280 - 7x43mm British Collector Cartridges Circa 1949 Trials ammunition; Looking for advice

[Wilf Black]

The .280 British or 7x43mm cartridge was tested in a variety of rifles and machine guns including the EM-2, Lee–Enfield, FN FAL, Bren, M1 Garand and Taden gun and I am looking for the following advice or ideas:

Does anyone have an idea of what fair market value would be for these by the round as collector Cartridges, singly? I was thinking of selling most of the case, with the case but keeping several hundred rounds for myself. Ideally, I am looking to establish a fair price so in someone invested in the case there is enough room for them to get the case but a fair profit back, so they can profit and pay for their purchase. I have just never seen these 280 British / 7 x 43 before in such nice shape and in the original 1949 case packing in 2025 is simply pure “unobtanium”

A full description and background is as follows……

280 - 7 x 43 Cartridges made in 1949 by RG Radway Green. They are pristine condition but obviously not for shooting as there are no rifles in this caliber except for ones in museums and private industrial reference collections. Excellent Condition, not bight and shinny (I don’t think any of them were in 1949 but very clean with no discoloration or damage in any way

Brass Cartridge cases, copper jacket with mild steel core like the Eastern 7.62x39 and 54R today. Pink misted tip which denotes 280 standard ball. Head Stamp is

• RG at 10 o’clock
• 49 at 2 O’clock
• 280/30 at 6 O’clock

These came in 1,000 rd wooden cases with heavy wire handles from RG packed in spacers, no boxes, and case marked

1000 CART
280 Ball
MS CORE 140GR
In Bulk

I assume these came into Canada back in the 1950s when we were working with England as they did battle with the Americans between this cartridge and 7.62 x 51 NATO that was eventually adopted for the M-14 FN C1A1 G-3 et all. A real piece of history.

 

[Dosing]

Well selling off a case would more than saturate the market. I have seen them go for 5-10$ a round, but where you are and local demand may bump that up. On the US side of the border you might do better, but Brit 7mms dont pull huge numbers in most of Canada. You dump a case of it into Canada, and the price will likely drop to a few dollars a round, and take ages to move.

 

[Wilf Black]

Well selling off a case would more than saturate the market. I have seen them go for 5-10$ a round, but where you are and local demand may bump that up. On the US side of the border you might do better, but Brit 7mms dont pull huge numbers in most of Canada. You dump a case of it into Canada, and the price will likely drop to a few dollars a round, and take ages to move.

I have never seen such an unserious response to a question. I have been going to gun shows for at least 45 years and 280 British 7 x 43 is pure unobtanium. Give these cartridges the providence of coming from perhaps the only marked case in existence and a lowball is downright comical, and not in a good way. There is a fair difference of opinion but this is something else

I called two military ammunition collector friends and without even the providence of the case one figured at least $25.00/round and the other $30-35.00 round to a cartridge collector in this out of the crate state. I would say $30.00 for a single round is fair for a collector round in this condition, keeping in mind that the person selling it will profit little or not after ground shipment is arranged. Less for 4-5 rounds, but beyond that people should just keep their money and spend it at DQ! When I have seen them at shows this is is what they were being sold for, but they were tarnished from handling and not in the same unissued condition. It is clear this is a case that I should just keep for myself

Back in the 1990s Caina Company in Ottawa (much of their work is military today) sold Beautiful Australian SMLE from the Australian Cadet Corps with the yellow painted muzzles with hand graded pristine bores for $89.95 . My fault for not getting one the; however if they had charged $125.00 which would still been an excellent price, people would have crapped on their shoes and accused them of ripping people off, yet these same people want $600-800 for the same rifle today as they need to pay for 3 wide screen TV for the family. This is no surprise in Canada. I am selling SMLE slings, unmarked at $10.00 each 3 at a time (and painted one’s also). Elsewhere some want $45.00 for the same sling, but I refuse to play that game so its $10.00 each. My point is a simple one with many on Canada. If its someone else’s items is only worth a lump of coal at best, if its your item its nothing short of a golden eggs and the person selling it is saving for their private island! This is why the really collectables end up in the US for people who are willing to pay for things (too much in some US cases) and Canadians get the scraps of what is left that Americans don’t want. We never seem to learn do we, eh?

 

[55recce]

The EM2 is my favouritre rifle and the ammunition is very rare let alone a whole case. However, the market for single rounds is very limited. I am seeing less cartridge collectors at shows these days. They all seem to be aging out and trying to sell off collections. There may be the odd person willing to pay $20 plus for a single rounds but there can't be that many. Even though I would be interested in anything EM2 related what am I going to do with one or two cartridges?
CAL built 65 plus EM2 in Canada. I wonder where they all went? There is probably still a couple in private hands and I think selling the case to that owner would be a better way of maximizing the money you could make.

