Helping an old guy move the other day I was offered about 100 rounds of old surplus army .303 ammo that he bought back in the 50's.Being a reloader I figured I can always salvage the bullet if nothing else.I've heard of people shooting these old cordite cartridges with no problem other than the odd primer malfunction.As I don't know and the old guy can't remember if this ammo has always been kept in cool dry conditions over the years and not on a sunny window ledge, my question is---- has anybody ever heard of the cordite ever "going bad" and blowing up a properly maintained rifle or any other horror stories about cordite cartridges????. After taking a few of these ones apart with my bullet hammer,I noticed that the cordite is dis-colored and plan on taking them all apart to put the bullets in different cases.
Old cordite .303 ammo ?
- Thread starter Madrod
- Start date
Number of years back I came into some 303 British cartridges dated 1918. Thought I might shoot a few to see how they stood the test of time. Went well for a few rounds then had 2 hangfires with the last one also suffering case head separation, I decided to follow the old "Discretion is the better part of valor" rule. Didn't figure blowing up the gun was worth it.
Thanks for answering guys. The fact that JMJ had a case head separation tells me that that particular cartridge must have had a much higher pressure than normal or the case itself was faulty.Either way,I'll feel safer reloading those old cool steel-jacketed bullets into modern cases and propelling them with a sane load of new DuPont stick powder.
Wait!
Save them!
A lot of people like to collect old ammo, as a reloader, you should know that! Sure, you could take them apart & reuse the brass (I don't know about the bullets...) but they're probably worth more as collectables. You said the old timer took them home in the 50's, what's the date stamp on them? Obviously, anything with a stamp between 39-45 will be a catch for a lot of people, and for what you get for 100rds, or whatever's left, I'm sure you'll be able to buy a couple boxes of bullets, bags of brass, or factory ammo!
Personnally, I'm not a collector of old ammo, but I'm sure you won't have a hard time finding guys on here who are!
Tim H
Save them!
A lot of people like to collect old ammo, as a reloader, you should know that! Sure, you could take them apart & reuse the brass (I don't know about the bullets...) but they're probably worth more as collectables. You said the old timer took them home in the 50's, what's the date stamp on them? Obviously, anything with a stamp between 39-45 will be a catch for a lot of people, and for what you get for 100rds, or whatever's left, I'm sure you'll be able to buy a couple boxes of bullets, bags of brass, or factory ammo!
Personnally, I'm not a collector of old ammo, but I'm sure you won't have a hard time finding guys on here who are!
Tim H
I have some as well and I no longer shoot them. They were prone to hangfires etc., but the main reason I have kept them all these years is for nostalgia. I doubt that they are worth great sums of money, but they "don't make 'em anymore", so I am going to keep the few I have left (40ish).
Can anyone tell me what year they stopped using cordite? I have some old .303 and I don't want to fire any cordite if I can help it...
Cordite .303" was made in Canada to 1954, c1960 in the UK and even later in India. If the Mark # ,ie VII or & 7, has no suffix it is cordite, if it has a Z suffix it is nitrocellulose. Cordite is very stable but it is the primers that deteriorate. Recently saw some 1912 DA MkVI cordite fired with good results.
