Old .303 roundnose

ArtyMan

ArtyMan

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Hey guys,

I was recently given about 20 rounds of older .303 british ammunition. It has a long round, silver bullet, and is marked DAC (Dominion im assuming?) then C (I heard something meaning cordite), and then a two in roman numerals (II). I was just wondering if these are worth anything or should I just shoot em off?

Thanks
 
Yep. Dominion. No date on the headstamp? The 215 grain RN was used up to 1910. A 'Z' indicates nitrocellulose. Cordite was the norm prior to nitrocellulose coming along. You sure it's a 'C'?
Might have some collector value if they're still in the original box.
 
I had some boxes in the old yellow box, 'kling kor' ( spelling) was the bullet style, shot em off and after 3 rounds rounds it looked like I was starting up an old VW diesel:D
 
It is .303" Cordite MkII Ball made by Dominion Cartridge Factory Quebec City not the Dominion Ctg Co. It is pretty common and definitely corrosive. Made by DCF c1897-1906.
 
Yea there is no date at all on the headstamp, however I have some other rounds dating 1940-1945, and some of which have a "Z".

Any idea what these are worth?
 
The silver-coloured bullets have a cupro-nickel alloy jacket instead of copper used in modern jacketed bullets. The change to copper was because cupro-nickel fouling is very difficult to remove.

I would save the ammo for posterity.
 
I had a weird box of old ammo given to me, manufactured by a company in Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1920, using Berdan reloading tools to reload WWI issue cases with new bullets and cordite loading. Since the box was worn, falling apart it had no value, so for fun I ran the bullets through my 1917 Lee Enfield SMLE III*, and to my utter shock, all of them fired, and I recieved groupings of roughly 3 inches at 150 yards on iron sites... The only thing I cried about was CLEANING the poor rifle afterwards... I nearly went through a quarter bottle of Hoppe's No.9 to get the barrel back to what it was! Any other fun Cordite expereinces out there? Oh, by the way, the bullets were cupro-nickel with a weird tip, almost felt like phosphorus on the head of a match? Any ideas? The box was labelled "Round Nose Hunting Ammuntion"
 
I think that the ammunition you were shooting was not reloaded with new bullets - it was remanufactured with the original bullets having their tip jackets removed, and the exposed cores reshaped. Cores could blow through, leaving the jacket in the bore, with a bulged or burst barrel being a possibility. IIRC, there was legal action. Probably rare ammunition today, because it was dangerous to use.
 
Most likely the exposed lead was oxidised, giving a frosted or porous appearance.

Hatcher's Notebook has a chapter in it dealing with the early days of jacketed bullets. Apparently, the most effective way of removing cupro-nickel fouling was to fill the bore with a strong ammonia solution, taking care not to let it contact anything else on the rifle, and let it sit for about 20 minutes. After that, it would be poured out and the bore dried and oiled. Extreme care had to be taken to keep the solution from drying in contact with metal or it would be etched.
 
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