British 303 FMJ on game

Just though I share this with you fellas. I have a lot of .303 ammo marked GB 50 7 . It is loaded with cordite strands , a FMJ bullet and corrosive berdan primer. I shoot them in my SMLE Enfield No.1 and No.4 Mk2. I notice that sometimes the rounds would have a hiss-bang when fired. But despite this, the shots group very well at 50yds, better than my reloaded ammo in fact, 2" groups vs 3.5" groups respectively.
I tried this ammo on a cow that I was told to shoot, by the owner of the ranch of course. The round went off with that distinctive hiss-bang and the bullet struck the cow in the left eye and it went down. I had to bleed the cow by cutting it's neck open, and was surprised to find the bullet. The bullet's forward half had disintergrated into pieces and only the rear half was in one piece.
Thinking back on this, it would be a horrible thing if a person was hit by this ammo. I wonder if the ammo was designed to break apart like this.

In a sense yes it was. it was designed to tumble after entering a body as the nose of the bullet is hollow or has an aluminum plug in the nose to help it tumble.

Thanks Bruce. I figured that the British are very methodical in arms and ammo production and this had to be by design. Just had to be sure.

To the best of my knowledge the filler in MkVII bullets was not there to make it tumble, this would have been in violation of the Hague Convention rulings, it is there to achieve the same length projectile with a lighter weight as the heavier round nose projectile it replaced so it would reliably function it the same weapons without modifications to the weapons themselves. The tumbling or yawing is an unitended side effect, unlike the 7.35 Carcano or 5.45 Soviet rounds where they were designed to tumble from the start. All pointed lead core FMJ flat based and some RN FMJ projectiles will tumble upon impact with soft tissue. FMJ boattailed bullets usually yaw but they seem to turn 180 degrees and exit base first. The MkVII bullet will begin to yaw at around 3''-4'' penetration where it eventually bends at the cannelure and continues on through exiting sideways leaving an elongated exit wound averaging 1'' wide and about 2''-2 1/2'' long in the numerous deer I've taken with it. Striking bone magnifies the terminal effects, sometimes causing the bullet to break into two pieces.

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Originally Posted by Bruce McAskill

In a sense yes it was. it was designed to tumble after entering a body as the nose of the bullet is hollow or has an aluminum plug in the nose to help it tumble.

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Sorry, but I beg to disagree and am with vintage hunter on this one.

From 1906 when the Small Arms Committee started looking at the question of spitzer bullets they produced a number of designs, mostly with solid lead cores but some in solid brass like the 8mm Lebel and others with composite cores, and weighing between 150 and 200 grains. The first aluminium tipped designs were based on the American Hudson-Thomas bullets that had enjoyed considerable success at Bisley when used by U.S. Teams.

Eventually Royal Laboratory design RL 15572 in a number of variants was selected for final trials. "A","B" and "E" weighed 174 grains and had all lead cores whilst "G" and "H" weighed 160 and 150 grains respectively and had lead cores with aluminium tip fillers. In 1910 design RL 15572.G(1) weighing 160 grains with a lead aluminium core was adopted as the new ball Mark VII. This soon failed its accuracy proof and a hurried re-design took place resulting in the now familiar 174 grain bullet. Tip fillers were mostly aluminium but compressed paper, wood fibre, ceramic and plastic have all been used at various times, but there are no Mark VII bullets that have a hollow or empty front section.

The real reason for the aluminium tip filler is to place the C 0f G of the bullet as far to the rear as practicable to give long range stability. The tumbling effect was a by-product and nowhere in the documentation is there any refrence to deliberate design. I have copies of many of these experimental designs.

Attached are the original RL drawing for the 160 grain version of the Mark VII and a comparative picture of the 160 and 174 grain versions.

Regards
TonyE