1943 US made Enfield

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Originally Posted by Seaspriter

but by WWII, the conversion was pretty much complete.

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When I was a few years younger and lived in the Lake District (Cumbria) I was not far from a stretch of moorland that the Army used in WW2 for practice, armed with a metal detector and a shovel I spent many a summer day searching the moors for spent cases or something interesting, found everything from mortar fins to cap badges etc plus millions of .303 cases and quite a lot of live rounds.....

The live rounds were not always good condition so would break them open and extract the cordite....... the cases were dated 1941, 1942.

Great information. Thank you all.

I have done a bit of reading on the Enfield in the past 8 days and intend on doing much more. The Enfield Knowledge Library, and it's contributors, have been a fantastic resource. I may not always understand everything I'm reading, but I'm willing to work at this.

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

Mind you, 'ball' to me and everyone else in the Military doesn't relate to the propellant. It's the name given to the projectile. Ball, as opposed to tracer, incendary, Armour piercing etc etc...

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Peter, I'm with you 100%. Ball always meant to me the projectile, not the powder. This is where it really got confusing.

I was in the airport stuck between flights and thought I'd do a little more research on this, and every post I read created more confusion with so many opinions about what "ball" meant.

Bottom Line: from what I can see it means both projectile and powder. We all know what the projectile definition means. From a powder definition, apparently there are several standards: cordite (nitroglycerine based), flake, and ball/spherical (all smokeless). "Ball" apparently is the high standard for an even rate of burn. (perhaps this level of interconnection is why both bullets and powders are measured in "grains.")

To confuse the matter even further, after WWII, Winchester developed a way of reprocessing deteriorating surplus powder for civilian use, and trademarked the name "Ball" powder, which is now a name owned by Winchester/Olin and Hodgdon.

I'm not an authority on this thing, just trying to understand; and now I understand why I am still confused. C'est la vie!

Perhaps someone who has more of a chemistry background can chime in on this one (Vincent are you reading this?)

I have a thread in the Ammunition and Reloading forum asking about an 8# container of surplus M2 30-06 Ball powder my father offered me. I don't have it in my possession so I'm not certain about the labeling or included load card. It will be interesting to see if it's linked to the Winchester product.

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Originally Posted by CruciBill

It will be interesting to see if it's linked to the Winchester product.

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Bill, if you google "Ball powder Winchester/Olin Hodgdon" you may be able to find the connection you are looking for. Lots of info on the creation of the product and its evolution.

Just a couple of caveats on the use of steel wool, of any grade.

1. Always work WITH the grain.

2. Beware "lost" fibres caught on grain "run-outs" in the timber. little fibres of the steel wool will be "detached" by the woodwork, no matter how careful you are. If left in place, they will eventually RUST and start to leave nasty discolourations on your nice furniture, be it rifle or "domestic".

Get yourself as powerful a magnet as you can find (and handle easily) and wrap it in a couple of layers of soft cloth ("cheese-cloth" is ideal). Try those "super-magnets" the kids get from novelty shops or one from the back of an old "high-output" loudspeaker for bigger jobs.

Run this assembly LIGHTLY from one end of the timber to the other. At the end of each pass, inspect the cloth for "fibres" of fine, grey steel. Remove these from the cloth and repeat the exercise. Tedious? Yes, but better than watching strange purplish-brown stains appear on your carefully oiled woodwork.

Bruce, this whole

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Originally Posted by Bruce_in_Oz

Just a couple of caveats on the use of steel wool, of any grade.

1. Always work WITH the grain.

2. Beware "lost" fibres caught on grain "run-outs" in the timber. little fibres of the steel wool will be "detached" by the woodwork, no matter how careful you are. If left in place, they will eventually RUST and start to leave nasty discolourations on your nice furniture, be it rifle or "domestic".

Get yourself as powerful a magnet as you can find (and handle easily) and wrap it in a couple of layers of soft cloth ("cheese-cloth" is ideal). Try those "super-magnets" the kids get from novelty shops or one from the back of an old "high-output" loudspeaker for bigger jobs.

Run this assembly LIGHTLY from one end of the timber to the other. At the end of each pass, inspect the cloth for "fibres" of fine, grey steel. Remove these from the cloth and repeat the exercise. Tedious? Yes, but better than watching strange purplish-brown stains appear on your carefully oiled woodwork.

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Bruce this is an excellent piece of advice. Highly recommended. I hadn't heard of the magnet idea -- thanks for passing it on.

Your observation of the nasty lost fibres is soooooo very true. This is why in wooden boat restoration steel wool is a no-no. In a salt environment only a day of exposure and the black marks of rusted metal on wood are evident. And they are extremely hard to remove, except with oxalic acid or intense sanding. Boating stores all sell bronze wool for this very reason -- bronze doesn't leave black marks.

In the same vein, I concoct a mixture of 50% bees wax 50% petroleum (mineral) jelly (a formula taken from the 1931 Enfield Armourer's manual) and coat the all wood where iron/steel contacts wood (drawers, barrel channel, butt plate screws, etc.) not only to prevent the black plague stain but to keep screws from rusting in the wood and becoming neigh on to impossible to remove years later. It also acts as a barrier to prevent gun oil from invading the wood and creating spongy oil rot (especially important in the drawers). (as a double entendre, this wax balm is great for furniture drawer slides, better than soap or candle wax).

Seaspriter,

Although the more modern Ball powder may cloud the issue, Ball ammunition always meant a plain jacketed (FMJ) projectile before there ever was a "ball" powder.

Good information on the concoction to do the wood/metal fitting parts. I normally use deer tallow, but this sounds like it would set up better.

Best,
Richard.

I agree wholly with Richard in thread 48. As the ADAC ammo catalogue lists it. Cartridges, Small-Arms, Ball, .303" Mk7 (or just Carts, SA Ball, .303" Mk7) and then Carts SA TRA; .303" Mk xxx or Carts SA, AP, .303" Mkxxxx and so on.

Let's not complicate things I say

Interesting aside heard from an old RAAF groundcrew / armourer:

When making up link for aerial guns (particularly the .303 Browning jobs fitted in most British-sourced WW2 aircraft), they had a handy little mnemonic:

TITS

Stands for: Tracer, Incendiary, Tracer, SOLID.

Better and certainly more memorable acronym than" TITB", especially for a young Air Force armourer.