About six months ago there was an ad in our local paper that read" Canadianicon made Britishicon .303 military ammo for sale". So I gave the guy a call. He lived in a city not too far from here. He told me that it was older ammo and that there were 48 cartridges per box. He thought it might be from the late 1940`s or 50`s. So I agreed to buy a couple of boxes for $25 dollars per box. His wife brought it to town here and so I met with her and purchased a couple of boxes. As it turned out, this was older RCMP ammunition, still in the original boxes, seals still intact. I opened up a box and the stuff looked brand new. So I was happy. About a week went by when I realized that this was quite a find. He told me that he had three more boxes for sale. When I called him back, he told me that he had sold the other three boxes to a friend of his. After doing more research and reading some of the info on this web site, I realize I really really let a great oppurtunity slip through my fingers. This is RCMP FMJ ammunition. I don`t have the boxes in front of me right at this moment and they are locked away in my steel ammo boxes but I can post what it says on them later if anyone is interested.
The fellow who sold them also told me that he had at one time owned unissued Long Branch number 4`s that he had bought still in the shipping boxes and packed in grease. He had sold them a few years earlier. I groaned when I heard that.
But now I am wondering what I should do with this ammo. This is rare and precious stuff in my mind. Should I just sit on it and keep it as a collectors item or should I fire it and reload it? The brass is probably military spec.
How I wish I would have bought those other three boxes...