 

[Wilf Black]

The EM2 is my favouritre rifle and the ammunition is very rare let alone a whole case. However, the market for single rounds is very limited. I am seeing less cartridge collectors at shows these days. They all seem to be aging out and trying to sell off collections. There may be the odd person willing to pay $20 plus for a single rounds but there can't be that many. Even though I would be interested in anything EM2 related what am I going to do with one or two cartridges?
CAL built 65 plus EM2 in Canada. I wonder where they all went? There is probably still a couple in private hands and I think selling the case to that owner would be a better way of maximizing the money you could make.

Not too worried and I appreciate fact that this is the last case of 1949 British made 280 on the planet . Selling it or not, will not make me or brake me ). If I wanted a round of this I would pay $30.00 in a heart beat and say thank you afterwards. Maximizing money never really turned me on. I have seen people virtually destroy each other over money and that has about the same appeal to me as s.. x with a horse.

The other point this is typical of collectors and Canadian collectors in particular and we will never change. Here is a great historical post of machine gun sales in Canada back in the 1970s. Now people wish about past and say how much they would buy but the real truth is back in the 70s people cried and howled either about the prices then or the cost of ammunition and only brave Canadians spent he money and enjoyed themselves
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/threads/machine-guns-for-sale-historical.291424/page-2

Poor little Piglet just keeps running and running from Woozles and Heffalump's - "Oh bother said poo as he chambered another round"

Keeping them is really neat. I have just never seen a case like that from a trials unused over 75 years ago. It has such history and personality like the empty case of Canadian made .303 Mk-7z ball DI 1944 production we shot in the 1980s, boxer primed, non corrosive. One day I was using this ammunition to shoot magpies and bulls at 800 yards at Connaught range with my Siamese marked SMLE that I got when I was 12. One of the target rifle shooters in the club looked down the barrel of my rifle and laughed; however man does that rifle shoot!

 

[Dosing]

I have never seen such an unserious response to a question.

Why ask the question if you dont like the answer? You got the same answer on IAA, the fact YOU dont like it doesnt change it. Now rather than chalking it up to YMMV you decided its not serious and then blather on as though its everyone elses fault they dont think like you.
Perhaps you should have not asked cartridge collectors or in a cartridge venue, and asked your buddies and military collectors. The numbers I gave arent based on what I want to hear, or my buddies, they are based on the numbers I have seen at recent cartridge shows, gun shows, etc (admittedly in the west), where the rounds go for about that, if they sell at all.
Maybe try decaf next time.

 

[Wilf Black]

Why ask the question if you dont like the answer? You got the same answer on IAA, the fact YOU dont like it doesnt change it. Now rather than chalking it up to YMMV you decided its not serious and then blather on as though its everyone elses fault they dont think like you.
Perhaps you should have not asked cartridge collectors or in a cartridge venue, and asked your buddies and military collectors. The numbers I gave arent based on what I want to hear, or my buddies, they are based on the numbers I have seen at recent cartridge shows, gun shows, etc (admittedly in the west), where the rounds go for about that, if they sell at all.
Maybe try decaf next time.

Its always a shame when someone’s ego gets in the middle of things. No one is “at fault” or to “blame” here. I am wrong at least once a week and such is life however my comments come from two that collect this type of cartridge and have done so for decades. The two that quoted me what fair value was per round I have known for decades as Military ammunition collectors, but like myself they are not trying to prove anything and as I said above, I would rather keep the case. If you can find for “cheaper” all the power to you.

The three of us together have oodles of experience however, we don’t call ourselves experts either. On a CBC radio interview Piya Chattopadhyay “accused” Esther Perel, the Belgian-American psychotherapist, of being and “expert: and Esther corrected her in saying “I am not an expert; I am student because I am always learning”. That is part of the fun of collecting and learning about firearms and ammunition since childhood

Back to that Decaf you mentioned, my choice tonight would be one rum and coke (and none of that dam diet stuff!). Alternatively, there is “Georgian Bay Passionfruit Tropical Smash with 7% Vodka” which is really good. I also have another one but it’s a secrete and it will be under “$3.00 a round” (single drink paid for by the drinker, no bar tab on me!) at LCBO. Enjoy your drink and your evening. This is still a family channel. Cheers!

 

[Craig0ry]

I've been collecting cartridges for 29 years now. I remember you posting about these previously I do believe. I remember a big price tag then too. In the last 17 years of going to gunshows in Alberta and Saskatchewan the cartridge collector tables have all but disappeared. Not many are interested anymore, and those that are aren't looking to break the bank on single rounds. I put together these boards a little over a year ago, and going through the ammo stash I've probably got enough to double what I have displayed. but the time and effort aren't there.

That being said, do I always look for calibers I don't have yet at shows, absolutely! would I pay $30 a single round outside some uncommon african rounds. Absolutely not.

