Found some old stuff

Ganderite

Ganderite

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Farm south of North Bay
I was rummaging around in the ammo bunker and found this old stuff. (The Palma ammo is not old.)

The 100 round pack of 22 is C broad arrow stamped and dated 1940. The CIL 303 hunting ammo is expanding bronze point. Not made any more. I guess the ballistic tip is similar.

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Specification for Ball .303" ammunition included a 3-point stab crimp from the outside of the casing into the Crimping Cannelure of the bullet.

Mouth crimps were only used on ammunition in which the crimp itself might damage the crimping tool or bullet or whatever it happened to contain. AP and Tracer were mouth-crimped.

Bullet pull on the .303" was regulated at not less than 60 pounds. If it was being run through a Vickers gun, the belt comes in sideways and the round must be cammed to the rear by the bevelled surface inside the forward part of the feed block. Only then can it be picked up by the Gib of the Lock, cycled into the chamber and fired. You need good, solid ammo to handle this rough mechanical handling at any kind of speed.
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NICE collection there, Ganderite!
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I've got some of that banded stuff too. I believe it's headstamped 1923, but the bands are a little different from yours. Somewhere I read the bands were changed slightly each year, so that that years ammo could be easily distinguished. Of course that would only have been necessary if they used cases with the same headstamp for several year's ammo. Which they presumably did.
 
Peter Labbett wrote a whole series in "Guns Review" magazine, back in the middle 1960s.

Series was called simply "The Banded .303s" and was in the Cartridge Corner section of the mag.

Apart from his work, I don't think anyone has addressed this issue, before or since.
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There are good lots of 303 and poor lots of 303. Could be same headstamp.

The concept of the DCRA shooting matches was that everyone used the same ammo - not a select lot or ammo that had been tuned up.

When we signed in we were given a chit to go the quartermaster and draw our ammo allotment, about 400 rounds. The ammo that year would have a unique set of bands and the other shooters and range Officers would expect to see us all using the same ammo.

Shooters would retire to the tent with their ammo and sort it all by rim thickness, in the belief it would shoot better.
 
Banded cartridges were used for DCRA matches from 1921 to 1940 as follows

Year Bands Colour
1921 1 Rosanaline red
1922 1 Malachite green
1923 1 Gentian violet
1924 1 Victoria blue
1925 6 Rosanaline red
1926 6 Malachite green
1927 6 Gentian violet
1928 6 Victoria blue
1929 3 Rosanaline red
1930 3 Malachite green
1931 3 Gentian violet
1932 3 Victoria blue
1933 4 Rosanaline red
1934 4 Malachite green
1935 4 Gentian violet
1936 4 Victoria blue
1937 2 Rosanaline red
1938 2 Malachite green
1939 2 Gentian violet
1940 2 Victoria blue

In general, cartridges produced one year were assigned for the match of the following year. When insufficient quantities were held form the previous year, current production was chosen to make up the amount required.
Thus you could expect to see a 1936 head stamp with 2 red bands for the 1937 match, but you could also find a 1937 head stamp for the same match.
In short, the band code is for the year of the DCRA match, and cartridge headstamps may vary.

In addition, Cartridges head stamped 44 with one green band were made for the 1945 match. Also, 44 head stamps with one wide violet band were made for the late 1940's, the exact year unknown. 1945 cases were loaded with a nickel primer for the 1950 match.
Dominion Arsenals produced a special Olympics match round in 1948 using ball cases dated 1940-1943. These rounds were completely black to identify them.

The info here was taken from "Canada and the .303 British" by C.R. MacDonald
 
37patt said:
Year Bands Colour
1921 1 Rosanaline red
1922 1 Malachite green
1923 1 Gentian violet
1924 1 Victoria blue
1925 6 Rosanaline red
1926 6 Malachite green
1927 6 Gentian violet
1928 6 Victoria blue
1929 3 Rosanaline red
1930 3 Malachite green
1931 3 Gentian violet
1932 3 Victoria blue
1933 4 Rosanaline red
1934 4 Malachite green
1935 4 Gentian violet
1936 4 Victoria blue
1937 2 Rosanaline red
1938 2 Malachite green
1939 2 Gentian violet
1940 2 Victoria blue
Click to expand...

that would make a good tattoo----or bumper sticker, perhaps
 
Good one Kunk.

OK, I had to look. It's DAC 1925 VII headstamped, six green bands. Primer annulus is green too.
 
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