Collecting .303
Printed From: Enfield-Rifles.com
Category: Reloading
Forum Name: Reloading .303 British
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URL: http://www.enfield-rifles.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=13044
Printed Date: March 26 2026 at 6:21pm
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Topic: Collecting .303
Posted By: martini1215
Subject: Collecting .303
Date Posted: December 19 2023 at 12:31pm
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Morning gentlemen. Is anyone like myself and a collector of 303 rounds? I have met people at militaria fairs who collect empty cartridges for headstamps and dates snd seen some wondrful collections. I also met an interesting guy who collected rounds from air crash sites who had lots of information he had gathered on the plane crash. My own collection starts with round headed bullet 303 and what I believe are Mk6 rounds with a round nosed bullet with a hole drilled in it, along to a variety of dummy rounds and blanks. It amazes me the topics of interest connected with 303 rounds and Lee Enfield rifles. Such an interesting subject.
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Replies:
Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: December 19 2023 at 4:54pm
| at one point i had vintage rounds for each of my enfield and martini rifles - had started to do the same for my webley and enfield handguns , then i started going backward far enough they were hard to find or cost too much , kinda gave up on that |
Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: December 19 2023 at 6:08pm
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I have my Dads collection of various .303 cartridges, black powder, cordite and nitrocellulose powder loads. WWII Ball, AP, Tracer (day and night) and incendiary loads. Would like to fire off a few tracer rounds and see if they still ignite. I also have some original .577 Snider and .577/450 Martini Henry rolled brass case ball ammo in 10 round paper packs. |
Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: December 19 2023 at 7:21pm
| i can tell you from experience at our range that these old tracers and incendiary rounds still work most of the time , back when i first started my retirement job - 20 years ago - we had more than one fire get started on the berm vegetation and the old wooden target frames , i make it quite clear to those that ask or look like they should have that steel core and steel cased ammo is fine , armor piercing is not a problem but those fire starters are forbidden , its interesting how often the shooters have them , |
Posted By: britrifles
Date Posted: December 20 2023 at 3:54am
| Yes, I would have to find a safe location to test fire a few. I thought about shooting them across the lake in the winter time and let them fall onto the ice at 800 to 1000 yards off, maybe shoot at night. I think the tracers take a few hundred yards to ignite. |
Posted By: HammerDown
Date Posted: December 20 2023 at 8:55am
 I have this small collection of Mk7 RG and the ammo box. I’ve shot some of it over the past few decades. |
Posted By: martini1215
Date Posted: December 20 2023 at 1:11pm
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Thats a lovely box. Radway Green 1954, my dad was in Korea until 52 . He had a Lee Enfield No4 but said they prefferred the American M1 carbine, I think 30 cal which they could barter for a bottle of beer.His preference over either of those was a 4.2 mortar , he says its easier to nobble em in groups than one at a time. I ll ask him if he has any photos of lee enfields in mortar pits when I can post pictures. I am glad to see this post piqued a bit of interest amongst you and realised such positive replies.
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Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: December 20 2023 at 5:23pm
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There's 2 kinds. Tracers & "dark light" tracers. regular are lit as they exit the bore, but "darklight" don't for abut 200yds to not give away the firers position. IIRC red, or orange primer annulus ------------- Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force) |
Posted By: HammerDown
Date Posted: December 20 2023 at 5:46pm
| Yes, please post photos when you can. I was able to post them using Imgur by copy/pasting the URL. |
Posted By: A square 10
Date Posted: December 20 2023 at 6:22pm
| radway green is good ammo , i have two cans of their 308 in stock , i like it |
Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: December 21 2023 at 4:05am
| Norma .303 ammo and 1941, 42, and 1943 Winchester ammo for me... |
Posted By: martini1215
Date Posted: December 21 2023 at 9:08am
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I joined Junior Leadrs Regiment Royal Artillery in 1977. We were getting ammo issued Radway Green 7.62 single rounds for SLR and LMG and linked for general purpose machine gun dated 1962, 2 years after I was born. There errr shall we say larger stuff even bagloaded wasnt quite so old, I think because of gun updates and not short shelf life.
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Posted By: Shamu
Date Posted: December 21 2023 at 2:33pm
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Oh I remember going to the "New Passage/Pilning" range back in Oh maybe 1968. We had the wood boxes of ammo, "Once opened to be consumed". It rained heavily! We opened several "spam cans" in advance, "Ooops"! 4 out of 85 bailed the odd one showed up! I qualified on a Bren that day. "The Brown Types" behind us (R.A.F.) were short of ammo for the qualifying needs of their new trainees. There was a little horse trading involved.  My CO was laughing! How the he!! can I qualify you on an arm we don't even HAVE? Dammitt, man! order a couple of them! Amazingly we got 2 Brens in .303 Brit delivered with a case of magazines!  ------------- Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force) |
Posted By: martini1215
Date Posted: December 27 2023 at 6:34am
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Oh the bren, and its follower LMG, basically a bren in 7.62 so a straight mag. Beatiful to shoot but we cant own them in the UK since law changes, but a lot of people develop a liking for them whilst serving in the forces. Nice to have been able to fire them. I was able t fire an SLR straightpull a few months back, I wonder if our laws would allow a straighpull bren?Although it might defeat the object somewhat.
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Posted By: Mayhem
Date Posted: January 04 2024 at 5:34pm
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I actively collect and have just under 2500 rounds in my collection. I also collect charger clips. ------------- .303 - Helping Englishmen express their feelings since 1889 |
Posted By: slowindown
Date Posted: January 28 2024 at 5:22pm
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The only old 303 I have are a couple of the yellow boxed Winchester, I think from the 60s. 5 of the 40 rounds are missing. 180g sp, which claim a MV of 2540 fps and 2580 fp of energy. I guess they’re not that old compared to others mentioned. It’ll probably shoot them. I’ve a couple of different varieties of the Remington green box ammo, as well. But they’re newer than the Winchester.
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Posted By: martini1215
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 8:06am
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Good grief Mayhem thats a collection and a half, in fact you have 6 times more in your collection than my Firearms Certificate will allow me to possess in 303. We have to request the amount of each calibre rounds we wish to have and it is stated onthe fac in UK. We used to also have to state how many of each calibre we would wish to buy at any one time. I like the Winchester boxes Slowindown
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Posted By: Goosic
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 8:26am
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All loaded with live ammunition. I even have some 215grn Norma ammunition...
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Posted By: Mayhem
Date Posted: January 29 2024 at 3:13pm
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Hi Martini, There is talk that the powers to be want to put a limit on collections but I struggle to see how they would police it. Are they really going to visit everyone and count their collections? I also shoot 303 and so it then becomes even more confusing as to how they determine shooting versus collecting. If you collect headstamps, mine is a modest collection at best. I don't really chase commercial headstamps but will add them if I encounter them. I primarily collect military cartridges. Those are some nice boxes Goosic. ------------- .303 - Helping Englishmen express their feelings since 1889 |