The Boys .55/.303 was first produced in 1937 with the production of short range ball ammunition. It consisted of a standard .303 Ball Mark 7 bullet loaded into a necked down .55 case.
The .55/.303 inch cartridge usually bore either the simple headstamp "K37" or included as an alternative "K37 7416 AW" (in the latter case original prototype W Mark 1 cases were utilised), but late production ones had plain heads.
The .55/.303 inch cartridge had been intended purely for practice and was not adopted however in November 1942 a further 2000 rounds of this ammunition were ordered from ICI for the Government, this order having cases with plain heads.
The following photos show a fake case that someone has cleverly made. Its exactly the same profile as a real one. The clue was in the price (a lot less than a real one) and in the headstamp, which is clearly wrong for a real one (compare it to the description above).
Prices for these seem to vary a lot. A friend of mine bought one several years ago in the UK for 200. It sold it in auction in America a couple of years later for $1000. You can see why the fakers may want to make these:tinysmile_angry_t:
Dave.
The .55/.303 inch cartridge usually bore either the simple headstamp "K37" or included as an alternative "K37 7416 AW" (in the latter case original prototype W Mark 1 cases were utilised), but late production ones had plain heads.
The .55/.303 inch cartridge had been intended purely for practice and was not adopted however in November 1942 a further 2000 rounds of this ammunition were ordered from ICI for the Government, this order having cases with plain heads.
The following photos show a fake case that someone has cleverly made. Its exactly the same profile as a real one. The clue was in the price (a lot less than a real one) and in the headstamp, which is clearly wrong for a real one (compare it to the description above).
Prices for these seem to vary a lot. A friend of mine bought one several years ago in the UK for 200. It sold it in auction in America a couple of years later for $1000. You can see why the fakers may want to make these:tinysmile_angry_t:
Dave.
