Greek Surplus 303 British Ball for sale at Cheaperthandirt.com

[cprher]

I just purchased some of the Greek surplus 303 being sold by Cheaperthandirt.com. They state "This is true Military Spec MK7Z Spitzer .303 British! This ammo has a 174 grain Full Metal Jacket bullet, brass cased, boxer primed, non-corrosive, and is reloadable. The Greek HXP (HXP is the headstamp code for the Greek Powder and Cartridge Company of Athens) .303 British is one of the most sought after surplus ammunition still available. This is the ammo you need if you shoot a Lee-Enfield, Lee-Metford, or a Martini-Enfield rifle."

Is anyone familiar with particular ammo and how it shoots in comparison to Prvi, S&B, and other types of commercial 174 grain ball ammo? I'm particularly interested in any experience with it in late manufacture (50's) No 4 Mk2 guns.

Keith

Information

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[no4mk1t]

This ammo is desirable on two counts. One it is non-corrosive unlike a lot of other mil-surp 303. And two, it is Boxer primed, unlike almost all military 303.

The ammo shoots good in my Fazackerly No4Mk.2 when compared to other surplus 303. I have not shot any Prvi or S&B to make that comparison though.

[Bindi2]

As it is the stuff the military made and used for their rifles on the two way range I think it is more than likely better than any thing else. Just a feeling I have also the sights would have been zeroed for that ammo in the first place. As a bloke that shoots a lot of 303 and reloads it I can say it is not an easy load to duplicate in fact a 100% duplication is not possible because the components available are different.

[brnom2]

I received several hundred once fired (or supposedly once fired) of the HXP head stamped brass with a P14 I purchased some time ago - didn't think much about it, as I generally use military .303 (in my various No4's anyway) - mid to late 50's aussie made, as I have a "quantity". Guess when I get round to using the P14, the brass sounds ok from the above comments.

[Roger Payne]

There was a lot of this ammo about in the UK about 10 to 15 years ago. I bought/traded a load then & still have several hundred rounds left. It is good quality ammo & it goes just fine through my No4 T's. I have hundreds of cases but have not reloaded any personally yet, but have heard from a variety of sources that the brass is quite soft, so you'd need to keep an eye on case length. If it was available this side of the pond at anywhere near the price advertised I'd be grabbing as much as I could get hold of.

[Peter Laidler]

I had a 'reasonable' stash of old RG and RL .303 that I kept for my No4T knowing that it matched the ballistics of the telescope. One day at work on the ranges, there seemed to be a fair bit of .303" UK Military HXP being fed through a couple of Vickers guns on a field firing range. So, being rather cheaper than the shop ammo prices, I decided to use some in my No4T to see how much variation I would have to wind onto my range drum to compensate when the day came to change. I pointed out to one of the gun commanders a likely target at 200, 400 and so on yards away (it was an alien measurement to the young sproggy SF instructor!) and asked him to spot for me. Needn't have bothered. It matched pretty well yard for yard. Used it ever since.

Just a small thing No4 in your thread 2. ALWAYS treat ANY ammo as both corrosive AND errosive. In Armourers circles, there's no such thing as non-corrosive ammo..........

[Aragorn243]

Not having a lot of 303 on hand I ordered a case today. With shipping it was $222.00.

[Aragorn243]

Ammo arrived loose packed in boxes 50 cartridges to a box I believe although I didn't count them. Some of the wax paper was still with them. Condition looks almost new with a couple small spots on one here or there. Too cold to go shooting right now.