Author Topic: "observation" .303 ammo  (Read 725 times)

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Offline kevin.303

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"observation" .303 ammo
« on: September 19, 2004, 06:01:15 PM »
was at a gunshow last week( although it was more military collectibles then guns) and there was dealer with all sorts of military ammo for sale. mostly .303, .308 and 7X57.he had .303 AP and tracer for $3.00 each so i bought a few of each.he also had something labeled ".303 observation" i was leery about buying some and decided not to because this is where our goofy laws hit a gray area. AP ammo is illegal in a handgun but legal in a rifle. API is banned. the law book listed WP and marking rounds as also being banned. the example it gave was the .303 Dewilde which is a white phospourus marking round. it also is called an observation cartridge.is this the same thing as what i saw?


i also learned another lesson. from the same guy i bought what i thought was a bag of 50 UMC rounds. turns out they where handloads that i couldn't hit a damn thing with, and least 5 of them wouldn't chamber. measured them when i got home and they are way over the max. OAL for a .303. never do that again.
" oh we didn't sink the bismarck, and we didn't fight at all, we spent our time in Norfolk and we really had a ball. chasing after women while our ship was overhauled, living it up on grapefruit juice and sick bay alcohol"

Offline SBF

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"observation" .303 ammo
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2004, 03:21:42 AM »
You really have to know your ammo types before buying at gunshows IMO.  I saw a guy at a local show that was selling various types of 7.62x54R as tracer, observation and other types of "specialty" rounds.  In fact they were all FMJ's of various manufacturer.  Some were yellow tip (light ball(?) and white tip (heavy ball(?) Hungarian (IIRC).  He was trying to pass them off at $3.00 a round.  I know they weren't anything special though because I saw the opened tin he was pulling them out of.  It could have been an honest mistake but I've seen to many folks trying to pass off too much stuff that was/is mismarked trying to dupe the buyer who might be unfamiliar with these things.

It also seems that most folks will tell you that their milsurp ammo is non-corrosive, more often than not that is not the case.
SmallBoreFreak and Cruffler

Offline Mikey

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"observation" .303 ammo
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2004, 05:53:29 AM »
kevin 303:  I would be extra leery of tracer or phorporous rounds in the 303 caliber.  They haven't been made in quite a long time and may not be safe.  I purchased some old tracer rounds for my 303 once and they lit right up as soon as the primer went off - they didn't wait until they were out of the barrel and they left my barrel very dirty.  If they start to light up in the chamber they might ruin your chamber and bore.  HTH.  Mikey.

Offline kevin.303

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"observation" .303 ammo
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2004, 06:41:35 AM »
the headstamp reads " DI Z 1943 " i thought i had bought 2 rounds of tracer and 2 of AP but i only have the one tracer. it was $3 a pop.i'm pretty sure it's tracer because it's tip is red and as far as i know standard .303 service ammo wasn't ID with colour. only specialty rounds like tracer and AP. i didn't get the phorporous ammo cause i think it's illegal. that would make a mess of someone if you shot them with it.
" oh we didn't sink the bismarck, and we didn't fight at all, we spent our time in Norfolk and we really had a ball. chasing after women while our ship was overhauled, living it up on grapefruit juice and sick bay alcohol"

Offline 1911crazy

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"observation" .303 ammo
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2004, 01:21:38 PM »
Someone had on the net lots of tracer stuff in all calibers and i'm not sure who had it.  I never find any real deals here at gun shows for ammo here in the northeast all of the time its cheaper to look for deals on the net then mailorder it.                                          BigBill