303 Cartridge info please

[IDPACONVERT]

The cartridge in question is brass, bullet is copper jacket, has laquer sealent visible around the bullet & primer, primer has 3 stake marks at 12, 4, and 8 o'clock.

What I've found out so far:
A81- South African - PMP manufactured in 1981,

Here are the headstamp markings:
top: A81
bottom: 7X7 R1 M3Z

What I'd like to know is:
Boxer or Berdan
Corrosive or non-corrosive
MK VII or MK VIII
Bullet weight

Thank you.

 

[Baribal]

It's non-corrosive Berdan primed and if it's a FMJ it's a 174 gr, BT bullet.

At the manufacture time, SA were calling it 7.7X56R.

 

[boltonscouter]

It's non-corrosive Berdan primed and if it's a FMJ it's a 174 gr, BT bullet.

At the manufacture time, SA were calling it 7.7X56R.

Interesting ........... can you tell me please where one sources this type of information as I too have numerous vintages and makes of .303 that I'd love to know exactly what I'm dealing with? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

 

[cantom]

Interesting ........... can you tell me please where one sources this type of information as I too have numerous vintages and makes of .303 that I'd love to know exactly what I'm dealing with? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated

As Peter Laidler said, consider all .303 ammunition to be corrosive. Immediate cleaning after shooting with something that will dissolve corrosive salts is essential. A patch or 3 soaked in dish soap and water, then normal cleaners like Hoppes and CLP, rinse and repeat.

Personally I always put a kettle or two of boiling water down the bore of my .303's after shooting them as part of the cleaning process. I value clean bores too highly to play games...

Never trust any .303 ammo to be non corrosive.

 

[Baribal]

From 1974 SA used nitro-cellulose and "modern" primers.
Well, there's nothing wrong in treating these as corrosive...

This ammo was made availlable in quite large quantity somewhere in 2002/2003, and you can make a search using the 7.7X56R name to find some more infos about them. There was also some A80 availlable at the same time.
For this specific case, you can also contact PMP directly; http://www.pmp.co.za

You can source informations from many places, beyond others;

You can buy informations on CDs such;
h ttp://members.shaw.ca/cstein0/welcome.htm

You can contact Curtis Lewis from Cartridge Collectors
h ttp://cartridgecollectors.org/

You can also contact TonyE (.303 Guru...) on many boards, including Gunboards.com, where we have an identification Sticky in the Lee-Enfield forum.

You can become a member of the Associatio of Firearms and Toolmark Examiners Image Gallery board;
ht tp://www.afte.org/ExamResources/gallery2/v/Headstamp-Gallery/

You can also find a lot of interesting informations in Ian Skennerton's publications.

 

[boltonscouter]

Baribal:
Thanks! I'll definately check your suggested reading & references. Much appreciated

 

[IDPACONVERT]

Thank you for the information