.303 MK7 special for RAF

[4md]

G day, I recently picked up this .303 carton thinking they were British manufactured because of the "special for RAF" but they are actually Australian made with the head stamp MF 1940 VII( SAAF Footscray). There is also a 'MF' on the tag which i didnt see when I got them.

So I have a couple of questions
Is this a special order that SAAF Footscray delivered to the RAF at the height of the battle of britain to help out in a desperate time ( the date on the tag is August 1940)?
Or is all airforce ammo marked this way? you would think Australian ammo would be marked RAAF?

Paul

[CampX]

A Friend of mine bought a box of RAF RCAF bullets, just the projectiles, no brass, I could not understand why.
A Month later we went to the range with a Bren, he had loaded a few of these rounds..they had blue heads, He put a couple in the Bren mag.

To make a long story short, when one of those blue headed rounds can out, it blew a 2 inch hole in a 1/2 inch boiler plate that was a target...not only that, the inpact shattered the 2 chains that were welded to it to hold it up.

I guess he knew what they were when he bought the box...I found out on the range!!!!

Dean O
Canada

[big ned]

Is it the misnomered "De Wilde" incendary ammo? I know that the RAF switched to using it during or just before the BoB?? It was considered as a great aid in showing pilots that they were hitting the enemy as it only exploded on impact and was not a tracer per se, and was considered Top Secret at the time.

Regards, Ned.

[4md]

I think they are just Ball rounds the Annulus looks purple and there is no colour on the projectiles. I will have another look purple and blue are very close. I thought the box and headstamp would be marked if they were incendary?

[hangarman]

I think they are just Ball rounds the Annulus looks purple and there is no colour on the projectiles. I will have another look purple and blue are very close. I thought the box and headstamp would be marked if they were incendary?

You are correct they are Ball rounds, Mk VII. Incendiary rounds are marked as such on the box and as been pointed out sometimes have a blue painted tip. Headstamps were B VII or B VIIz with a Blue annulus.