✅ SOLVED Please Help ID This Vintage (Live?) Bullet!

[Erik in NJ]

I found this on a former British island and I believe that it's still live. It appears that it has a crimped top of some sort. Is this a blank or practice round? The length is approximately 2-3/16" and the diameter of the base is 1/2". I can see an "R", "/|\" (type design), and an "L" at 12, 1:30, and 3 o'clock. A "C" or an omega at 9 o'clock. And the Roman numerals "IV" at 6 o'clock. I'm not sure if it's WW I or WW II vintage, but just curious if anyone can tell me anything about it as well as the odd crimped top. If it is live, how careful do I need to be in handling/storing it? Thanks for any info!!

 

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[timekiller]

Surely a Blank,but is still alive.See no danger myself just don't go hitting the primer.Being it is loaded with black powder it is a little more unstable then rifle powder.So it's up to you on what you think is safe.
Take Care,
Pete,

 

[timekiller]

Made by Kynock in the 1970s this .303 (black powder) blank is packed in cardboard boxes of 10 rounds.

• $35.00 PER 100

 

[Erik in NJ]

Thanks for the quick informed reply Pete (as usual)! Is the box of blanks that you show the same as the blank I found? Any idea what the markings on the bottom stand for?

Thanks again for your help! Best, Erik

 

[timekiller]

Here read this.I think you have a .303 grenade launching round.Pretty cool & not something seen everyday on here.
Rifle grenade, ranges and ammo info please at War relics forum

 

[Erik in NJ]

Pete, Very cool--you're the best--nice work! I believe that it is a blank for launching grenades and the WW I timeframe would put it in the right timeframe of the nearby fort's date, though this area must have seen action much earlier, because I also found a dropped musket ball at the same site. I have many other similar fired crimped shells from another site on the island which I'll now have to clean up and compare. Thanks again.

 

[Erik in NJ]

Thanks to the link to the forum that Pete posted I was able to get the following detailed information from a member there. Thanks again Pete!!

It is a training blank, made as you say at Royal laboratory Woolwich some time before 1907 when dating of headstamps was introduced. The C does indeed indicate cordite and the "IV" is the mark of the cartridge.

Now for the difficult bit! It could be a "Blank .303 inch Cordite without Bullet Mark IV" which was a very short lived blank introduced in 1893 but replaced by the Blank Mark V almost immediately. The reason for the rapid replacement is uncertain, but the List of Changes paragraph that introduced the Mark IV also introduced the Mark V, saying no more Mark IV would be made. Possibly the cordite used in the Mark IV, which had no mineral jelly in it, had proved unsuitable in storage.

What is much more likely is that it is a "Blank .303 inch without bullet Mark V" made from a reject Ball Mark IV case. The Mark V blank was in service from 1894 until about 1945. The Ball Mark IV was introduced briefly in 1898 and replaced a year later by the Ball Mark V. Both had hollow point bullets.

Either way, your blanks dates from the mid to late 1890s.

As an aside, all British grenade blanks had open necks, not crimped ones from WWI until the introduction of the FN made Grenade Mark 7 in 1951.

 

[timekiller]

Thanks to the link to the forum that Pete posted I was able to get the following detailed information from a member there. Thanks again Pete!!

It is a training blank, made as you say at Royal laboratory Woolwich some time before 1907 when dating of headstamps was introduced. The C does indeed indicate cordite and the "IV" is the mark of the cartridge.

Now for the difficult bit! It could be a "Blank .303 inch Cordite without Bullet Mark IV" which was a very short lived blank introduced in 1893 but replaced by the Blank Mark V almost immediately. The reason for the rapid replacement is uncertain, but the List of Changes paragraph that introduced the Mark IV also introduced the Mark V, saying no more Mark IV would be made. Possibly the cordite used in the Mark IV, which had no mineral jelly in it, had proved unsuitable in storage.

What is much more likely is that it is a "Blank .303 inch without bullet Mark V" made from a reject Ball Mark IV case. The Mark V blank was in service from 1894 until about 1945. The Ball Mark IV was introduced briefly in 1898 and replaced a year later by the Ball Mark V. Both had hollow point bullets.

Either way, your blanks dates from the mid to late 1890s.

As an aside, all British grenade blanks had open necks, not crimped ones from WWI until the introduction of the FN made Grenade Mark 7 in 1951.

Good deal it was a strange one.Not to good on the over seas stuff.Glad you followed up & posted the results.
Take Care,
Pete,

 

[GetReal]

Just found a couple of these in a old military training course.

 

[Monty]

100% safe unless you beat it with a ball peen hammer. Keep ball peen hammers out of reach of kids! They are more dangerous than this "bullet". PS. A bullet is the projectile that comes out of the end of a gun barrel when it is fired, assuming it isn't a blank. It is actually a cartridge, which consists of a primer, a case, some propellent, and a projectile or bullet. Blanks will hkave some kind of material that will cause resistance so the cartridge will build up enouigh pressure to fire. Otherwise, the propellent would just burn and ther would be no explosion. More than you ever wanted to know. Monty