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.30" Browning D.I. Tracer Bullets

Defender

Defender

Well-Known Member
Hi there
What are the correct words 'D.I.' standing for on this label?
Is it possible to say how old it is? 'LOT No. 2' is the only additional marking.
The label sticks on a zinc-plated metal-box and I still believe this was for export purposes (the box was found outside of GB). But who knows?

Can somebody help me out with pictures/(cut-)drawings of this bullet?

Every additional information is needed.

.30 Browning D.I.jpgView attachment 50085
 
"D.I." stands for "Dark Ignition". The normal D.I. tracer was dark for the first 100 yards and then bright to 1,000 yards. The intention was to avoid revealing the position of the gun.

It is not possible to date the ammunition from the label, as "Lot 2" could refer to simply that contract, but my estimate is that it probably dates from the 1960s. It is almost certainly an export contract, as although the British military were using .30-06 at that time in Browning guns for the Royal Armoured Corps, if it was for them it would be a Btitish style label for Tracer G Mark 4.

I will scan the drawing of the Kynoch .30-06 tracer and post it later.

Regards
TonyE
 
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TonyE said:
...It is not possible to date the ammunition from the label, as "Lot 2" could refer to simply that contract, but my estimate is that it probably dates from the 1960s....
I will scan the drawing of the Kynoch .30-06 tracer and post it later.
Click to expand...

Hi Tony
Thank you four your answer. I thought that maybe the style could be a hint to date the label. Late 1950s up to the 1960s will match my presumption.
A scan of the Kynoch drawing exceeds my expectations!

What colour had the bullet-tips of the british service D.I.? (it's clear that the exports had the colour the customer had ordered)
 
British .30-06 tracer had a fairly bright red tip. I will try to get the drawing scanned and posted together with a picture of the round on Sunday.

(Busy tomorrow at the ECRA show at Bisley)

Regards
TonyE
 
Hi Defender,
I have no drawing but here is a photo of a UK 30 cal tracer and just for intrest a 30 cal blank(L10A1),the dark 'dots' on the top of the tracer case is from this round having spent some time in a 'cloth' 30 cal MG belt,one odd thing with this tracer is that the annulus is purple,tracer are usualy marked this way with red,purple being the id colour for ball!
This case and bullet are 100% original to each other so maybe over to TonyE for a possilble explaination for this?P3010001.JPGP3010003.JPGP3010004.JPGP3010007.JPG

Thought I had this photo thing sussed!

Tony
 
Drawings

Here are the tracer drawings as promised. First though, in my previous post there was a typo. The Tracer is the G Mark 1z, it is the Ball that is the Mark 4z. I cannot edit that post as on this new forum one cannot do that. It is very annoying. Also, this is the second time I have typed this answer, the first disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again! When I checked, the drawings I have are the military ones, not Kynoch.

Tony- you will see that on the tracer drawing it specifically states that the cap should be lacquered purple. I think the history of this is that after the war when the decision was taken to retain .30-06 as the calibre for armoured vehicles, all ammunition in service was U.S. made. The tracer had a red tip and the cap annulus was meaningless. When this ammunition ran out or was time expired in the 1950s and British production started it was thought better to retain the U.S. marking system rather than the usual British one of no tip colour and red annnulus for tracer. (Squaddies don't like change, you know!)

As I am in good humour this morning (or was until I had to type all this again) I have added the drawings for the Blank L10A1 and the Ball mark 4z.

Cheers
TonyE

.30 Ball 4z.jpgTracer G1z bullet.jpgTracer G1z.jpg3006 Blank L10A1.jpg
 
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Many thanks TonyE,
as you are,or were,in good humour this morn do you know if ball and tracer were ever given a L number as well as the blank?

Cheers
Tony
 
No, not as far as I know. Although both designs were sealed in 1956 after the L system was adopted (in 1954) I don't know why they failed to allocate tnem L numbers. Perhaps because the 7.62mm was going to replace them? However, there must have been a change of heart as the blank was sealed in 1961 with an L Number!

In any case, the Mark 1z nomenclature for the tracer is odd because that Mark should have been allocated to the U.S. M1 tracer in British service in WW2, just as other American loads were given British Mark numbers. However, the U.S. tracer never appeared in Lists of Changes so it seems the Mark I went to the 1950s round.

As a matter of interest, we bought both ball and tracer from FN in the late 1960s and early 70s and their tracer was sealed as G Mark 2z and the Ball as Mark 5z.

Regards
TonyE
 
Thanks TonyE
yes that is odd,also find it a bit odd that the WW2 contract 30-06 ball ammo to the RAF from RA has no Mk number on the headstamps but have the z marked on them(RA 1941 300 Z)

Cheers
Tony
 
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