British Army armorer's tools question

[PRE]

Moderator(s), please move this topic to a more appropriate sub-forum if needed.
This is a long shot, but does anyone have any pics they could share of British .303 headspace gauges and dummy rounds? Were the dummy rounds made by the armorers themselves, or were they 'official' issue? The period in question would be through 1943.
Thanks in advance,
Pat

[Warspite]

Hi Pat, the book you want is 'Accurizing and Shooting Lee Enfields' by Skennerton- these two extracts might help with the head space gauges:

Ed

[Watchdog]

Moderator(s), please move this topic to a more appropriate sub-forum if needed.
This is a long shot, but does anyone have any pics they could share of British .303 headspace gauges and dummy rounds? Were the dummy rounds made by the armorers themselves, or were they 'official' issue? The period in question would be through 1943.
Thanks in advance,
Pat

The drill rounds were official and the type you want is the "Cart SA .303 inch D MkVI" These were visibly distinct by being chrome plated and had longitudinal grooves in the shell painted red which also made them distinct by touch in the dark. They are still quite easy to find and were still in use when I learned to shoot with the Enfield No4 in 1973.

This link has pictures of all the variations from earliest to latest;

https://sites.google.com/site/britmi...303-inch-drill

I hope this is helpful

Regards

Mark

[PRE]

Gentlemen,
Outstanding, thank you!
I recently closed a deal on some armorer's tools and gauges offered by a member here. The relevant thread is here:
Rare German cased Toolset WW2 for P08, P38 and MG08 + Beuteswaffen. Need advice

My main collecting focus is on WWII German captured rifles, so these items are right up my alley. It appears there are two .303 dummy rounds in the grouping, and there might be some other British gauges included, but I'm not sure if they're British or Belgian. Note the electro-penciled German designations scribed onto some of the gauges.

Thanks again for your very quick and helpful replies.
Best,
Pat

[PRE]

Here are the tools I mentioned. I'm hoping some of you will have some knowledge of these, particularly confirming/denying their British origin, when they were used, and what their function might be. Some of them show electro-pencilled numbers and letters which correspond to WWII German designations for captured weapons as noted in period German documents. I've included a photo of four tools that I assume are for Enfield rifles and revolvers. Here goes:

The top item is stamped with, 'ARMES 303 301 Mk I ACCEPTE,' below that is '(obscured)/BD 6458 AsArm 1-1951 No 7.' Below that line there is a 'm.c.1' electro-pencilled. Does the '1951' correspond to a year, or is it some other designation?

The second from top is stamped with a '22' at the left end. On the narrow half of the shaft is stamped, 'P R No.2 Mk I CANON 358 in REBUT.' The second line reads, 'B2/BC 3550 AsArm I-1951 No 14.' Like the tool above, this one also has 'm.c.1' electro-pencilled below the stamped lines.

The third item down is stamped on both sides of the darkened half. One side reads, 'PISTOL REVOLVER No 2 Mk I,' with 'PISTOL ASSEMBLED' below that. The other side has '.067 REJ.' stamped on it.

The bottom tool is not stamped at all but electro-pencilled. It reads, 'GUNS MACHINE' on top, '.303' below that, 'No(?) 915,' and an obscured lower case letter or two at the end. Below that 'PURDLY' is inscribed.
Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Some of the items I received but didn't include here are undoubtedly period and German marked, but I'm not sure about these.

Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge,
Pat