303 ww2 era ammo - important?

hansol

hansol

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Hey guys,

I have a question regarding historical ammo. I have a bunch of old 303 rounds kicking around, and was planning on just shooting them off one day at the range. But then I thought I had better check and see if they are historically valuable: I don't want to be a "bubba" and fire them off if they are of historical importance.

The rounds are marked:

-45 pieces of "D| Z 1944"
-24 pieces of "DA (symbol thing) 45 Mk7"
-10ish pieces of "K 66"

Anyway just figured I would check before I did something I couldn't take back. Cheers!
 
the "DI Z 1944" is Canadian Made, Nitrocellulose made in 1944. The Nitrocellulose (indicated by the "Z") is a non-corrosive proppelant compared to the standard at the time, cordite which is corrosive.

I believe the DA is Indian made , in 1945, the MK7 Just indicates it a Mk7 round, which was the standard .303 round since 1907 i believe.

And the "K 66" I would have to guess is british, made by the kynoch (Spelling?) factory.

As for value, it all depends really, value wise your looking at around $1 a round. Some collectors may pay more, but not much. are they in complete boxes? If not, I would keep 10 of each for an example and shoot the rest.
 
I think the DA means it was made by Dominion Ammunition (CIL).
It is old ammunition built for war use, but still quite common.
 
No, they are not in complete boxes. Just loose rounds that I had given to me. I sorted them out to see what I had, and that is what I came up with.

Thanks very much for your input. I think I may just do your "save ten rounds" idea and go from there. I'm not more of a shooter rather than a collector, but I certainly don't wish to ruin something that has historical value.
 
hansol said:
No, they are not in complete boxes. Just loose rounds that I had given to me. I sorted them out to see what I had, and that is what I came up with.

Thanks very much for your input. I think I may just do your "save ten rounds" idea and go from there. I'm not more of a shooter rather than a collector, but I certainly don't wish to ruin something that has historical value.
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*shrug* "Value" is relative. I tend to squirrel away stuff like that - Not so much for the dollar value but for what it might mean to somebody else in "Hey neat!" value one day :D. They're not making any more and it's not like the stuff takes up much room in the gun cabinet.
 
DA with C/I\ is Dominion Arsenal, Quebec City, a crown corporation, loaded with cordite and a corrosive primer. The primer composition is what makes ammo corrosive not the powder type.
 
Ya got it spot on. Cordite is erosive, not corrosive because it burns hotter than nitrocellouse powder eroding the throat just ahead of the chamber over time.
 
.303 headstamp information.

http://enfieldking.tripod.com/enfieldking/id12.html



-45 pieces of "D| Z 1944"

DI Defense Industies, Montreal, CANADA
1944

-24 pieces of "DA (symbol thing) 45 Mk7"

DA Dominion Arsenal, Montreal, CANADA
45 is the year

-10ish pieces of "K 66"

K Kynoch & Co., Witton, Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM
66 is the year...

Worth about what anyone would pay for them, some will pay $1 per or .30 to .50 per. depends on condition and how rare they are.
 
Drachenblut said:
I have an un-opened box of DA C /I\ Mk.VIIZ rounds, 48 count. I bought it off a guy for 45 bucks. Did I get a deal or cut even?
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Commercially manufactured modern .303British fmj or hunting ammunition typically retails for more than $1/round, so if what you have all goes bang, at worst you did o.k. getting 48 rounds of plink for $45.
 
It should be mentioned that surpluss ammo can do nothing for accuracy. it's old and sometimes groups like crap...
 
Pblatzz said:
It should be mentioned that surpluss ammo can do nothing for accuracy. it's old and sometimes groups like crap...
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Don't be too sure about that! This is what some 1951 vintage dominion did at 100yds out of my 2-groove #4 using the 200yd battle sight:

im000034i.jpg



The two in the upper left were a couple of IVI rounds, and the one at the center-left was an odd round with a 'silver' or 'aluminum' colored bullet. The three on the right were from a .243.
 
Mmm. I think I'll leave the box intact until I desperately need it. It's Nitrocellulose so it shouldn't degrade too badly. That said, I've fired 1915 .303 rounds and they pack a WHOLLOP. Only ever had 1 hangfire and 1 misfire with 20 of them. Impressive.
Now, to clarify, the Mk.VII has the "Hauge Beater" bullet tip right? AKA the plastic or aluminum tip so that the bullet would have a better chance to "tumble" or "mushroom"?
 
Ive personally fired old .303 roundnose ammo that I was told was pre 1900. Never had an issue, all fired. Not the most accurate stuff but it hit paper at 100m
 
Pblatzz said:
It should be mentioned that surpluss ammo can do nothing for accuracy. it's old and sometimes groups like crap...
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I shot some DIZ that was consistently 2" with my No4Mk2..... It all depends on how reliably the old ammo was STORED over the last few decades. It is sometimes as good as the day it was manufactured.
 
nelly said:
I shot some DIZ that was consistently 2" with my No4Mk2..... It all depends on how reliably the old ammo was STORED over the last few decades. It is sometimes as good as the day it was manufactured.
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I have found that DI Z ammo is good too, so is the 1950 DA ammo. It all comes down to it's(the ammo) condition and how it was stored. too often the ammo was repacked because it was exposed to moisture.

DI z is one of my favorites, you can reload that brass many times.

Pete
 
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