My brother was looking for some .303. With the current situation I knew he wouldn't find any in The City. I found this locally and figured I'd pick it up. Any issues with this for target and hunting?

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.303 what? British or Savage?

Wisconsincartridge.com has both, bit pricey, but in stock.

The ammo in the OP’s post is .303 British. Pretty sure it is Pakistani manufactured surplus Berdan primed and corrosive.

FMJ bullets usually are banned from hunting game animals.

Yes, Pakistani .303 British FMJ, corrosive. Not the best choice for hunting ammo. Target shooting yes. It is not the best .303 British ammo out there, but not the worst either.

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I purchased several boxes of this stuff a decade or so ago. Lots of hang fires. Pull the trigger, keep the gun pointed in a safe direction and there is a good chance it will go off in time for your daughter's wedding.

I had the same experience as above with that Pakistani ammo, a mix of outright duds and dangerously long hangfires. Add to that the corrosive berdan priming and they are at best donor bullets.
The actual British surplus is also corrosive but usually reliable.
The best of the military surplus is the Greek HXP. Boxer primed in brass that holds up pretty well (for a .303), and accurate.
Interesting side note, since the Russian x54 round uses the same bullet diameter and is a just slightly larger round with the same pressure, some folks have just used a chamber reamer and blown their .303 British rifle out to the Russian. Of course, that was when you could get the Russian ammo...

I don't know about the legality of FMJ where the OP is, but interestingly the British used a wood filler in the front of the jacket to make the bullet back-heavy. This tended to help long-range accuracy but I've read it also made the bullet tend to tumble on impact which would reduce the risk of pass-through.

Like said above, if the bullet in those rounds is a FMJ its not suitable as a hunting round. You don't want to risk a passthrough that hits nothing important which will cause the game to suffer. I see no reason not to use that ammo in your post for practice, just be sure to clean your barrel well after shooting it.

I know ammo is difficult at best to find. Do you have a family member or very close friend you trust who might be able to load some 303 British ammo with a proper hunting bullet? That seems one of the few or only chance of finding 303 hunting ammo at this time. I loaded up some 303 British hunting ammo using a Hornady 174gr Interlock Bullet #3130. That bullet is accurate in my rifle.

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I have about 300 rounds of Iraqi 303 linked for a Browing 30 Cal. I can't read the date but was told it was mid 1970's.

I also have a 100 round bandolier of Pakistani that is marked on the outside that it is from 1974.

The best 303 Brit. I ever shot was surplus 1944 W.R.A., good old Winchester! I've read that it was the choice of British snipers, but I'm sure Kynoch was better!

I still have a No 4* and No 5 and a 1903 Citadel Martini. The Martini doesn't like the WWI or WWII spitzer ammo, I was made to shoot the 220 grain Jacketed RN over 40 gr of Black Powder. (it has Medford rifling instead of Enfield!

Ivan

Don't hunt with military Full Metal Jacket bullets ... the bullet will not expand and in most states it is illegal to use non-expanding .

Paper Targets are OK ...except for the corrosive priming thing ... Properly Clean the bore after shooting this ammo ...corrosive means it will quickly corrode the bore .

If you have to hunt with FMJ ammo , emergency situation ... take head / brain shots only , they will work there .
Gary

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That’s was my question too

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You'll need hot water to clean up after those corrosive primers. The Limeys issued a nifty funnel that fit the chamber of a Lee Enfield just for that job.

As far as hot water goes, the Vickers was an excellent source. My nephews turning surplus Radway Green into noise and hot water. If you shoot the corrosive stuff it's as much of a hassle to wash out the bore after one as it is a thousand.

Hangfires sure screw up the rhythm of a machine gun.

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Thus far everyone is assuming .303 British and that the OP knows the difference but he has not returned since his first post.

Fair assumption given that he pictured a round of .303 British, but perhaps another warning should be included: don't try to fire that in a .303 Savage.

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I need ammo, not a ride.

Ok thanks for the info guys. We will relegate this to target ammo, and
I'll let him know about the clean up and hang fires. I think this is for a back up gun to his 30-06 for hunting so may not get used in the field much if at all.

Cleaning up after using corrosive primers would be the least of my worries. Its the click-boom that is dangerous.

