.303 Ball, South African

[Atticus Thraxx]

If you have a bullet puller it may be worth your while to pull one apart and investigate the innards and propellant. Just costs you one round for peace of mind.

[pocketshaver]

conguering the world requires quality ammunition that goes bang every time?

preserving the empire relies upon economic control, so low quality ammunition is acceptable. consctipted troops don't know any better.

[lawrence_n]

CATASTROPHIC FAILURES!! One of the guys who bought that SA ball ammo contacted me and showed me pics of the fired brass. What a mess!! There's a bunch of FTF's and brass that is falling apart with huge flame-cut splitting, base separations, and assorted other defects. Bottom line, it's not safe to fire. I'm going to take it back. Since he needs ammo, I'll pull the projectiles out of the reject rounds and if they look good, I'll reload them into good brass with good powder and primers and replace the defective ones on a 1-for-1. From the looks of the brass, I think the rounds were in some sort of corrosive atmosphere that degraded the metal. The guy I got them off said he'd tumble cleaned the ammo and I'd read somewhere that tumbling loaded ammo can cause changes in the powder characteristics. Neither my brother nor I have ever seen that kind of disintegration of quality brass. I have a lot of IVI and DIZ brass primed and ready to go so I just have to make sure the actual bullets are OK and I'll use them.

[Daan Kemp]

The provenance of the cartridges is now important. It seems the cartridges might have been stored under suspicious circumstances. I have as recently as 2019 fired 1960 South African military 303 with no problems. Yes, you find people with such old cartridges every now and then.

[browningautorifle]

stored under suspicious circumstances.

CATASTROPHIC FAILURES!!

Agreed, sounds like ammo that was maybe stored under high heat and in sunlight...? The heat and cool factor will break ammo down very quickly, thus the directions given on storage and protection. Maybe Bombdoc can shed some light here?

[bombdoc]

Hi Guys,

Ok.. sounds like someone has been tumbling loaded ammunition!

The "copper wash" look is the result of dezincification.. the cases have been exposed to an oxidising atmosphere, both acid and alkali will do it, which has corroded the zinc out of the brass and left the copper. This is an indication of poor storage, and although not always a problem it points towards weak cases. The marking is not caused by handling as you would actually see defined marks, this has come from fumes..

Tumbling loaded ammunition is a SERIOUSLY bad thing to do. What happens is that the propellant grains break up, increasing the surface area and hence the burn rate. This leads to pressure spikes and all the associated over pressure consequences. It is a particular problem with old ammunition where the plasticisers in the propellant will have degraded and the structure has become brittle and shatters easily. The consequence is that the round behaves as if it is full of Bullseye!

Just to touch on the primers.. copper .303 primers are filled with ASA mix which contains Lead Azide and Potassium Chlorate. The reason for this is that it gave the ammunition a long shelf life and an ability to operate over a very wide range of temperatures. The lead however kills the brass and the Chlorate rusts your barrel.. this is fine if you only ever use the brass once and you have a shouty Sargent who will hit you if you do not clean your rifle!

Others Beware!

I would burn this ammunition on the spot, if only to stop anyone else using it! There is nothing wrong with SA ammunition which was made in properly run government factories, but this stuff is Old and from a part of the world that has been through lots of changes...

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Just a point:

The big, 1/4" diameter, copper-cupped primers in much .303 ammo are MERCURIC FULMINATE based and, of course loaded with a lot of Chlorate salts to ensure the flash penetrates the tiny holes in the cartridge head and properly ignites the tied bundle of extruded Cordite. If you have .303 ammo with a standard-looking, brass-cupped "large rifle" (.210") primer and when you shake it, you can hear "powder moving", it will probably be relatively "new" (Winchester et al did a lot of .303 like this in BOTH world wars), and fueled by granulated Nitro Cellulose propellant. It may also be primed with .217" BERDAN non-mercuric primers, and filled with a granulated NC propellant, just to make things interesting. FN made vast quantities of this style Pre and Post WW2.

Treat ALL ammo, be it sporting or military with COPPER primer cups as MERCURIC-primed. Copper was used because the Mercury in the compound reacts with the zinc in brass and seriously embrittles it. This is clearly demonstrated by the slow but inexorable disintegration of FIRED cases fitted with Mercuric primers. The "liberated" Mercury vapour instantly bonds with the inside of the case and there is NO going back,

During "ignition", the Chlorate breaks down to Chloride salts and these, in the presence of even a tiny amount of atmospheric moisture, are what will eat your barrel. You wouldn't shake kitchen salt (Sodium Chloride) down your barrel and then put it in the safe for a few months, would you?

The other catch, as explained previously, is that Cordite-fueled .303 ammo is "made differently". Because the propellant is not in a granulated form but in a tied bundle of long "sticks", topped with a "stable" cardboard ('glazeboard") wad, it is inserted into the case BEFORE the final tapering operations. The bullet is then placed on top of that wad before the final "necking" operation secures it in place. Hence, there is NO final annealing of the neck for rather obvious reasons, so ALL of the stresses resulting from that necking operation cannot be relieved. The stuff may start to crack in its factory-sealed containers if not used within a reasonably short (a couple of decades, sometimes less) time.

Treat ALL ammo as if it were Chlorate doped and thus, corrosive; replacement barrels can be expensive or unobtainable. Good gun plumbers who know their Lee Enfields are priceless!

[lawrence_n]

OK all, here's some pics of the failures. All the South African stuff is cordite loaded so I don't think tumbling compromised the propellant to any appreciable extent. I've started pulling the projectiles which may still be usable. On some of the cases I just pushed the bullet sideways and the case tore like tissue paper. Of the 35-40 rounds fired, 3 were hang fires, 13 FTF, 5 had cracked cases and 2 cases blew right apart.

[bombdoc]

Ok..

That is dezincification...!

The cases have been stored in conditions which have lead to the zinc component of the brass being leached out. It effectively weakens the structure of the brass making it brittle, resulting in case failure. The linear failure lines indicate that the rounds have been lying on a damp acidic surface and are typical of those from wet cardboard.

ANY evidence of tumbling of loaded ammunition is an indication that it is in a dangerous condition and should not be used. Aircraft ammunition subject to vibration suffers from the same risk and is given a restricted life for that reason.

Bruce's observations on mercuric and chlorate primers are also relevant, but in this case it is the state of the case material and the propellant that is the limiting factor.

As an Ammunition Technical Officer of over thirty years experience, my view is that this ammunition is not safe for use and should be destroyed..

[Daan Kemp]

I retract my previous statement that I would shoot it all. Definitely destroy, bullets will probably also be affected.