Canadian pattern gallery cartridges.

[englishman_ca]

I was sorting through some ammo at the kitchen table to go try out a project rifle for its first test fire and just so happened to have my camera right there, so I took a couple of snaps.

Canada manufactured some gallery ammo at the turn of the last century. It didn't catch on because it was discontinued fairly quickly. I was fortunate to have a bucket of old rounds given to me. I sorted them to find some Mk.I black powder, some Mk.I and Mk.II smokeless.

For those not familiar with these, they were basically a recycled ball cartridge case loaded with a few grains of powder and seated with a small cast bullet.

What has my curiosity going is the one round that I present here for your viewing.



It is a "Cartridge Gallery Practice .303 inch Mark I (Smokeless)". Approved in 1905 for service in Canada. A 90 grain bullet over 6 grains of smokeless powder. The bullet and crimp are correct and identical to the other Mk.I smokeless that I have.

But this one has a cartridge case with a head stamp that I have not seen before.

Usually recycled Mk.II ball cases were used, but not this one.


I note that it has a small primer.


This is a Mk.II ball case for ref.

Any ideas as what the head stamp denotes? Maybe commercial production??

And yes, over a hundred years old and this ammo still goes bang!

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.