TonyE Posted 3 February , 2011 Share Posted 3 February , 2011 No, I wasn't taking the wizz. I could see the whole picture of each round and the upper round certainly has a blunt nosed projectile. I just wanted to confirm what I had was an early .303 round (so probably by default a NZ round) as opposed to a Mauser round. There was a small village Museum we went to in the Cape Helles area that had piles of Mauser rounds that were sharp tipped and boat tailed, but its always good to tap the forum knowledge to make sure. Did any of the British troops on Gallipoli also carry the early .303's, or were they all equiped with the Mk III? Yes, the Lowland Division went to Gallipoli with "long" Lee Enfields still sighted for Mark VI ammunition. Also, I am uncertain whether the RND's SMLEs were sighted for Mark VI or Mark VII ammo. Generally the Royal Navy hung on to older weapons longer than the army. Your Mark VI bullets could be Australian, NZ or of course British. I doubt if there are any markings left, but have a look at the base of the bullets and see if there is anything stamped in the lead. With regard to the boat-tailed Mauser bullets you mentioned, I would bet that they are in fact French 8mm Lebel Balle D bullets. Turkish 7.65x53mm bullets were flat based at that time. Also, from your previous post, the "stringy" propellant in the .303 is cordite, hence the name. Regards TonyE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRKY Posted 5 February , 2011 Share Posted 5 February , 2011 When you say you removed the primer after taking out the cordite, how is this done? I have seen many cartididges emptied but never anything done to the primer. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Dave Posted 5 February , 2011 Author Share Posted 5 February , 2011 When the round was found, the projectile was missing as something had violently smashed it open. The cordite was hanging out of the open end so it was a case of pulling and shaking it out until the cartridge was empty. With the primer, it was knocked out using a hole punch, much the same as any reloader would do. It essentialy crumbled away as it was pretty old and came out in lumps. Interestingly the cordite still flared up when lit! I was quite amazed at that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodB Posted 11 February , 2011 Share Posted 11 February , 2011 No, I wasn't taking the wizz. I could see the whole picture of each round and the upper round certainly has a blunt nosed projectile. I just wanted to confirm what I had was an early .303 round (so probably by default a NZ round) as opposed to a Mauser round. There was a small village Museum we went to in the Cape Helles area that had piles of Mauser rounds that were sharp tipped and boat tailed, but its always good to tap the forum knowledge to make sure. Did any of the British troops on Gallipoli also carry the early .303's, or were they all equiped with the Mk III? I understand the East Lancashire (42nd) division had the old MLE on Gallipoli, as they weren't re-equipped with SMLEs until they got to the Western Front in 1917. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikB Posted 11 February , 2011 Share Posted 11 February , 2011 With the primer, it was knocked out using a hole punch, much the same as any reloader would do. It essentialy crumbled away as it was pretty old and came out in lumps. Interestingly the cordite still flared up when lit! I was quite amazed at that. You must've punched the anvil out the bottom of the case with it - they were Berdan primed, with (usually) 2 offcentre flash holes. You might've been lucky it didn't detonate and fling the punch back in yer face! (Though I had this happen in my careless youth and it didn't injure me.) A reloader would have oiled it first and used a hydraulic method of decapping a case like that. Straight punch is fine for a fired primer in a Boxer case, but not really otherwise. Cordite is very stable over long periods, though some of the additives might have denatured and it probably wouldn't have performed normally if you'd transferred it to a newly-reloaded round. Regards, MikB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6th Hauraki KIA KAHA Posted 11 February , 2011 Share Posted 11 February , 2011 I can see the CAC shot tower from where I live. Here is a VI CAC Frankenstein I own.... The NZ Mounted Rifles, NZ Engineers and NZ Signals were using the SMLE Regards Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyE Posted 11 February , 2011 Share Posted 11 February , 2011 You must've punched the anvil out the bottom of the case with it - they were Berdan primed, with (usually) 2 offcentre flash holes. You might've been lucky it didn't detonate and fling the punch back in yer face! (Though I had this happen in my careless youth and it didn't injure me.) A reloader would have oiled it first and used a hydraulic method of decapping a case like that. Straight punch is fine for a fired primer in a Boxer case, but not really otherwise. Cordite is very stable over long periods, though some of the additives might have denatured and it probably wouldn't have performed normally if you'd transferred it to a newly-reloaded round. Regards, MikB Can I just second Mik's remarks about the dangers of playing with primers. Although they do deteriorate with age, primers are explosives, not propellants and are quite capable of taking the tip off a finger. Also, this is an fine example of not knowing what one is doing, trying to decap a Berdan primed case as if it were a Boxer (single centre fire hole) case. That time he was lucky and the primer was dead. As for Jonathan's cross breed, it shouldn't be allowed! Regards TonyE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now