DI-1942: 68 years old.
All OTHER wartime ammunition on our side is corrosive, the British and Commonwealth, including Canadian, is mercuric to boot.
APART FROM Defence Industries production, the only World War Two Allied ammo that you can count on as being NC and NM is the .30 Carbine, which was made to commercial specs, thus noncorrosive and nonmercuric.
The bullets in this box are cupro-nickel-plated steel jackets over a 98-2 lead-antimony alloy and they have a 3-grain aluminum filler-plug in the nose to rebalance the bullet. When it was made, this stuff was superb on a range. If you intend to fire any, you should 'bump' the bullets very slightly to break the seal inside the case. You get better, more consistent shot-start and your groups will tighten up a lot.
To prolong the life of brass, load to about 20% below milspec; this also is your most accurate loading. Segregate your brass by rifle. Neck-size only. Keep your cases trimmed to length, and this goes double for the .303. Anneal your brass after 8 to 10 firings.
How long will it last? I don't know. There's a box here that's going to the range with my Ross for the 15th time fairly soon; it is DI-1942: 68 years old.
Clarification: for best accuracy and so forth, you load to about 20% below milspec PRESSURES. You can get this with a 10% reduction in muzzle velocity. Most accurate load for the .303, by actual testing, is about 2250 ft/sec with the Mark VII bullet (shown here).
If you're playing with a Ross, the same load as gives you 2250 with the SMLE will come out about 2325 and is just wickedly accurate.
Yes, the WWI tales are correct: the Ross DID hit harder than the SMLE, although you'd have to be silly to want to stand in front of either one! Still, poor Fritz WAS getting his Reichsmark every day, so that's what he was being paid to do.
Yes, the WWI tales are correct: the Ross DID hit harder than the SMLE, although you'd have to be silly to want to stand in front of either one! Still, poor Fritz WAS getting his Reichsmark every day, so that's what he was being paid to do.
I'm shooting the SIERRA 180 flatbase in my SMLEs, Enfield rifling not really liking boat-tailed bullets. I load with 37 to 38 grains of IMR-4895 and seat the bullet out just a tad so that cartridge overall length is exactly the same as a Mark VII Ball round. The ogive on the Sierra is a lightly different shape as on the Mark VII bullet, so this puts the bullet out where it should be.
Depending on the rifle, I'm getting half-inch to inch-and-a-half at 100, but I'm shooting several rifles. The as-factory 1918 NRF regularly shoots an inch, the 1918 Lithgow will put them into a half-inch off the sandbags, if you can hold it. ROSS also likes this load, shoots even better. I thought it was a fluke, but three other people have also done it with the Ross.
For a faster load, something that works really well on deer and tin cans, I use the Hornady 150 Spire Point, again a flat-base bullet, seated out so that the whole cannelure shows. I have been testing these in a 1943 Number 4 with an S&K mount and one of those hugegreatugly Barska scopes with the illuminated reticle and all the bells and whistles, and the combination is getting inch-and-a-quarter, sometimes a bit better, which is not bad for an old Army rifle at all. And they zip out at almost .308 velocities, so they WILL knock over a steel plate.
And I've been playing with cast bullets in the Number 4 but not saying much until the world unfreezes and I can take the Chrony out without having to fight the *&*%**&$# ice-bears to get it back.
Lotsa funs!
Depending on the rifle, I'm getting half-inch to inch-and-a-half at 100, but I'm shooting several rifles. The as-factory 1918 NRF regularly shoots an inch, the 1918 Lithgow will put them into a half-inch off the sandbags, if you can hold it. ROSS also likes this load, shoots even better. I thought it was a fluke, but three other people have also done it with the Ross.
For a faster load, something that works really well on deer and tin cans, I use the Hornady 150 Spire Point, again a flat-base bullet, seated out so that the whole cannelure shows. I have been testing these in a 1943 Number 4 with an S&K mount and one of those hugegreatugly Barska scopes with the illuminated reticle and all the bells and whistles, and the combination is getting inch-and-a-quarter, sometimes a bit better, which is not bad for an old Army rifle at all. And they zip out at almost .308 velocities, so they WILL knock over a steel plate.
And I've been playing with cast bullets in the Number 4 but not saying much until the world unfreezes and I can take the Chrony out without having to fight the *&*%**&$# ice-bears to get it back.
Lotsa funs!
