Is it o.k. to fire this ammo...

[TheTooner]

...or am I depriving a collector of something desirable? (I'm satisfied that the condition does not suggest any safety issue.)

Two boxes (48rounds/box) of H-112 .303 INCH MkVII with a C containing an arrowhead and underneath the letters C.I.A. One box is unsealed and the cartridge heads are stamped D.A.C. and VII and 1943. I expect the sealed box is the same.

One box labelled 50 Round (has been opened, actually contains 47) 7,7x56R BALL R1M3Z and C59 (could be misprint of 059) and A 9/80 The headstamp on these is A 80 and R1M3Z

 

[wbaad]

Sealed box has collector value, and maybe singles too. Not super valuable unless a rare variant, experimental, etc.
not great to shoot as it's cordite which erodes barrels and corrosive primed.

 

[Keller]

If it were me I'd hold on to them. .303 Brit isn't rare enough to justify shooting off WWII vintage ammo. My 2 cents.

 

[smellie]

Your DAC 43 VII is Dominion Arsenals (the Government factory) 1943-manufactured Mark VII ammo. It has a 174-grain composite 3-piece bullet running at a nominal muzzle velocity of 2440 ft/sec and a big copper primer which is both mercuric AND corrosive. It is loaded with Cordite MDT 5-2. It was a Canadian-made perfect copy of the official spec laid down in 1910. When made, it was very good stuff.

Any problems with this ammunition are in the primers. The corrosive primers line your bore with SALT and necessitate cleaning your bore with very hot water, then wiping dry, then oiling and repeating for 2 days after shooting. The Mercury released during the firing process contaminates the Brass, hardening and weakening it, which is why our military never became involved in reloading fired casings: they went for scrap and for subsequent smelting in which the mercury could be removed before the metal was made into something else.

Your cartridges with the R headstamp are South African. Ones I have seen also are Berdan-primed but supposedly are NCNM. However, the primers themselves are very difficult to obtain in this country. This might change what with the "new" line of "Dominion" Berdan primers which are being imported..... from Russia.

Your R1M3Z is definitely a South African marking, as is the 7.7x56R: their metric name for the .303. The .303 (or 7.7x56R if you prefer) was their standard cartridge as the R1 until it was replaced by the 7.62 NATO. The M3 gives you the precise Modification of the basic round. The Z indicates loading with a cut, extruded powder of what we would call the IMR type.

Sorry. That's all I can add right now.

BTW, the SA stuff does shoot nicely in a good rifle.

 

[TheTooner]

Thanks. I think I'll shoot the S.African and take the WWII vintage stuff to a gun show here this weekend to see if I can trade it for something. Any suggestions of a source for what collectors give for this stuff?

 

[tahunua001]

I've had problems with cordite not igniting properly and ended up with an almost muzzleloader effect, it goes click, bang, BOOM! and you can see some of the cordite still igniting as it's leaving the barrel... I don't shoot that stuff anymore and stick to modern powder ammo. I got really lucky and happened on a couple crates of HXP and it's been great.