.303 practice rounds

[burrowsatwill]

Hi all,
I have a box (empty) which has the following written on it.

"10 PRACTICE CARTRIDGES" then the KYNOCH trade mark.

Diagonally accross the box is written

".303 Mark V11 "small mark"

The box contained a brass rimmed round with a silver coloured bullet. Stamp mark is K 1937 V11

On the underside of the box is a red/orange sticker which says

"The cartridges in this box are sold only on condition that they are to be expended in Great Britain Only. They are obtainable at less than the usual price of .303 Mark V11 cartridges because they have small visual blemishes which, however do not effect their shooting qualities or general efficiency in any way."

Does anyone have any further information on these i.e were they used by the Military exclusively or were they available to the shooting public at that time.

Sorry it's a bit long winded, will have to get a camera!!

 

[6.5MS]

These are 303 rounds of average quality and often issued to CCF units. Next grade up was Green Spot used for target which in the latter days was called Sniper but was never as good as Green spot. I am sure you will have a fuller description from others but a starting point!

 

[TonyE]

Small Mark

Sorry to disagree with you slightly Mark, but....

As rounds come off the production line they are visually inspected and any that show any blemishes are set aside. This might be a little as a stain on the case or perhaps a slight imperfection in the neck. Kynoch called these rounds "Small Mark" and sold them off to the target shooting fraternity as practice ammunition at a lower than normal price, which was better than destroying them.

They were never military rounds. I suppose that a school CCF could have bought some privately, but why when there should have been no difficulty getting .303 military ammo.

"Green Spot" ammo was only a 7.62mm product. There was no "Green Spot" .303 inch nor was there any specially issued .303 "Sniper" quality, either in peacetime or war. For civilian use the National Rifle Association with War Office help selected what they thought was the most accurate Lot each year and issued that for the Imperial Meeting. As a matter of interest, it was reckoned that the most accurate .303 military ammo ever produced was Crompton Parkinson (CP) 1944. Even in the late 1960s I knew of target shooters who had a couple of boxes squirrelled away for special shoots. It is a little surprising that the best ammo should have been war production by a company with no experience of making ammunition until 1941.

For British military packets, a good rule of thumb is that if an ammo box has the maker's name, trademark and other details on the label then it is not military but commercial. There are exceptions to that, but very few.

Regards
TonyE

 

[6.5MS]

Tony, of course you are right and was confusing the 7.62 version - been one of those days! CCF units did have the small mark issued to them also though. I can remember using them! Perhaps TA units also had them but I do not know!