Once I'm gone no one is going to give a #### about the collection. They'll end up being given away or collecting dust somewhere or sold for pennies on the dollar I'm sure, like everyone's collections that have come before me

 

[woodchopper]

I can tell you that it is not the last case in Canada.

I know where there is another just like it.

I have one round of 280 in my little stash of sample cartridges and i think I paid $7 for it about 5 years ago.

About a year ago I missed out on the opportunity to buy a set of RCBS reloading dies, I am still kicking myself over that.

7x43 would make a nice little dear gun, and forming the brass would not be that hard.

 

[9.3mauser]

Four rounds of "British 7mm experimental" sold at Switzer's a year ago for 47.50. Add in buyer's premium and taxes and you're looking at an average of $15/rd.

 

[Beater]

ive collected under 40 mill for 50 some years, and thats the first time ive EVER seen that much 7 in one spot. that is almost un believable. i have 5 rounds on an experimental stripper. if i were you id just start selling it at 15$ a pop then sell the case after.

 

[Wilf Black]

I can tell you that it is not the last case in Canada.

I know where there is another just like it.

I have one round of 280 in my little stash of sample cartridges and i think I paid $7 for it about 5 years ago.

About a year ago I missed out on the opportunity to buy a set of RCBS reloading dies, I am still kicking myself over that.

7x43 would make a nice little dear gun, and forming the brass would not be that hard.

I think its really neat to have one of the most significant cartridges that went from experiment into full scale trials production 76 years old and still in a factory case. I have collected firearms and ammunition going into 48 years.

I am happy to have bought and have such a unique case. Selling it appeals to me less and less and in my 48 years of collecting I have never, ever seen it and the prices some people quote here for a single round. Not Ever. Collecting on the Ottawa area, if I didn’t have this case, I would not even have even blinked at paying $30.00 for a single round in this pristine condition, and with this history and pictures or 4 for $100.00. Of the little of 280/7x43 I have seen, much of it was tarnished and discolored

Here is someone’s else’s perspective. Go figure

https://collectibleammunition.com/product/7x49mm-280-30-type-a-ball-7mm-fn-52/

I am sure there are pin fire or antique western cartridges out there that people would kill to pay $50.00 or $100.00. Like many with 7x43 I would sniff at it, paw the ground a little and consider paying $5.00/round. If you wanted $10.00 I would say thanks but no thank you and keep walking. Beauty and value is in the eye of the beholder. I also have had decades of ammunition development experience so this is this is the perspective that I bring to looking at this cartridge. No its not the cartridge solution in 2025; however, it is and was an incredible cartridge for its time; high underrated.

If you are interested in an 208/7.x43mm reloading CH Tool has several sets of dies in stock at $166.00 for full sizer and neck sizer set and you can speak to Jacob or email at sales@chtoolanddie.com

https://www.chtoolanddie.com/

If someone has issue with this price for custom dies, this is fair value in 2025 and if someone quibbles about the price and is nostalgic about what someone could have paid I the 1970s, when their limited inventory is gone, future production providing you place an order is 24 months. As my grandmother used to say “He who hesitates is lost” at least for 24 months in this case )



To me this is the most significant Experimental Ctgs as it went to trials and a production run due to its strength and I speak as an ammunition developer not just a cartridge collector. If others don’t agree that is their view and they are entitled to it

 

[Light Infantry]

Its always a shame when someone’s ego gets in the middle of things. No one is “at fault” or to “blame” here. I am wrong at least once a week and such is life however my comments come from two that collect this type of cartridge and have done so for decades. The two that quoted me what fair value was per round I have known for decades as Military ammunition collectors, but like myself they are not trying to prove anything and as I said above, I would rather keep the case. If you can find for “cheaper” all the power to you.

The three of us together have oodles of experience however, we don’t call ourselves experts either. On a CBC radio interview Piya Chattopadhyay “accused” Esther Perel, the Belgian-American psychotherapist, of being and “expert: and Esther corrected her in saying “I am not an expert; I am student because I am always learning”. That is part of the fun of collecting and learning about firearms and ammunition since childhood

Back to that Decaf you mentioned, my choice tonight would be one rum and coke (and none of that dam diet stuff!). Alternatively, there is “Georgian Bay Passionfruit Tropical Smash with 7% Vodka” which is really good. I also have another one but it’s a secrete and it will be under “$3.00 a round” (single drink paid for by the drinker, no bar tab on me!) at LCBO. Enjoy your drink and your evening. This is still a family channel. Cheers!

The first sentence is quite ironic from the op.

 

[Wilf Black]

The first sentence is quite ironic from the op.

Is this the song you were looking for? Just asking )

Is Alanis Morissette a cartridge collector? I'm assuming you are related?

All the best. Its been a long day and I really need to follow the lead of my dog and get more sleep

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