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While attending a very small gunshow today, I purchased 100 rounds of .303 ammunition. After sorting it all out, here is what I ended up with:
AOC 1340 -- 14
DAC 19 16 VII -- 2
DAC 19 17 VII -- 25
DAC 1940 VII -- 8
DAC 1941 VII -- 2
DAC 1942 VII -- 23
DAC 50 7Z -- 9
GB 1941 VII -- 3
K2 1944 VII -- 1
K36 VII -- 2
K50 7 -- 1
K55 7 -- 2
K64 8Z -- 9
Do any of these have collector value or should they all be sent down range?
As a collector you have a few I would like to own but have no idea what they would sell for?? I would keep one of each and someday you will make a collector very happy.
"AOC (is) Bombrini, Parodi et Delfino, Rome, ITALY. Used on military .303 (7.7 x 56R) cartridges supplied to Egypt in the period 1948 - 1954. Known to have produced nitro-cellulose loaded cartridges in:
Ball, Mk 7
Tracer"----harringtonmuseum.org
So AOC is really BPD, not exactly ENIGMA grade code, but Italy hasn't really tried since the Borgias.
From a collection point of view, the AOC interests me more than the others---but that's because I don't have one, not because I know it to be collectible, so no help from me on that score.
I just keep one of every headstamp I come across, as 303t suggests.
I enjoyed firing the DAC I managed to acquire, but I stopped shooting the Kynoch K2 to save it for photo ops.
-----krinko
The Italian AOC Ball is pretty common here in the UK, although the tracer (Red annulus) is harder to find. Are the cases of your rounds darkened to artificially age them? The Islamic date of 1340 is spurious and translates to 1922 in the western calender. In reality they date from the formation of the Egyptian Republic in 1952 to about 1956. Large quantities were captured at Suez.
None of the others are rare, although the WWI DAC ball are worth keeping..
The "K64 8Z" are among the last of the Mark 8z ball rounds made for Vickers guns. These have a 175 grain boat tailed bullet instead of the 174 grain Mark 7 flat based bullet. They produce a slightly higher velocity and pressure than a Mark 7. (20-21 tons compared to 19.5 tons for the Mark 7) .303 rifle proof pressure is 24-25 tons.
Regards
TonyE
Here are a few pics of the AOC.