.303 Brit Milsurp ammo questions

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Calum

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Greetings!

OK so today I found a pile of .303 Brit ammo, some soft point hunting type, and some FMJ surplus, now among this pile are 7 rnds that are head stamped "WRA 1941", and the Primers have this very visible set of 4 crimpbars (for lack of a better word)...I have never seen this before. :confused:

Anyone have info on this stuff...ie what is it and is it safe to use? :confused:

Also from time to time I have come across .303 Brit Bren ammo still in the original boxes at 20rnds for $10. Are these OK to use in #4 Enfields, and P14's?
 
Winchester Repeating Arms, 1941. Apart from being 65 years old... It was good ammunition when it was made. What do you mean, Bren ammunition in 20 round boxes? Brens were intended to use standard Mk.VII/VIIZ ammunition.
 
What do you mean, Bren ammunition in 20 round boxes? Brens were intended to use standard Mk.VII/VIIZ ammunition.
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I think he's refering to a specific packaging of .303. I have a few boxes of .303, made by FN IIRC, that states on the label that it is for Bren guns. I'll try and get a pic up tonight.
 
"...Are these OK to use..." Yep. The whole point of having an LMG in the same calibre as the PBI's rifle is so ammo can be shared.
 
I might be wrong (someone correct me if I am!) but I think the four crimp marks you talk about mean that the round is bredan primed. Some military rounds and european rounds are primed this way. You wont be able to reload those shells. I have tried to decap similar rounds in 7.62X51 using a lee decapping die and popped the pin every time without coming close to moving the primer.
 
Thats why you want to look down inside the case BEFORE runing it thru the deprimer.
I now keep a log book of headstamps that I know to be Berdan.
 
I've seen similar post with questions on old ammo. Inspect all the rounds then try it out, the worst that can happend is a missfire. My squadron commander once shot old ammo and fell on a phosporus(however thats spelled) tipped rounds that created a trail of light when fired. Real cool when it's dark outside!
 
I fired some WRA '41 off last week, and HOLY CORROSIVE BATMAN! It was a -30ish day, by the time the rifle had rewarmed to room temp, the barrel on my beloved Lee already had some orange spots forming...
 
ollie said:
I fired some WRA '41 off last week, and HOLY CORROSIVE BATMAN! It was a -30ish day, by the time the rifle had rewarmed to room temp, the barrel on my beloved Lee already had some orange spots forming...
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HOLY SMOKES! :eek:
A good heads up about the WRA'41 stuff.

Also yes the Bren ammo was in little light brown boxes marked in little letters "bren .303' I feel stupid I didn't buy them, but didn't want to get stuck with something that might not be usable...maybe next time.

Hey I also found this site:
http://www.conjay.com/Ammunition for Armor Testing WW2 303.htm

:D
 
The old .303 was probably loaded with cordite and if so you can pull the bullets , collect the powder and make one hell of a firecracker . For informational purposes only as that may be illegal .
 
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