Rare Headstamp on 1 Pr. Sugar Scuttle ~

[Gspragge]

I picked this up today. usually I avoid this kind of thing,
but this one had an interesting feature ~

The 303 case on the handle is devoid of markings as is the 1Pr. case.
The two side head stamps are I presume German Mauser types.
The rear head stamp looks Austrian to me ?
The supporting case head stamp speaks for itself 3/4" dia. so perhaps 577/450?

I imagine these were made up just after the Boer War.

 

[TonyE]

Maxim

It certainly looks like a Boer War momento. The two 7x 57mm Mauser cases are very typical of the ammo used by the Boers and were made by Deutsche Munitions Fabriken. The round you thought was Austrian is Portuguese,and although it is hard to tell is probably an 8mm Guerdes or Kropachek.

The "Maxim C" headstamp on the .577/450 round is commercial, not British military. These were made for the Maxim Nordenfelt Company by Eley Brothers and sold with the guns. The original round had a cupro-nickel jacketed bullet, and jacketed rounds were never in service with the Britsh. Similar headstamps also exist in .303. In addition to the above, I have "MAXIM 1895" and "MAXIM C II" in .303. The latter was made by overstamping "MAXIM" on a surplus "1 C II" military case.

This .577/.450 ammuntion was probably originally supplied to one of the local militia forces, or even have been part of the equipment of the Jameson "Raid".

Regards
TonyE

 

[Neville_C]

Have just joined and came across this post.
The rear headstamp is for an 8mm Guedes cartridge. The Guedes rifle was manufactured at Steyr, Austria, for the Portuguese army. However, some 18,000 rifles were never delivered to Portugal. These were eventually sold by Steyr through the arms market, and around 7,500 rifles ended up in the hands of the Transvaal Republic. The Boers are estimated to have acquired some 17.5 million rounds of Guedes ammunition before the outbreak of the South African War. That being said, the Guedes cartridge is a relatively rare find on Boer War battlefields today (opposed to the much more common Mauser & Martini-Henry rounds).