I Dug Up an Old .303 Br Case

.223Savage

.223Savage

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I literally dug it up as I found it in a local park while metal detecting.

The head markings show a R^L at 12 o'clock and C and II at 6 o'clock. My initial internet research shows these markings to indicate the case was manufactured at the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, England and was loaded with cordite propellant and a Mk II type soft point bullet. Apparently this type of round was only manufactured from 1893 - 1898 as being a soft point, it ran afoul of the "Rules of War" of the era. The neck was cracked but I can't tell if that was from being fired or simply from being in the ground so long. It was only a couple of inches below the surface which is a bit odd but between floods and construction in the area there may have been a lot of soil movement.

I wish the case could tell the story of how it got to be in a park in Calgary.
 
Over the years history of what went on in a area gets forgotten. Years ago we were excavating a site in Strathcona in Edmonton and came across a 6 Pd'r shell. It turned out that the sight used to be a range that was in use before WW1. Same as in the West-end there was a former DND range that was not developed for many years until it was cleared of ordnance.
It could be that the park was a former range or perhaps someone's hunting ground before the city expanded.
 
The MkII ctg was loaded with a 215 gr FMJ bullet. The MkIII, IV and V were expanding bullets III having a cup inserted in the nose and IV and V were hollow points.
 
construction in the area there may have been a lot of soil movement.

Used to be a training area in Signal Hill, during WW1, anywhere near there ?

Grizz
 
Funny the things that turn up. I was picking up a scrap steel bin from a remote dump in SE AB and there was a 105mm projectile on the top of the load.
Guess what the Military ( Suffield ) said when we alerted them one of their rounds was in a public transfer site?
"Phone the RCMP, we are playing games and our EOD techs are all busy"
Nice, eh? Lost a bit of respect at that point.
Should have phoned the News and gave them the story for the week...
 
No, it was north of there by the Bow.

I would be just a bit reluctant to dig around Signal Hill, two wars worth of nasty things in the ground there. Rumor has it some interesting things popped out of the ground around in that area after the monsoon rains of a few years ago.
 
Cool find. I remember last year I was in Petawawa training area and I found a small pile of .303 cases dated all around 1938-1940 if I remember correctly. Likely missed when cleaning up from whatever training they were doing sometime between 1940 and the 1960s and left there since. Since you are not allowed to take cases out of the training area I decided to leave them there for whoever might find them next and hopefully they will be able to get as much of a kick out of it as I did.
 
When I was in school I found several 1918 dated .303 cases in the trees surrounding the school yard. Been there a long time.
 
.223Savage said:
No, it was north of there by the Bow.

I would be just a bit reluctant to dig around Signal Hill, two wars worth of nasty things in the ground there. Rumor has it some interesting things popped out of the ground around in that area after the monsoon rains of a few years ago.
Click to expand...

the whole hill face has been changed, the 113 is the only part that wasnt regraded for construction, i doubt much remains. i also didnt hear about anything being washed out
 
Scott585, check out the last few paragraphs of the attached article from 2013 concerning the Calgary floods.

I am not too good at setting up the link but if you do a search on Google for the subject you will find the article.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-floods-unearth-bones-bombs-1.1378582[/URL]
 
tokguy said:
Funny the things that turn up. I was picking up a scrap steel bin from a remote dump in SE AB and there was a 105mm projectile on the top of the load.
Guess what the Military ( Suffield ) said when we alerted them one of their rounds was in a public transfer site?
"Phone the RCMP, we are playing games and our EOD techs are all busy"
Nice, eh? Lost a bit of respect at that point.
Should have phoned the News and gave them the story for the week...
Click to expand...

Perhaps it's not their job to deal with UXO's in SE AB? It sounds like they were too busy training for war to deal with your phone call, and that's why they directed to you to the proper resource.

Regards,
-Steve
 
Steve1987 said:
Perhaps it's not their job to deal with UXO's in SE AB? It sounds like they were too busy training for war to deal with your phone call, and that's why they directed to you to the proper resource.

Regards,
-Steve
Click to expand...

Ah; must be just me then. Thought maybe as it's their ordnance and all that. Trained tech's and such, I must be the one who is crazy. Civilian danger from their ordnance...meh.
Might as well shut the site down til they are not busy any more. Makes sense to me...
 
RL would refer to the Royal Laboratory Woodwich Arsenal in Kent. C means the powder was cordite. And it's a Mark11 cartridge that had a 215gr bullet. It was found to be unsuitable in combat and was replaced in 1897-98 for the Mark111
 
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