More .303

[MissingSomething]

Well... just got ahold of these babies... Italian .303 on Prideaux links....

Headstamp - BPD 39 (Bombrini Parodi Delfino, Rome, Italy 1939) and one SMI 937 (Societ Metallurgica Italiana, Campo Tizzoro, Italy 1937?)

Why only the partial date on the SMI case?

Italian blue tip = API (phosphorus)
Italian green tip = API (Thermite)

The links are marked MB in oval with dates 3-38 & 5-38. Anyone know who MB is? The other 2 links are marked W.W.G. Mk III and W.W.G. Mk III* in a circular fashion. Anyone know who WWG is?

Thanks.

 

[hicky1300]

Very Nice
If you hear of anymore available let me know as would love some of these to add to my collection of .303

 

[TonyE]

Italian .303

The "MB" marked limks are Italian, but I cannot remember who made them. Had they been British, "MB" would have been the Metal Box Co. who made millions of chargers and links.

The WWG" Mark III and III* links are British though and were made by W.W.Greener of Birmingham. The difference between the III and III* is a slight change in the strengthening ribs and I believe the radii of the corners.

Hicky - These are section 5, even if inerted!

Cheers
TonyE

 

[hicky1300]

Damn! `course they are

 

[MissingSomething]

Ok, here is some of what I found out (via smart ppl on my other forum hauntings) :tinysmile_fatgrin_t

The blue tipped ones, API-phosphorus, are well known in Spain. They were furnished by Italy during the Spanish civil war, for airborne machine guns. In 1959 there were still 50.000 rounds in the Air Force inventory, plus 70.000 of the same kind in 12,7 Breda caliber.
But I had never heard of a thermite bullet with green tip. Green tipped cartridges were shipped to Spain also, but they were AP with steel core, and of course they didn't have the distinctive API holes in the ogive.
The other types sent to Spain were ball and tracer (red tip).

The WWG" Mark III and III* links are British though and were made by W.W.Greener of Birmingham. The difference between the III and III* is a slight change in the strengthening ribs and I believe the radii of the corners.

The "MB" in the oval is Breda Meccanica Bresciana (Brescia Plant of Breda).
Italian 7,7 ammo, besides being used a lot in the Spanish Civil War (Italian Airforce, and also planes supplied to Franco's Forces, which continued making 7,7 (.303) at Sevilla (PS) into the 1950s), was also used widely in North Africa by both Italian Airforce and Specialized Ground Forces, especially after capturing large quantities of Bren Guns in 1940, in the initial push to Egypt.The Italians continued using captured Bren's in NAf until their surrender there in 1942/3.
After WW II, the new Republican Army was armed initially with .303 small arms, and so the factories continued making 7,7 ammo as Rifle ammo; old stocks of course were used up in training.
Italy also made use of Lewis Guns in 7,7 as flexible guns in a lot of its Bomber aircraft, in open cockpits. It is unknown whether these Lewis Guns were made by BSA (some initially were) or they were made "under License" in the 1930s in Italy. Guns from any Italian Royal Airforce craft are exceedingly rare...most were destroyed during or at war's end, although some may have survived in the old airforces of Finland and Spain, and maybe even China...they are just not seen in any collections or Museums.

 

[MissingSomething]

Prideaux links

While on the .303 topic... here are a bunch of prideaux links that I got ... various makers....

W.M.
MK III*

P

R

M.S.
III*

 

[MissingSomething]

Prideaux links

More links...


MK III*
Bak-Fin

III*
P

M
III *

Prideaux
Pat. No.
125602/16

 

[MissingSomething]

Prideaux Links

more links....

W.W.G.
Mk III*

MB
IX-XLII (9 - 42)

(different style)
W.W.G. Mk III*

III
* H.H.E.