Old unknown cartridges

[KriegMann]

Well these were given to me by my grandfather when I was a kid. The wooden bullets were put in by him. For the most part I have no clue about headstamps and was hoping find out what they were fired from.

[Stinkpotpete]

Let's see how good my research was, I'm going to say the 2 from 1941 are RL Royal Laboratory,, Woolwich Arsenal, Kent, UNITED KINGDOM , and were tracer rounds. The 1942 dated one is from BE Royal Ordinance Factory, Blackpole, Worchester, UNITED KINGDOM and was also a tracer. Is the Peters case a rimmed or rimless case? If it's rimless, I think it may be a .30-06.

Here's where I found the info for your own perusal: .303 Headstamp Cartridge Identification

[KriegMann]

The Peters case is rimless and thank you.

[TonyE]

The three British .303 cases are Tracer G Mark II which was introduced in 1938 and served throughout WW2 as a general purpose tracer. It traced bright to 1,000 yards. They would have been used in Vickers and Bren guns. Also, during the early part of the war in RAF Browning guns, but G Mark II tracers were soon replaced by specialised Air Service day or night tracers with a shorter range.

The .30-06 case is readily identifiable by the headstamp, ".30G1906" which translates as ".30 Government Model 1906", i.e. 30-06. This example is a commercial cartridge used for hunting etc. rather than a U.S. military issue round.

Regards
TonyE