Winchester Production 1943 303 Ammunition in box of 48

[Mk VII]

Both Winchester and Remington were approached to make .303 by the British in early 1940. Both were reluctant to treat. Winchester in particular had had a bad experience with British contracts in the last war, on which they had ended up losing money. The official history comments:-

" there were only two possible sources of supply, the Remington Arms Co of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the Winchester Repeating Arms Co of New Haven in the same State. Both were approached in March with a view to an order of 50 million rounds, and both stipulated terms which then seemed prohibitive. Remington wanted $2 million to pay for the reconditioning of plant, a price of forty dollars for a thousand rounds (which in France and the United Kingdom then cost the equivalent of about eighteen dollars), and a minimum order of 300 million rounds. Winchester had no existing capacity for rifle ammunition, and even on its own terms, which included payment of the entire cost of new plant and 100 per cent. down payment with the order, was reluctant to contract. Hence it was not until June, when circumstances were very different, that any orders for small arms ammunition (apart from one or two small contracts for sub-machine gun and revolver cartridges) were placed in the United States ... "

[no4mk1t]

It seems I remember reading that the original lot of Hodgdon BLC came from surplus demilled US contract 303. If you ever decide to pull one down, take notice if it has Ball powder in it.

[jmoore]

A couple of my uncles moved to Connecticut to work in the Winchester plant early on. Were in fact involved in .303"SAA production for some time! One stayed, the other ended up in the AAF.

[therno]

Check out what I found on GunBroker.com!
[288 RDS] WINCHESTER .303 AMMO [MK VII] : Rifle Ammunition at GunBroker.com


Here is some that just sold recently

[browningautorifle]

Here is some that just sold recently

And...what does that mean...?