Mystery .303 British

I saw that Midway had some surplus .303 British 174 gr. ball ammunition for sale for about $16.00 per box. That's a bit pricey but surefire .303 surplus has become quite rare. They advertised it as British origin, Berdan primed and no corrosive.

I ordered a few boxes and got it today. The plain brown pasteboard boxes are unmarked. The cases have no head stamps whatsoever. This is definitely "plausible deniability" ammunition. Does anyone have any idea of the specific purpose these cartridges were manufactured for? Range report to follow.....

No such thing as NATO spec .303 Brit. Mind you, that may be just a picture of a can. No head stamp or markings on the boxes makes an ID impossible. No Brit ammo box(the cardboard box) would not have ID on it. I'd bet it's not Brit milsurp. I'd bet it's eastern European of some flavour.

Sunray,

I didn't think the can in the pictures had anything to do with the ammo except a way to package it if it was sold in bulk. The only reason I can think of for this "scrubbed" ammunition is that someone made it for somebody or something they didn't want to be known to be associated with. Whether it was the Brits or someone else, who knows, but I'd sure like to :icon_scratch: ?!?!

I was reading a short piece about some .303 that was unmarked. Seems it was a CIA contract and made overseas and was non corrosive and Berdan primed. The ammo had been released as surplus and had been sold off. I do not know if this is part of that or not. Just something I happened to read about recently.

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Originally Posted by Tuna

I was reading a short piece about some .303 that was unmarked. Seems it was a CIA contract and made overseas and was non corrosive and Berdan primed. The ammo had been released as surplus and had been sold off. I do not know if this is part of that or not. Just something I happened to read about recently.

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Sounds reasonable. If true I suspect the stuff was probably destined for the Afghans fighting the Soviets in the 1980s.

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Originally Posted by Art

Sounds reasonable. If true I suspect the stuff was probably destined for the Afghans fighting the Soviets in the 1980s.

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That rings a bell. I recall reading, not too long ago, about POF making unmarked 303 in the early 80's for use by in Afghanistan. Reportedly it was packed in the pasteboard boxes associated with POF 303 surplus, but unmarked.

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Originally Posted by kcw

That rings a bell. I recall reading, not too long ago, about POF making unmarked 303 in the early 80's for use by in Afghanistan. Reportedly it was packed in the pasteboard boxes associated with POF 303 surplus, but unmarked.

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Interesting. I pulled up POF ammo on line and the pasteboard boxes in this case are very similar to POF boxes except for the round count; they are 20 round boxes and the POF ammo I've seen usually came in 32, or occasionally 50 round boxes. I'll probably keep one box and one loose cartridge because they are just a bit of an oddity. The are advertised as non corrosive but when I shoot them I'll definitely treat them as corrosive, can't be too safe.

I shot a box of the stuff today. It's clean, surefire and quite accurate. I did have a split case neck but in an Enfield that's not a big thing and the brass isn't reloadable anyhow. They claimed non corrosive at Midway and I tend to believe them but I cleaned it with soapy water anyway. Good ammunition and a bit of an oddity but still a bit pricy for surplus.

It's probably not relevant, but I recall reading in maybe Hatcher's Notebook that the die stamping of the maker's marks on the brass had a side benefit of work hardening the brass. I don't know if the absence of it makes them softer or if whoever made them to additional steps to make the cartridge head harder. Just something to ponder.

Actually Berdan primed brass IS reloadable. IF you have the decapping tool and the primers. I have both.