Early M F 303 rounds

[englishman_ca]

Gallery rounds. They are not too common to find here in Ontario. Probably because they have all been consumed many years ago.

That being said, I have a quantity of them I got in a bucket.

100 years old and it still goes bang without problem.

These are all Dominion gallery rounds made up from various used ball cases.
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Mk.I Black powder, Mk.I smokeless, Mk.II smokeless and an unidentified one with bullet loaded way out.
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All in used military ball cases, except for the one which is in a commercial Lee Metford case.

Recycled cases seem to be the norm, however, some new gallery dedicated cases were used. I have one made up as a drill round of all things. Note that is is marked GP-B for Gallery Practice - Ball.
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I use them (or used to until I found out their rarity) to test fire my antique restorations just to prove that the gun would fire. Since then I make up my own reloads with 9 grns of black and a 110grn bullet I use in my M1 carbine. Seems fine to shoots minute of tin can.
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Your specimin is very interesting. I cannot add to anything other than I am surprised that gallery cartridges would be made at such a late date.

here is a useful link;
.303 inch Practice - Other - British Military Small Arms Ammo

[green]

In this case G is for tracer and Z indicates loaded with nitro cellulose powder not cordite.

[englishman_ca]

So as Green pointed out, this is a ball round case originally loaded with tracer.

You might have a recycled case loaded with a light bullet. Which got me to thinking....(a dangerous thing sometimes).... I reload plinker rounds with powder and bullet pulled from 7.62 x 39 surplus ammo.
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It looks very similar. I wonder if you simply found one of somebody's plinker reloads?

[mike1967]

but what I cannot trace is the G & Z is the G for Gallery the Z prefix was used to denote the Vickers boatail rounds.

G is Tracer
Z is Nitro Cellulose.

Vickers boat tail bullets were headstamped VIII or 8.

[muffett.2008]

Cinders, your cartridge is depicted on page 36, Identification Manual on the .303 British Service Cartridge, No.3 Special Purpose Ammunition
By B.A Temple. This was a 5 volume set.

Cartridge, S.A., TRACER, .303-INCH, G Mark IVZ. (Canadian pattern)
Attachment 75763

[CINDERS]

Thank you guys appreciate your responses the mystery is solved now to see if there is anything else I have which poses questions

[Howard]

Attachment 75809

In the mid 1960's I worked in a plant AAI Corp. in Baltimore, Md. area. I punched fins on all different sizes of flechettes and the lavs would shoot them. I was not working in the labs so I never really knew how the test worked out. The pictures are of Flechettes that I put in my toolbox and have been there since then. These were experimental so I do not know if this type were ever used. I had been in the USN and got out before Vietnam got really hot.