Greek .303 Brit ammo value

[Johan412th]

I was recently given a rather large stash of Greek .303 British ball ammo. About 500 rounds, with 300 still sealed in the case. I'm curious as to the value and longevity of the 300 rounds still sealed. I will probably never open it, as I know it's a piece of history that can never be replaced. But then again, I'm nostalgic for relics of the free world...

[Art]

A lot depends on how it was stored before you got it. With good storage in the sealed can.....probably at least 70 years. After that you could have problems ranging from hang-fires and duds to erratic pressures and/or cracked cases. I'll shoot milsurp ammo manufactured in the 50s if it passes the "smell test." Past that, I figure its best just to pull the bullets and use them in reloads. As hard as bullets are to find for some military calibers I think the bullets from really old military ammo are probably worth more than the intact cartridge!!

There are varying opinions on this one though and you'll get other input.

[JBinIll]

Is it the HXP headstamped stuff?I had a bunch of that hoarded back and it got stolen.It was dated 72,boxer primed,reloadable,not cordite loaded either.

[Johan412th]

Yessir, hxp 75. Blue marking around the primers.

[joem]

I've shot powder and bullets from 1943 &1944. All turkish stuff that I pulled down and loaded in my cases. I've been buying factory seconds for .303, 8mm, .223 and .308. My friend buys .45ACP & .44 bullets for .44mag.

[JBinIll]

Yessir, hxp 75. Blue marking around the primers.

That's excellent ammo.Non-corrosive,Boxer primed,reload able cases.It is NOT loaded with cordite,if I remember from one I pulled a bullet on it is a ball type powder.Top dollar surplus .303 ammo and people are asking .60c to .75c a round for that POF corrosive berdan primed junk.

[Johan412th]

That's excellent ammo.Non-corrosive,Boxer primed,reload able cases.It is NOT loaded with cordite,if I remember from one I pulled a bullet on it is a ball type powder.Top dollar surplus .303 ammo and people are asking .60c to .75c a round for that POF corrosive berdan primed junk.

Well that's Definately good news! I'm hoping it lasts me quite a while.

[JB White]

If you want to save some, then by all means do it. Personally, if it were mine, I'd shoot it in my best rifle as a treat to myself. The HXP is probably as close as you'll ever get to the now nearly extinct WCC '81 which was surplused off in the 90's. I had a pair of rifles which would print about an inch with that batch.
I regret having shot it all up now...wishing I had held at least some back. However I had the best time impressing myself and others at how well a few of my rifles could actually shoot using surplus ball ammo.
If you have a great shooter, treat it once in a while. You'll never be able to retire on saving the ammo, but you can retire with the memories of how great it used to be...instead of cursing the fact it turned bad before you had the chance.

[Johan412th]

Thanks JB. I'm shooting it in my BSA no.1 mk3, but I plan on keeping some for down the road. It's a treat to shoot, but with every shot I take, I know I can't get it back. I can reload, but it's not the same. I'm proud of my piece of history, and I'll enjoy every minute I get with it. I recently found out about the whole Greek civil war, and how they ended up with all the British weaponry. Truly dark times for them, but glad they had British support.

[Sunray]

Cordite hasn't been used since before W.W. I.
Greek ammo is for shooting. Not much collector interest or value.

[Art]

Cordite hasn't been used since before W.W. I.
Greek ammo is for shooting. Not much collector interest or value.

Cordite was used for rifle caliber ammunition by the U.K. at least through WWII, though production shortfalls caused the widespread use of other propellants by the Brits for rifle ammunition in both world wars. I, quite a while back, purchased some 1930s Kynoch commercial Mk VII ball ammunition and military Kynoch Mk VII ball from the mid '40s. I pulled the bullets from both lots to use in reloads as there were hangfires with them and all of them were indeed loaded with cordite. If Mk VII ammunition is not loaded with cordite it usually has a suffix behind the VII like a "z," at least until the late 1930s - mid 1940s when cordite was largely, but not completely, replaced for small arms use and the suffix was generally thought unnecessary. I actually found some Yugoslav manufactured ammo headstamped Mk VIIz produced in the late 1960s, very high quality stuff.

By the end of WWI cordite's real niche was as an artillery propellant and sometimes rocket fuel. These uses undoubtedly contributed to the shortages for rifle and machine gun ammunition. The last U.K. factory producing cordite closed less than 20 ago so it was around for a long, long time after its use as a rifle propellant ended.

