303-Rimless

[John Thorne]

I just picked up this 10 round packet and single round of what is marked as .303 Inch Rimless ammunition. The packet is dated 4/1/19, while the headstamp on the single round indicated Royal Laboratories manufacture and a 1918 date. It also has one other odd mark at the bottom, which looks like a capital "I" with extra-long serifs top and bottom. Is this the round for the Farquhar-Hill self-loader, or is it something else?

[Doc2]

Possibly the experimental semi-rimless .303 used for trials in 1918. Go to: http://www.ammunitionpages.com/ and do a search on that site for .303 rimless. It has a picture which you can compare to your round.

There also was a .303 rimless Frazier round, but I think this one was only civilian. Doc

[TonyE]

It would take a small book to cover the many versions of the .303 Rimless over the years, but here are the details about the type you have.

This work started in early 1917 when the Director of Artillery asked if the performance of the .303 service cartridge could be improved, mainly to increase muzzle velocity to in turn increase armour piercing performance. It was envisaged that any new round would be fired in a Pattern '14 rifle as this was the strongest action available. The new round had to be the same overall length as the ordinary .303 to work in the P.'14 action.

There was also a requirement by the RFC/RAF for a higher velocity round for Lewis guns to improve hit probability for observers. Again to enable easy conversion of guns and magazines the overall cartridge length needed to be the same. The round is frequently called the ".303 Lewis" because of this.

Several case designs were made as steel dummies and the design selected was the one you now have, although in fact it is semi-rimless. These were made in quite large numbers and work continued for several years post war. Even though the end of the war meant the army interest disappeared, the RAF was still interested. Packets like yours will be found with different loading dates in early 1919.

The capital "T" you mention is in fact a poorly struck "I" for Mark I, although the round was never formally sealed as such. Two principal headstamps exist, "R^L 18 I" and "I R^L 1918" (where ^ is the Broad Arrow).

As well as the ball loading, there is a much rarer AP load with a green annulus and also a very rare S.P.G. tracer.

In the picture below, the two left hand rounds are the two ball headstamps and the right hand round the AP load. Note the diference in extractor groove on the ball loads and the pin stab bullet securement on the AP. One of the problems during development was that of case separations, thought to have been caused by the bullet starting to "set-up" before it left the case, but in fact it was the angle of the case shoulder that was the problem.

The .303 Rimless round used in the Farquhar-Hill was actually the Belgian 7.65x53mm Mauser round fitted with a normal 174 grain .303 ball bullet and not part of the military program, although of course it was tested.

The Australian site in the link is unreiable in its information. Full marks to the owner for his endeavour and artwork, but the data is rather superficial and in many cases erroneous.

The last known loading of your particular .303 rimless type was in 1934, but work continued on other case designs and other calibres, all with a view to introducing a new rifle based on the Pattern '14 right up to 1938.

Regards

TonyE