Many years ago I learned not to buy surplus .303. The ones I tried were loaded with cordite, not ball powder.

I didn't even feel comfortable reclaiming the bullets. It all got disposed of...

In years past when there was tons of surplus military ammo for sale in the US .303 British was available but was not of the quality of other rounds like the 8mm Mauser and 9mm Luger. There have been untold numbers of .303 British rifles sold in the US and most owners bought commercial soft point ammo for their once a year Deer hunts.

Two posts asked if the search was for .303 Brit or .303 Savage, though the OP's picture is clearly .303 Brit. Unsettling but reaffirms to not take Internet traffic to be completely accurate, even mine.

Several have suggested reloading soft points if commercial ammunition cannot be sourced, a reasonable solution if current commercial .303 Brit cannot be found. I haven't seen any for many moons. It was not common before the pandemic. Suitable soft point 0.311 bullets might be harder yet to find. Haven't seen those in a while. A last gasp desperation move would be paper patching 0.308 bullets. Ross Seyfreid published many successful accounts of his use paper patching to get oddball calibers shooting.

When I first asked the question his pic was not in his post, he added it later. Also you are making the assumption that because he bought .303 British ammo he knew the difference between it and the .303 Savage. Other questions in past threads have shown that some folks do not know that there are two different .303s.

Federal has some very expensive 150 grain .303 Brit hunting rounds available direct on their website currently.

The .303 Savage is a somewhat shorter round very similar to the .30-30, but with a longer neck. So far as I know, it was used only in the earlier Savage lever action rifles. It was never a military round used by any country and is not interchangeable with the .303 British.

This is a carton of .303 British FMJ Mk VII from the early 1930s. But it is not military ammunition. It was intended mainly for use by colonists in India, Africa,and elsewhere, most of which had .303 British rifles.


Some American .303 British ammo made for the British Commonwealth during the late WWII period.


A case of Pakistani-made military .410 shotshells. The Pakis used what were basically .303 Enfield rifles but with shotgun barrels for riot control.


A case of WWII .303 ammo, Mk VII from 1944

I’ve shot a ton of corrosive ammo in my old military rifles and it’s no problem as long as you clean your bore. I agree it’s the hang fires I’d worry about. That ammo has been known for years to be bad for hang fires. I tossed mine after one session of trying to shoot it.

A local store has new Winchester .303 British brass for sale. 50 to a bag.
If interested for details, email in profile.

wyo-man

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Just to throw it out, the 7.7 Jap is close to being a rimless .303 British, but not quite.

The 7.7 Jap is actually an 8mm Mauser necked down to the European thirty .303 diameter. 8mm brass can easily be reformed to 7.7 Japanese brass. The ballistics of the 7.7 round were down to .303 British level however, rather than 8mm. Probably because of the slight stature of the typical Japanese soldier.

Dimensions between the 8x57 and the 7.7 cases are close but not identical. But it would certainly be possible to form 7.7 brass from 8x57 brass. Back when I had an Arisaka Type 99, I made up a considerable number of 7.7 cases from .30-'06 cases by running '06 cases through the 7.7 FL die and then trimmed the neck to length. I also used my 7.7 dies to reload for the .303 British, but in that situation the 7.7 FL resize die was essentially just a neck sizer for the .303 case, as the .303's case body diameter is slightly smaller than the 7.7's body diameter. But it worked. That 7.7 Type 99 is one rifle I wish I had kept. It was in excellent condition and still had the mum intact.

Among milsurp fans the 6.5 type 38 Arisaka gets more praise than the 7.7 type 99 because of the level of finish most likely. Way back in the late 50s when I was a gun hungry teen with no money type 99s were everywhere it seemed. Hate to say it but the designation “seven seven Jap” was a derisive term actually. But the practicality of the 7.7 case and .303 bore make the type 99 an unsung hero of milsurps today in my opinion. And still relatively affordable compared to completely worn out Mausers if you shop a bit.

I have a box of 1000 180 gr 303 bullets for reloading Soft points too. Don't even remember where I got them...but I do know I paid around a hundred dollars for them. I was going to load for my 7.65 Argentine Mauser and the old pre war Model 70 I had. I sold the M-70 3 years ago..Kinda rare.

