Interesting .303 MkII round of ammunition

**Nigel** · 02-13-2023 06:07 PM

I purchased 170 rounds of .303 MkII ball ammunition and only one of them had this hollow point nose. I wonder if it is a MkII* or Special as produced by Dum Dum and Woolwich but the E would suggest otherwise. The Woolwich experimental one was a hollow point instead of the exposed lead of the Indian made Dum Dum. The hollow point on this looks like it has been stamped into the nose - hence leaving quite sharp edges. It is very different from the MkIV and MkV hollow points. All opinions are welcome.

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**Surpmil** · 02-13-2023 08:29 PM

40 odd years ago a box or partial box of that stuff turned up around here. I ended up with some loose, a packet and a paper. IIRC it had a short production run as the Hague Convention of 1899 outlawed the stuff, except against "savages".

One of the loose ones:

**Woodsy** · 02-14-2023 01:24 AM

Back in the 1920's and 30's there were a variety of hollow-pointing tools available from various small-scale makers. These usually took the form of collar that fitted neatly over the nose of the bullet and accurately guided a drill to a pre-set depth. The only official hollow point .303 rounds were the marks III, IV, and V. The Mark III had an inserted tube while the Marks IV and V had a smaller diameter hole than your example. The Dum-Dum was an exposed lead soft point of fairly small diameter. There were some experimental hollow-points loaded into Mark II cases for testing purposes only. Can you accurately measure the inside diameter of the hole and also the depth so I can compare it to known drawings? A couple of clearer close-up photos would also be useful.

**CINDERS** · 02-14-2023 04:47 AM

The HP MKVI I thought were manufactured at the Kirkee plant in India.

**Nigel** · 02-14-2023 05:37 PM

Width of the hole is 3.45mm or 0.1355" Depth is 7.35mm or 0.289". The hole seems to have been partly filled with beeswax or some similar material.

**Woodsy** · 02-14-2023 10:37 PM

The cavity size does not correspond to any official or experimental hollow point bullet that I have info for. Pretty much all the 'official' styles (issue and experimental) had a cavity 2.5mm wide and 8.9mm deep.