Hi Don,
As far as i know the ballast rounds aren't meant for gun functioning and as such do not have extraction grooves.They are fitted into belts but not fed though the gun.
They are merely for 'ballast' ,to keep the centre of gravity/ balance/trim of the aircraft as it would be for live loaded.
Your round sounds like a drill,as marked and with a groove,used for gun functioning and also in the way described to you, as an inert leader or trailer in a live belt.
As for collecting practice /drill/dummies, its all good to me,for as long as they are real... Though i still pick up the occasional 'what the f...' oddities,just for fun!
cheers,
Bob
QUOTE=beihan62;213605]Re,Drill rounds,I have a 30mm ADEN drill round,solid alloy,exept for a small plug (3mm dia.)of what looks like steel in the nose of the round,base stamp is 60,round the belt is stamped,,,DRILL 1,in the extracter goove is stamped 30mm RG 56,I got the round about 30 years ago and was told at the time it was a BALLAST round fitted at the lead end of the belt (in a Hawker Hunter,)for the purpose of ensuring the gun would not fire should the sytem be accidently armed while the aircraft was flying with full ammunition load while on training flights,could anyone verify this or is it just a bog standard DRILL round used in armourer training,
Thanks,
Don,[/QUOTE]