I saw a 7.7 jap at the gun show. It had the aircraft wire sights and mum. Most of the aircraft sights were removed. Guy didn't know what they were. Not my area of interest though

That Pakistani 303 was crazy stuff.
The POF 'Pakistani Ordnance Factory' marking got known locally as
.....Pride Of Frankenstein ....ammo.

It was really cheap but for a reason.
All the hang fires and duds you could ask for. Poor storage in extreme heat likely. Just plain poor quality ammo maybe.

But when the niuce Greek HXP boxer primed non-corrosive stuff dried up,,this was about all that was around as far a surplus (cheap) to shoot.
A little Brit Radway Green & Canadian Dominion was still around but at high prices and it too is corrosive and not always that reliable.
POF was super cheap.

If you do use it, just clean the bore with water and a touch of dishwashing soap added.
Wet Brush,,then Wet Patch..then dry and oil.
Check the next couple days for after rust but you likely won't find any.
Wipe the other metal parts down with the water dampened patch, dry and oil as well.
Don't make a big process of it.
I've shot corrosive ammo for nearly 60yrs and never lost a bore to rust yet.

Still using corrosive 8mm Mauser and 30-06. Bores still look new.

This may help:


I had some Iraqi .303 with a headstamp that looked like "1907". Using the above, we see the year of manufacture is actually 1956.

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you can pull out the bullets and replace it with modern. the corosion is in the primer or the powder.

the N R A magazine sold those " J. " for $ 8 plus shipping. no questions asked.

It is garbage. Surprisingly enough Wolf was making some steel cased .303 British A few years ago that SGammo.com was selling for a really good price. I bought some of it and it runs great in my Enfield jungle carbine so I stocked up on a bunch of it. I am glad that I did.

One other complaint about the POF surplus is much of it has bullets with cupro-nickel jackets. That often leaves some nasty and pernicious fouling behind. A very strong ammonia solutions popularly known as “ammonia dope” that could be used for nickel fouling, but improper use would result in the solution attacking the barrel steel.


Standard Ordnance Department Metal Fouling Solution (aka Ammonia Dope)
4 oz water
1 oz ammonium persulfate
200 g ammonium carbonate
60 oz ammonia {28%)

This solution was long used by the U.S. Army. The qun barrel was stoppered and the bore soaked in this solution for no more than ten minutes. The cleaner had to be prepared fresh because old solutions are very corrosive to steel. Even fresh solution will attack the steel and etch it badly enough to ruin the surface if left too long.

I never bought or shot any POF because when it was available and cheap, shooters on the Culver's Shooting Pages Enfield forum universally condemned it. That was enough for me.

I believe the primers are the corrosive element, not the powder. So dumping the powder and bullet and reusing the case/primer with your own powder and soft point bullet means you still have corrosive ammo.

By the way, has anyone pulled a POF cartridge apart to see if the propellent is cordite? Someone on the Enfield Forum claimed it was cut up pieces of old movie film!

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Be sure ro clean the bore and chamber with mild soap and water mix THE SAME DAY IT IS FIRED before putting it up. There are old military bore solvents out there made to clean out the corrosive residue with, ut the main thing is to use water or something water-based to get the corrosive salts out. Not necessary to use boiling water as some are sure to recommend. Clean it like you would a muzzleloader after shooting black powder; remove the water out of the bore with dry 100% cotton patches, run several oily patches down the bore and chamber to prevent rusting, and you are done. No need to spend more than 15 minutes doing this.
Go back in a couple of days and check the bore for rust just to be sure.

I cut my teeth on the venerable .303's when I first started shooting big bore rifles, and that's some 55 yrs. ago. Up here (Canada), Lee Enfields and milsurp ammo were plentiful and dirt cheap. I've fired lots of British and Canadian milsurp ammo over the years though as we all know, good milspec ball ammo has pretty much dried up. I never tried the Greek stuff but I heard good things about it as well as the South African ammo. I fired a lot of commonwealth ball and my experience is that the British brass didn't hold up over the years like the Canadian stuff. The DI ammo is Berdan primed but the DI Z is Boxer primed and good for reloading. I also have some IVI brass from a service buddy who was part of the training group for the Canadian Rangers. Very nice stuff for reloading also. With iffy ball ammo like the POF, I just yank the projectiles, burn off the propellant, pop the primers and throw the brass into my scrap bin. I'll load the projectiles into good brass with commercial primers and powder and use 'em for plinking ammo.

