.303 Brit surplus ammo

[DougW]

I got most of the chargers from surplus .303 ammo bought years ago. Even a bandoleer (sp?) of HXP that I didn't realize was reloadable, but I at least kept the chargers. I don't recall ever buying just the chargers loose though. I haven't seen any around either, come to think of it.

 

[armoredman]

Numrich had them when I got mine.

 

[theoldgringo]

Sorry 'bout the double post. Can a guy actually delete one of these?

 

[theoldgringo]

HOTSHOT 303 is good stuff and the brass is re-loadable

+1 on HotShot. It's acceptable ammo, can be bought locally, costs around $11-$12/box in this area and is re-loadable. $55-$60 = 100 rounds of loaded ammo & 100 pieces of usable brass.

A bargain in the current market and not a click-bang in a carload.....

 

[rr2241tx]

Samco sells UK manufactured .303 Mk VII Ball in chargers at a reasonable price. Most of it seems to be 1938 vintage, but the entire case is the same. I have had no problems with it so far. It is a lot slower than modern smokeless powder though, so you will hear the hammer and the ignition separately, just. Very uniform though. Comes in a cool battle case with the metal can opened inside. Wish I'd bought more before the price went up.
rr2241tx

 

[EricTheBarbarian]

I just got some hotshot ammo in the mail today. The headstamps are the exact same as the wolf gold ammo. The ammo I bought was 762x54r, and 8mm but i doubt the .303 would be any different. The only difference Ive seen is a different color box and the hotshot is a couple bucks cheaper.

 

[Ignition Override]

Slamfire1: Quite true, based on a long article about a Euro/British arms control organization. Don't know the website for it.

I suppose that when British, Spanish, French and German txpayers don't want to spend so much of their money subsidizing design and research of civilian Airbus jets, they are happy to spend it on destroying millions of rounds of surplus ammo in eastern Europe and Russia.


Take note-millions of professional welfare recipients are counting on you to work very hard (not just in the Peoples' Republik of Minnezota).

 

[Slamfire]

Slamfire1: Quite true, based on a long article about a Euro/British arms control organization. Don't know the website for it.

Was it from here?:

http://europeandcis.undp.org/home/show/A8DC70AB-F203-1EE9-B7EB3D48B57D9F75

Bosnia and Herzegovina Targets Surplus Ammunition
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, February 2009-Authorities destroyed surplus rocket propellant in Vitezit this month, as part of an ongoing effort to rid Bosnia and Herzegovina of increasingly hazardous ammunition. The country has a roughly 25,000 tons of surplus ammunition, a legacy of its conflicts in the 1990s. Dismantling all the explosives is one the country’s biggest security priorities.

Or here, the Small Arms Control Project?

http://www.ploughshares.ca/control/UNProgrammeAction.htm

The Programme of Action (PoA) requires member nations, among other steps, to:

• Establish a national coordination agency on small arms;
• Identify and destroy stocks of surplus weapons;
• Manage stock-piles more effectively;
• Issue end-user certificates for exports/transit;
• Notify the original supplier nation of re-export;
• Support Disarmament, Demobilization & Re-integration (DDR) of ex-combatants, including collection and destruction of their weapons;
• Mark guns at point of manufacture for identification and tracing;
• Maintain records of gun manufacture;
• Engage in more information exchange;
• Ensure better enforcement of arms embargoes;
• Include civil society organizations in efforts to prevent small
arms proliferation.

 

[jpwilly]

Others have probably stated this already but IMO you need to reload for the .303 Brit.

My Father in law has a No1 Mk3 that barely grouped 6" at 50 yrds with the british surplus we had. The bore looks like a sewer pipe from corrosive ammo and years of use. The reloads that shoot well in his rifle are 150gr SP Hornandy bullets, Varget and Prvi Brass. I'll be picking up some more Rem Brass once the casses are wearing. I'm on my 4th reloading of this brass and his rifle will shoot within 2" at 100yrds even less at times. Last time out his first shot from a cold bore hit the 1/2" bullseye.

My No4 Mk1* likes to shoot the 174gr stuff but again surplus was by far the worst performing stuff including numberous "hang fires" and dud's that are annoying to wait to clear.

 

[Dark Skies]

9mmepiphany - there's always some on Ebay. There's some on now:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lee-Enfield-S...QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f0QQsalenotsupported


DougW - there's a bayonet frog on ebay too.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lee-Enfield-S...QQptZLHQ5fDefaultDomainQ5f0QQsalenotsupported

 

[DougW]

Thanks Dark Skies.

 

[Ignition Override]

With the lowest-cost, beginner's set of reloading equipment, what is the approx. cost/round after X reloadings of only the .303 caliber? You reloaders should know what X might be. I have about 50 empty cases of POF and British-made (British from Samco and POF from elsewhere). Will soon have about two hundred.

Let's use plinking at 'insurgent bricks' from 80 feet with a modest powder quantity for cost figures.
Bricks and water-filled coke jugs will never require anything fancy.

I have no idea whether rounds would cost at least $.50 or more, or less, but the bullets don't seem to be cheap at all.
Have watched reloading just once-this spring-at my brother's, and was surprised at the bullets' price. The economics of the process are very difficult for me to evaluate.

 

[DougW]

Ignition Override, I mainly started reloading to get away from corrosive surplus and keep up a steady supply on ammo. I would guess that I spend about $.20/round for .303, since I reuse my brass and have 500+ cartridges. As I said, I didn't get into it for the cost issue. But then, I load .38, .357, .45, .223, .308, 30.06, and .303 because I like to shoot, and reloading is fun (especially when you load a squib round!).

 

[Ignition Override]

Thanks Doug:
I might check into it, but even if you only do it for the single .303 caliber, could the cost be about .30/round?
It might take over 500 reloadings to pay for the basic equipment?

 

[DougW]

Yes, you will spend close to $300 on the proper equipment (new). Used may be cheaper, and I too started out on .303, but moved to other calibers as time went on.

 

[Ignition Override]

jpwilly:

My two Russian MN 44s group at least that bad at 50 yards, but both bores look smooth, and reflect some light.

SlamFire 1:
Can not remember the name of the website, but it looked very official and described some Euro group which must have spent lots of ("kool-aid drinking' taxpayer money) on the destruction of huge heaps of the ammo).

It must be most rewarding to pay-for the middle class-up to about 50-60% income tax to Not Only subsidize Airbus R&D (not allowed by US law for our civilian aircraft), but blow even more of it on eastern Euro (and former Soviet) government departments, which probably siphon off a good chunk of these funds into bribes/"baksheesh".

Patriotism, if it still exists in the UK/the "Euro Zone" (after the guilt from countless centuries of butchering each other in vast numbers: i.e "the Hundred Years' War", "the Thirty Years' War" through Paeschendaele: let's not forget WW2 and the "Yugo Zone in the 90s) means paying high taxes to support purported third world refugees (or at least the category).
And they call the US under George W. aggressive...