Is 39 cents a round a good price for 303 british mil surp ball ammo?

[RogerDat]

Found some surplus 303 ball 174 gr. boxer primed, reloadable that works out to around 39 cents a round in bulk. It has manufacture dates for 60's and early 70''s.
Have to purchase in bulk so it is a chunk of cash for some really old ammo but it almost works out to buying the ammo for what the brass would cost.

Anyone have any experience purchasing ammo this old for the 303 ?

[mattw]

That is fairly young ammo. I have shot many a 45 and 06 from the war years. If it has been stored well and kept dry, there would not be a problem. That will even have non-corrosive power in it. I would love some, but can't buy hundreds... maybe a hundred or 2.

[higgins]

If it's the Greek HXP headstamp that's on the market now, it's a good deal for what others on internet sites say is generally accurate ammo. I haven't personally fired any HXP. Depending on what you pay for components, You could spend .39 per round handloading .303.

[Gavetta]

if it is from pakistan expect long hangfires and duds.perhaps good for teaching follow through.waited 60 seconds,opened breech rapidly away from my face.case made sizzling noise and then made a pop sound and ejected the bullet.that was more than a minute after it was ejected from the rifle.pof ammo

[gpidaho]

I fired some 303s I've had for about 10yrs. It is head stamped D1 Z 1943 and fired accurately and burned clean. Not to say that all would work as well but these worked just fine. If you have the time to brake these down the brass and pulled bullets are worth the price. GP

[RogerDat]

I fired some 303s I've had for about 10yrs. It is head stamped D1 Z 1943 and fired accurately and burned clean. Not to say that all would work as well but these worked just fine. If you have the time to brake these down the brass and pulled bullets are worth the price. GP

The materials being worth the price aside from the value as ammo is what keeps me interested. I don't need several hundred rounds and it is more money than I would spend on ammo as a rule. But it would be a lifetime supply of 303 brass if nothing else.

[gpidaho]

RD: Keep us up on the deal if you go ahead with it and some of us may help ya out by buying some from you. I'm retired and enjoy tinkering at the bench. I could use 200-300. GP

[303Guy]

Just thinking, would it be worth while pulling the boolits and annealing the necks? Just that sometimes old 303 Brit ammo sometimes tends to split the necks on firing. I have annealed primed case necks by standing the cases in water and apply a flame. Obviously the case does not get knocked over when done. It's impossible to set the primers off that way and even if one did go off it would only make a noise and shoot out bits of fine debris so wear earmuffs and safety glasses.

[curator]

If this offering is the Greek HXP stuff, it is worth the price. Good accurate loads and wonderful boxer-primed brass. Non-corrosive to boot! I bought a bit less than 1K when it came on the market about 2 months ago. HXP .303 ammo had not been available for almost 10 years. Pakistani stuff, save your money. At best click-----bang or misfire and Berdan primed, corrosive, erosive cordite.

[Kraschenbirn]

+ 1 on the HXP. Haven't tried the .303 Brit but have been shooting and reloading HXP '06 stuff for several years. 70s-vintage HXP ball ammo will easily match any surplus U.S. Ball in my Garand and some of my HXP brass has been reloaded a half-dozen times without a single case failure (that I can recall, anyway).

Bill

[Mike H]

Snap it up,good ammo and good brass if it is like the HXP .303 I have.
Mike.

[rondog]

Wish I had a lead on some surplus .303, especially HXP. I'd jump on that like a horny chimp!

[cpileri]

Wish I had a lead on some surplus .303, especially HXP. I'd jump on that like a horny chimp!

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/AMM-A13480X

[Love Life]

If it is the HXP that was on CTD awhile back then go for it. It has proven to shoot 3 inches and under in my 6 groove savage with PH 5-C sight at 100 yds. I bought 5 cases when it was available and am glad I did. I'll shoot it, sell the brass to make my money back, and buy some matchkings to load in some new brass.

Win, win, win, win.

[dnepr]

Wish I had a lead on some surplus .303, especially HXP. I'd jump on that like a horny chimp!
Me too surplus 303 is a rare thing here in Canada , if you find it usually runs about a buck a round , especially the Greek stuff. I had about 100 rounds of the Pakistan stuff. It was a bit hot headspace on my 303 was a bit worse after those. Would use the Pakistan stuff as components if I found it again cheap but won't shoot it again

[starnbar]

Hey if it is Paki ammo leave it lay

[dualsport]

SCORE!! CTD has the Greek HXP. 480 rds. delivered for about $225.