Yep, it's cordite.
No, it's not old movie film but an extrusion like very fine angel-hair pasta.
The smell of burnt cordite might well be my favourite burnt powder smell.
I've been tempted to reuse the cordite from the dud rounds, though getting it back into a case would be challenging as it's packed in there pretty tightly

An old box of Remington UMC .303 British that was given to me years ago.
I am guessing that the box is from around 1900+/- since it says for Remington Lee, Winchester Model 1895 and Lee Enfield rifles.

It was filled with questionable quality Berdan primed FMJ reloads - not UMC cases. So I pulled the bullets and reloaded them in Boxer primed cases. Probably 30 or so years ago.

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With knowledge and the right equipment the FMJ bullets can be pulled and replaced with softpoints of equal weight or slightly less. And re-crimped, of course.

I have some of that for the range. It shoots okay, but keep in mind that that military stuff uses corrosive primers. You have to either clean the gun immediately after shooting or at the least spray the bolt, chamber, and barrel with ammonia based window cleaner.

If you don't those parts of likely to rust quickly, especially in humid conditions.

I believe what you have there was made in Pakistan. Not the best ammunition and if you can find some of the British made ammunition, the quality is likely to be better.

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Still have a couple boxes of 215 grainers. One is a full box of Remington (Rem-UMC) and the other is a mix of Rem and Winchester.

Very Christmas appropriate packaging as well.

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As Remington and UMC merged in 1911, the box would have been from around that time if not later.

Cordite was usually loaded into cases before the neck was formed, so loading a full charge of Cordite into a necked case (assuming you had some) would be a challenge. Just as is the situation with modern smokelesss powder, there were many varieties and sizes of Cordite made for different applications.

Thanks! That’s good to know.

I had read about a Remington Lee model 1899 chambered in .303 British and the Win 1895 was chambered in .303 starting in 1898 so I was guessing that was approximate manufacture date of ammo.

Ah, that makes sense.
I did just check and I can in fact get a full load of cordite out of and back into a .303. 46 sticks .045" in diameter is the payload in a sample POF round. It was mildly annoying to get it in there, so not something I'd want to do a ton of, but for a few rounds of nostalgia without the corrosion risks I can see doing it now and then.
The good news is I had to really scrounge to find a POF round before I finally found one in my duds box to pull the bullet out of, all I have left in factory rounds is some commercial rounds and some HXP.

I've attached pics for those folks who haven't met cordite rounds before.

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For corrosive or suspected corrosive ammunition: Soap and hot water! Bore Tech Eliminator is good and is great for copper fouling. Ballistol and water solution works. Then, there's the old GI bore cleaner, which can still be found; lots of kerosene (?) and lots of "scent". Dry the bore and follow up with your favorite bore cleaner and preservative. It all worked for me.

Corrosive primers,,,,
Then add Cordite Powder which is Erosive to gun barrels,,
At least it's much more erosive than later smokeless powders are because of less heat buildup (as I understand it).

The early Metford style rifling in the Lee rifles was designed to take care of the fouling produced by the BlackPowder used in loading the earlest 303Brit round.
But most of the bolt action Lee Metford rifles coming into service were fed the the newer Cordite loaded 303 rounds. These Cordite loads wore the Metford rifled bbls out rather quickly.
The change was then made to Enfield style rifling (square cornered grooves and lands) to handle the Cordite better.

There are several formulas of Cordite as well. The orig formula (CMkI) is the most erosive I believe.
I think the old specs used to site betw 5k to 6k rounds of Cordite 303 would make a 303 Lee bbl ready for scrap.

Love those Enfields!

Soap and water will certainly work for corrosive ammo, but just plain water is all that's really needed. You'll hear water and Windex, water and ballistol, water and soap, etc, but the water is what washes away the corrosive salts. Clean your bore with water, dry it out, then clean with whatever bore cleaner you'd use on anyother rifel.