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.303 round ID

tigbrand

tigbrand

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I have just been given a few rounds of small arms ammo,which is not my thing. Can someone confirm that a .303 round marked U V RL 1943 is an inspectors round? Thanks Tony.
 
Hi Tony,yes all of them are silver as per .303 drill rounds. thanks for the reply,cheers Tony.
 
As Tony confirmed, you have an Dummy Inspectors U Mark V. I think by 1943 it will be a plated brass case, but originally these were made with a white metal case.

A minor point, but these are dummy rounds, not drill rounds. Drill rounds are for weapon training and are only an approximation of the live round, but sufficiently different in appearance to avoid confusion. Inspectors dummy rounds are only for use by armourers and are a replica of the live round in terms of shape and weight in order to test mechanisms, springs etc.

Regards
TonyE
 
Thank you for the extra information,and clarification of the purpose of these Tony. Cheers Tony.
 
Hi TonyE,
I have a white metal 1941 dated U V,is this date too late to have the early bronze bullet? I would have thought 1941 was a bit early to have a GM bullet,mind you the 1943 example I have has a CN bullet!

Cheers
Tony
 
1943 was a bit of a change over year for CN/GM so that does not surprise me too much. I will have to have a check on mine to see when the white metal stopped and plated cases began, but it won't be until later today,

Regards
TonyE
 
Thanks Tony,
do you have any ideas about the 'bronze bullet' in the 1941 example? too early for GM?

ATB

Tony
 
I don't have a 1941 example but one of the alternatives in the spec. was a bullet with a thick bronze envelope and a lead/antomony core, and I suspect that is what you have. Let me know if you find another as it is one I seem to have missed.

I have checked my examples and they are:

R^L 18 V. White metal case and solid bronze bullet (actually a surplus Mark VIIT tracer bullet.)
R^L 43 UV. Plated case, GMCS envelope
B^E 43 UV. Plated case, GM envelope
MG 43 UV. Plated case, GM envelope
DAC 43 UV. Plated case, GMCS envelope

I also have a couple of unheadstamped Australian ones (but I did not check those) and also a couple of Canadian U-LP local pattern Inspectors. Neither did I check my post war examples.

Cheers
TonyE
 
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