Canadian Ranger .303 British ammo

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albertacowboy

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I have a friend in the Rangers and he just showed me several boxes of his issued softpoint ammo. The shiny rounds are headstamped "R-P .303 British" with no date, and were issued two years ago. They are packed twenty to a box in brown cardboard boxes labelled as follows:

0100
20 CARTRIDGES
.303 INCH BRITISH
SOFT POINT

RACO6LO1-O1

The bullets (from the outside) look like standard Remington 180-grain Core-Lokt .303.

My friend asked me if this ammo was loaded as Mk. 7 or Mark 8. I would think it is Mark 7 ballistics, but we would appreciate a more knowledgable opinion.

Thanks to all the Rangers and other CF members for doing their bit for the rest of us.
 
Interesting. I reckon Riflechair will be able to give you more details on that ammo.

I wonder why Remington though?:confused:

I always got the best accuracy with 180 gr. Federal's out of my 1944 LB.

It didn't foul the bore as much as Rem or Win ammo either.
 
Here is what IVI has for the 303 british cartridge.

h ttp://www.gd-otscanada.com/html/en/products/detail.php?id=10&thisSection=77

I remember Riflechair saying it was normally IVI maybe they need to outsource everynow and then.
 
MapleSugar said:
I think they give the Rangers soft point ammo for hunting or dealing with bears.
Click to expand...

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russianbomber.jpg


Tupolev Tu-95 (NATO reporting name: Bear)

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Tupolev Tu-142 (NATO reporting name: Bear F)
 
The Rangers get issued small lots of softpoint from time to time as it is recognized that some will use their issue rifle for hunting and will use whatever is available. about 6 years ago my patrol in Port Mcneil was issued Winchester softpoints in the white and red winchester boxes. The main issued round was still ball however.
 
The system may acquire something non-standard from time to time to ensure stocks are maintained at the prescribed level. At some point the system will then issue that stuff because everything has a shelf-life and it just gets to be time to get rid of it by using it.

I wouldn't be surprised if they bought Remington 180gr. Core-Lokt at some point. I have used it in my No.4 and found it not significantly different ballistically from 174gr bullets handloaded to approxiamate the MkVII performance.
 
The link to IVI says they make Mk8Z Ball AND Soft Point 303 British.

But as tooner says the government buys what it needs to maintain the required stock levels. Remmington must have had the best deal at the time the purchase was required.

I have heard of Winchester 5.56 being issued when a bad batch of IVI was discovered as well as Ruag ammo being issued for shooting teams.
 
albertacowboy said:
I have a friend in the Rangers and he just showed me several boxes of his issued softpoint ammo. The shiny rounds are headstamped "R-P .303 British" with no date, and were issued two years ago. They are packed twenty to a box in brown cardboard boxes labelled as follows:

0100
20 CARTRIDGES
.303 INCH BRITISH
SOFT POINT

RACO6LO1-O1

The bullets (from the outside) look like standard Remington 180-grain Core-Lokt .303.

My friend asked me if this ammo was loaded as Mk. 7 or Mark 8. I would think it is Mark 7 ballistics, but we would appreciate a more knowledgable opinion.

Thanks to all the Rangers and other CF members for doing their bit for the rest of us.
Click to expand...

Remington soft point ammo is issued for wildlife defense. It isn't loaded to Mk.7 or Mk.8 standards just Remington standards.
 
Appologies for my nebulous addition to this thread.

Industries Valcartier Inc. is now owned and operated by General Dynamics Canada. They produce the 175gr Mk 8Z Ball and 180gr RN Softpoint ammunition for the Cdn Rangers.

Since the transition to GDC ammunition quality has been significantly increased.

Since I have been in the force I have not observed any outsourced factory ammunition on issue such as remington core lock or winchester whitebox. All issued ammunition that I have seen was either 'C' Boad Arrow marked Mk VII or IVI marked going back to ammo lots issued as far back as 1991 or the recent GDC marked ammo which is stamped '303 BRITISH'.

I find the RP stamp very interesting. I'll have to check that when I get home from work. I do not recall ever seeing this before. I am dumbfounded that this could be on any recent issue ammo - just doesn't make sense to me. The description sure sounds like military issue though. Is it possible that Remington is working as a subcontractor to GDC?

There is a sizeable gap between 1947 and 1991 so I can speculate on the following...

It is conceivable that other providers of ammunition were issued to supplement needs prior to reactivatiion of the IVI manufacturing lines but this would most likely have occured during the reactivation of the Cdn Ranger Corps in 1947. Stores of Mk VII ball ammunition would have been in plenty supply in the formative years but no (or little) softpoint ammunition would have likely been in circulation. If there was a need for dangerous animal defence or survival applications they may have decided to temporarily outsource to fill that need? That is conjecture however and I have no first hand knowledge that this is true - just speculation on my part. Sorry but I cannot verify this for anyone.
 
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There was Winchester made softpoint issued, prior to the IVI becoming available. Perhaps this Remington was sourced at that time.
 
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