[WILCO]

if it is the hxp that was on ctd awhile back then go for it. It has proven to shoot 3 inches and under in my 6 groove savage with ph 5-c sight at 100 yds. I bought 5 cases when it was available and am glad i did. I'll shoot it, sell the brass to make my money back, and buy some matchkings to load in some new brass.

Win, win, win, win.


Hahahahahahhahahahahahha!!!! Way to go Rich!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Yes,,, a case of that stuff should last a while..

I just bought some PPU stuff, loaded with 150 and 180 gr bullets for $14 a box of 20,,, from SGA Ammo in OK. I got 5 boxes of each size bullet for 100 rounds of each. A good deal if you don't want to spend $200. And the ammo is newly made first class ammo.

http://www.sgammo.com/catalog/rifle-ammunition/303-british

It's all about the brass as you're going to want to reload it. Once fired cases in your chamber are going to produce the best accuracy. The PPU Brass is some of the best out there, and I think this Greek stuff is supposed to be good too.

I've got about 500 cases now so I don't need any more,,, that and my 215 gr Woodleigh RNSP's finally came in from Huntington's so if Hornady ever makes their 174 gr RNSP's I'll have all the bases covered.

I just have to get those 314299's to shoot right.

Randy

[Love Life]

I shot my version of the mad minute with the HXP. It was awesome. I had BLO leeching out of the wood due to the barrel heat...

The PPU is also good stuff.

I believe I need a different bolt head though.

[John Allen]

I bought two cases of that greek ammo it is great.

[RogerDat]

Well I thank you for the feedback, my wife however... eh not so much ;-)

With shipping works out to a .456 a round. Since I needed some 303 brass and Prvi running nearly .60 a round for new....
I figure best way to get brass for reloading - shoot some rounds. Hopefully I can sell off a some of this ammo and reduce it to an amount that I would have liked to purchase. Not sure who will ship ammo for private parties. UPS maybe? If nothing else I can probably sell some at a gun show or to someone local.

Oh and I found some IMR powder suitable for 303 at Recob's target shop, not exactly what I was looking for but suitable.
http://www.recobstargetshop.com/browse.cfm/2,192.html

They also had some Hodgdon powder in stock looked like all rifle but at least a few to choose from.

[mjwcaster]

UPS and Fedex to ship ammo, have to go to their actual locations or schedule a pickup.
Just slap an ORD-M label on it and it's good to go.

Pricing kills you on shipping, it's been running about $20 for me to ship ammo.

Matt

[Jack Stanley]

Last winter I took a couple bandoleers with chargers of HXP to the gun show priced about forty cents a round . Apparently there were no Enfield shooters in the house that believed it was non corrosive boxer primed accurate ammo . I think I did get one offer of twenty bucks for both bandoleers .... ummm , no thanks !

So the bullets got pulled , powder saved , load worked out with cast while using an "O" ring on the rim . After that I annealed the cases before the loading the next time . One of these days I'll probably find a load for the jacketed bullets I pulled and send them downrange as well .

Good ammo to be sure I think I like the cases from 1975 a little more than those from 1970 though .

Jack

[RogerDat]

UPS and Fedex to ship ammo, have to go to their actual locations or schedule a pickup.
Just slap an ORD-M label on it and it's good to go.

Pricing kills you on shipping, it's been running about $20 for me to ship ammo.

Matt

I was given sort of wrong information at the UPS "store" in that they said they don't ship except from licensed dealers. Well that is true the strip mall UPS "stores" don't ship ammo but the actual UPS facilities do.

Link to rules and printable ORD-M labels. http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/prepare/packaging/guidelines/ammunition.html no additional charge above normal shipping so I guess cost would depend on shipping zone and weight. It was a little over $30 for shipping from CTD to me on a 30# case.

[MtGun44]

I have found HXP (Greek) M2 ball (.30-06) to be excellent quality ammo and accurate.

I recently bought about 1500 rds of the HXP from CTD, and it is all clean, shiny and nice
looking. Have not had a chance to shoot any yet, but if anything close to the quality
of the .30-06, it should be fine.

Bill