Cordite still available for reloaders?

Cordite is cord-like, ie extruded like vermicelli noodles. The .303BR was originally loaded with the strands poked into the case and cut off with a knife, then the case shoulder squeezed in. There is a discussion of this topic over on the Lee Enfield forum on another site known as Culver Shooting Page.
 
The strands in a 303 Brit are small - about the diameter of a pencil lead. It would be miserable stoff to work with and a non-starter in a bottleneck case.

Also burns hot and erodes barrels faster.
 
Finding a manufacturer may be difficult because it is unlikely that it is being made.
Cordite was loaded in .303 cases before the cases were shaped. Take one apart, get the cordite out, and try to replace it.
Chopped cordite was loaded in pistol cartridges.
Anyway, it is a dead end for handloading. Not available and not particularly useful if it were.
 
"anyone remember the scene in "Collateral" were the one cop at the scene of one of the movies killings says something like...

"It couldn't have happened too long ago(the shooting)...
You can still smell the cordite"

I thought... WTF? Cordite in .40...?
 
Writers like to use the word. I doubt any ever smelled it. I did, but don't recall what it was like. That said, I have noted that different powders have very distinctive smells. I really like the smell of Eley 22 ammo.
 
I think the screenwriter of Collateral - in an failed attempt in the use of a $5.00 word - made the common mistake of equating cordite with all (modern) smokeless powder.

Maybe he had remembered the word from the novel The Day of the Jackal.
 
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Ammo loaded with cordite is stuffed full. Had occasion to take apart some cordite charged .50 BMG, long ago. The strings were bigger than those of a .303. As I recall, handling it too much isn't good for you either. Not that you can get it. Apparently the nitroglycerine has a tendency to come out and into your body.
 
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