[joem]

Some years ago I bought some cases of .303 and a couple of them were loaded with cordite. Pulled the bullets and scraped the cases.

[Parashooter]

http://i61.tinypic.com/t9cbdd.jpg
1953

[Johan412th]

Here's some photos... So is 75 the year or batch?

[JBinIll]

Cordite hasn't been used since before W.W. I.
Greek ammo is for shooting. Not much collector interest or value.

I've got some 45 dated Kynoch that says otherwise.

[JBinIll]

Here's some photos... So is 75 the year or batch?


That's the year,good stuff for shooting.

[Art]

Here's some photos... So is 75 the year or batch?

Dang!! Clips in bandoleers, sweet find. 75 is the year of manufacture.

[JBinIll]

Dang!! Clips in bandoleers, sweet find. 75 is the year of manufacture.

When that came in it was cheap to.I did have about 3000 rds until a fellow named Charley Glick stole all my ammo stored in my shop building.

[Johan412th]

Yes, and all my brass and stripper clips are getting kept.

[Art]

Yes, and all my brass and stripper clips are getting kept.

With .303 stripper clips selling for as much as $2.00 each I certainly hope so!! Those bandoleers usually go for a buck or two as well. The Brit stripper clips are extremely robust and while it is possible to wear one out it takes a while to do it. You've got close to $300.00 worth of bonus goodies there not counting the cans and the crate.

There are sites that show how to reload the clips. I use the "three down, two up" method myself and it works very well.

[Johan412th]

Yes the friend that have them to me told me there's a special way to do it. They work great! Best stripper clips I've ever used!

[JB White]

OK guys it's time to nitpick here. I know we as Americans call them stripper clips, but on an Enfield forum they are chargers. ;)

[Johan412th]

OK guys it's time to nitpick here. I know we as Americans call them stripper clips, but on an Enfield forum they are chargers. ;)

Oh, shame on me, I knew that. Point, JB!

[Art]

Either is correct. In the U.K. the thing that covers the engine of a car is the bonnet, here it's the hood.

I think charger is less ambiguous though. A "charger/stripper clip" isn't inserted into the magazine with the cartridges while a "clip" (Mannlicher, M1 rifle) is. On Johan412ths ammunition the American term is used; "clips" in bandoleers.

[Johan412th]

Either is correct. In the U.K. the thing that covers the engine of a car is the bonnet, here it's the hood.

I think charger is less ambiguous though. A "charger/stripper clip" isn't inserted into the magazine with the cartridges while a "clip" (Mannlicher, M1 rifle) is. On Johan412ths ammunition the American term is used; "clips" in bandoleers.

Perhaps I have been vindicated?

[JBinIll]

Perhaps I have been vindicated?

LOL Indeed!Swings and roundabouts as the Brits say.

[JB White]

But it's HXP...so it's all Greek to me. :)

[Johan412th]

I swear this is my favorite forum... So what does the hxp stand for?

[JBinIll]

I swear this is my favorite forum... So what does the hxp stand for?

It doesn't translate well- Ελληνικα Αμυντικα Συστηματα :)

[Johan412th]

It doesn't translate well- Ελληνικα Αμυντικα Συστηματα :)

You don't say. "It's like all those buttons on a calculator you don't use!"

So, the question is, why did they keep producing the ammo for so long? I would assume that their British weaponry was replaced with American weaponry later into and after the civil war, so why keep using the .303 Brit?

[JBinIll]

European countries have a habit of keeping weapons in storage for war reserves long past there usefullness "just in case".Old habits die hard as do lessons learned about being caught short.I've had surplus Swede 6.5 that was made in the late 80s.Some of the 8mm Mauser I saw on the market was Austrian Hirtenberger with late 70s and early 80s headstamps.

[budster]

Ελληνικα Αμυντικα Συστηματα

Greek Defense System

[Johan412th]

Well that makes sense. I mean, Korea kept all the garands and carbines we gave them. I was just expecting Greece to be making .30-06 and .30 carbine as well. Either way, I'm glad they did. HXP is a far different from GDS. Lost in translation, eh?

[Mark in Ottawa]

A few years ago I unknowingly bought a mixed box of .303 dated 1917 and 1918. My temptation was to keep all of the cartridges as historical artifacts but the curiosity devil got on my shoulder and insisted that I try one from each year. Both fired perfectly.