New .303 finds

**TonyE** · 03-02-2014, 12:35 PM

Yesterday I acquired a couple of .303 inch rounds that I have been after for a long time.

The first was an aluminium cased Ball Mark VI that is thought to have been made by the British Aluminium Co. in WWI. I have had the Mark VII version of this for a long time but needed the round nosed Mark VI type.

The second was even better. It is a Smoke Discharger E Mark IT used to fire smoke grenades from Armoured vehicles. Approved in 1936 it was only used for a year or so before being replaced by the ordinary rifle Discharger H Mark I cartridge.

It is one of the rarest of all the .303 inch cartridges and the first I have seen in fifty years of collecting.

Regards
TonyE

**m3bobby** · 03-02-2014, 08:51 PM

Nice one Tony, what's the current ammo count now.

**Panzersaurus** · 03-02-2014, 09:28 PM

ironic, your post count is 303 now too. Very neat stuff, I have never seen the round for the smoke launcher, only the launchers themselves.

**Steve T** · 03-02-2014, 09:36 PM

Very nice additions to your collection Tony.

**TonyE** · 03-02-2014, 10:17 PM

by m3bobby

Nice one Tony, what's the current ammo count now.

Not that large as I don't have the space, especially as it all has to be in security cabinets as it is live.

I suppose the overall total of my British military collection is about 3000 rounds of which about 1000 are .303. A more comprehensive .303 collection would be much larger than that but I deliberately do not collect every date or minor font variation in the headstamp. I try to stick to first and last date for each type of load and manufacturer.

There were about 130 or so different .303 types approved or adopted for service since 1888 and I have about 110 of them. Many of the others are Indian or other Dominion local pattern types that probably never made it to the UK so the chances of ever finding them are slight.

I never thought I would find an EIT so there is hope for things like the Incendiary B Mark V and other rare UK variations.

Regards
TonyE