Anyone reload with cordite?

LUTNIT

LUTNIT

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
75   0   0
Location
Eastern Ontario
I bought 50rnds of WW2 surplus 303 British from the Carp gun and hunting show. Tried to fire some and only one round went off out of a dozen or so I tested. Decided to pull the bullets for reloading since the primers appear to be duds after 70 years. I did keep 5 loaded rounds since it's still sorta neat to have 1943 head stamped ammo. The cases where loaded with cordite as I thought they might. Brown strands, about 1.5" long, burns like any other smokeless powder. I was wondering if it can actually be used for something other than fertilizer or Canada Day celebrations.

.312" diameter bullets with cardboard wads under them. What I thought was a cannalure turned out to be inside the neck, not at the mouth, and filled with grease so I guess these are some of the greased bullets I've read about. A few also have markings stamped in the exposed lead on the bullets base. Some have an "H" and some have an asterisks (*); no idea what those mean. It appears to be solid lead so I'm pretty sure they aren't tracers.
 
Nice. I've fired cordite rounds but have never seen cordite in the metal. Not that I've spent any time looking for it either. How many strands? Did you count or weigh a charge? Did the round that did go off feel like a good military round?
 
I didn't count or weigh so the stuff is useless to me without some sort of weight data to go from. I wasn't really thinking of reusing it but the thought crossed my mind after the fact so I figured I'd post up here. They where packed in pretty tight and I had to use tweezers to pull the first few strands out to loosen it up enough for the rest to fall out. The recoil felt the same as the Winchester Super-X 180gr PP ammo I had out the same day but I'm not very recoil sensitive to smaller differences in recoil often go unnoticed to me.

Smells like my grandmothers musty basement.

They look like uncooked chow mien noodles but slightly thinner:
 
My understanding of Cordite leads me to believe that it may not be the best for your barrel, due to the very high percentage of Nitroglycerine in it.

However, in the quantities you have, probably not an issue.

Regards, Dave.
 
Cordite would be pretty tough to reload in a bottlenecked case. It was dropped into the straight bodied case before the neck and shoulder were swaged. that is why you had to pick some strands out before it loosened up enough to just fall out.

I don't know why it would be harmful to your barrel. Lots of single base powders out there.
 
ykkid said:
I don't know why it would be harmful to your barrel. Lots of single base powders out there.
Click to expand...

The very high percentage of Nitroglycerine in the original formula caused flame temps that were very high.
This resulted in accelerated throat erosion when a steady diet of cordite was on the menu.

Later formulations reduced the NG somewhat and added other components which lowered flame temps somewhat.
We have it good today....our smokeless propellants are relatively easy on barrel steel, compared to cordites.

Regards, Dave.
 
When I was a kid, my dad would pull cordite from a 303 rounds and lay the strands out on my hockey sticks in the shape of my name. Then he would light the end strand and I would watch the burning cordite slowly burn my name (just 3 letters) into the stick.

You have enough cordite there to label the sticks of your kid's team...
 
just having some fun said:
That video is an accident about to happen somebody got very lucky

Glass as a container -------- please don't do this

Dropping a match in to a flammable substance ---- another ----- please don't do this
Click to expand...

You need a new name, because that guy is "just having some fun".

Although I wouldn't use a glass jar either, at least not without a fuse so I could get far enough away if it breaks with some force.
 
Wrap a strand in a layer of tinfoil, leaving one end exposed. Put on eyes. Light the exposed end. Zoom.

Do this out doors. Put wings on the foil. Have fun with your mini-rocket planes.

My dad had a bunch marked 'GB 1939' when I was growing up. I had some fun. Any I tried firing in his old Enfield worked fine.
 
Cordite hasn't been used in rifle ammo since before W.W. II, as I recall. The .50 BMG ammo I took apart for movie prop rounds, long ago, had cordite. The strands were about 1/8" diameter.
 
I'm wondering if a single strand might be interesting to add to a single-use firestarter? I make my own, I mix a bunch of stuff and then seal pinches of it into sections of McDonald's straws. Waterproof single use effective firestarter: a strand of cordite would burn hot and light quick...
 
gewehr76 said:
Can the strands be put in the blender or some grinder and make powder out of them? Then reloaded in to the cartridge by weight of the strands from one round and capped with same bullet at the same OAL? Using new case and modern primer ofcourse.
Click to expand...

It would increase the burn rate dramatically, so you would need to make new load data with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom