Sniper Ammo Selection

[Simon]

The information below is reproduced with the kind permission of Harry Furness and is extracted from a letter sent to me in July of 2003 in which he briefly covers how he personally went about securing ammunition.

Harry Furness served as a sniper with the Hallamshire Battalion (Yorks and Lancs) and landed in Normandy on D-day, serving on the front line right through until the capture of Berlin. It is believed, from remaining records, that Harry is the last surviving British Sniper who went ashore on D-Day itself.

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The combination of a really good Snipers' rifle has to mean that you use only the very best ammunition to ensure high precision results, second best is just not acceptable. As an operational Sniper I was in fact forever scavenging anyones ordnance supplies to get the best quality ammo I could find, so much so it is even mentioned in the campaign history of my wartime Battalion in action across North-West Europe. It's a long story, but briefly whilst still in the UK at Sniping Schools we were promised, as far as feasible, supplies of Match-Grade rifle ammunition for our Sniper Section. But the sheer logistics of a vast Army in the field once battle started meant that specilist supplies grew scarce, and everyone in the line was issued the same sort of general purpose ammo made by mass production methods. To be fair it was quite reliable on the whole, but it was certainly not good enough for the precision long range Sniper who demands competition grade ammunition. My only source then had to be looking through cases of incoming ammo and picking out a supply of those from the best factories. I scrounged good ammo wherever I could find it, when others slept from exhaustion I still kept going and searched out the best for myself and our Section Snipers.

Only a few years ago I was told about a re-union held by the support Vickers Machine Gunners to my Battalion, (the 2nd Bn Kensingtons). At their get-together in London the veterans retold old war stories, etc. Then it was remembered that a Yorks and Lancs Regt Sergeant-Sniper used to come to their slit trenches offering his cigarette supplies for ammo he could pick out from their supply of ordnance. I was after their special issue of long range .303" MkVIIIz. The MG NCOs' only received limited supplies reserved for special shoots, so mostly weren't overkeen to let me have the complete case. I recall being told by their Sergeant Major that I would be making the best use of it anyway, so by handing over a weeks supply of issue and purchased cigarettes I came away with my prize rounds, in reality it meant little to me to hand over all my cigarette ration as I kept them only for bartering anyway, as I am a lifelong non-smoker. I might mention that the use of very specialised .303" rounds such as Armour-Piercing, Incendiary, and the MG MkVIIIz are thought to be very corrosive to a barrel, but my thoughts on it were that I used it in moderation and I fired it only occasionally then my barrel would last, and it did of course.

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I hope the above is of interest?

Cheers,

Simon.

P.S. The picture of Harry below was taken just after the end war and is obviously a press photo. As Harry said to me about the Pic "I wouldn't have lasted long in the field with boots that shiny"

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