303 ww2 era ammo - important?

[37patt]

Some types of 303 ammo are more valuable.
AP goes for around 2.00 each.
Ball runs about 2.00 each with MkIV hollow points going up to 15.00 or so.
Blanks seem to run around 3 or 4.00 each with exceptions like the Blank Mk VI with mock bullet being worth around 85.00.
Drill rounds run 4 to 5.00, again exceptions like the BLANCH rolled tin cartridge can reach 50.00.
Gallery practice comes in around 3 to 6.00
Grenade launching seems to be around 5.00 each.
Incendiary go for 5 or 6.00.
Tracer goes from 2 to 4.00
I find that WWI stuff is not that much more expensive than WWII ammo as collectible items.

 

[kentb]

I received 104 rounds of .303 ball in two bandoleers (Stamped: Century Intl. Arms, Montreal, QC) and stripper clipped for $25.

A few of the rounds were headstamped "HXP" and "75" below the primer.
The majority of the rounds were headstamped "GB49" and "7" below the primer.

I have had several hang fires with the HXP ammo (4 or 5 out of 10) and one very slight hangfire with the Greenwood and Batley rounds (I've fired ~40 now). I noticed that small circular brown paper confetti shoots out my barrel when I shoot these GB rounds. Whats up with that?

 

[37patt]

The 303 cartridge used a glazedboard disc on top of the charge of cordite, I think to ensure the strands of cordite stayed at the bottom of the case. This was later, 1933, changed to a strawboard wad.
If you pull one of the bullets you can pull it out and see how solid it is.

 

[smellie]

Cordite is EROSIVE, not CORrosive. The corrosive part was the primer. The old British primers were mixed mercury fulminate/potassium chlorate. On firing, the potassium chlorate degreades to potassium chloride which is a SALT and also attracts water. Instant rust. Clean your bore immediately with boiling water, then dry with a patch, then oil immediately.
The corrosive primers were used in British ammo, ALL Commonwealth ammo and in Canadian ammo made by the Dominion Arsenal (D/!\C): anything with a big primer.

The DIZ was made by Defence Industries, which was under Dominion Cartridge Company practices and used a NONcorrosive NONmercuric primer.... and also made the nicest darned reloading brass EVER.

Older ammo can often be persuaded to shoot rather nicely. Try "bumping" the bullets: reseating them 1/16" deeper in the casing. Works far too often to ignore.

HXP is Greek Powder Company and is noncorrosive, nonmercuric and reloadable.
GB 49 is Greenwood and Batley of Leeds, one of the very oldest contractors for the .303 round and also (for you Noisy Maggot guys) the people who built the ammo machinery for the 7.62x54R in 1891. Their .303 ammo is all corrosive and mercuric.

Any more out there? The .303 is one of the most-manufactured cartridges in history. It has been made in 50 different countries over the last 122 years and it still works well.

BTW, anybody ever see a steel-cased .303 round with an eagle-and-swastika headstamp? Fellow told me he had seen one.... and I REALLY want a specimen!