Nickel plated .303 rounds

[Die Judicii]

Can any-one give me some in depth info on these rounds.
They were recently given to me by my brother.

They are mostly all just like the typical .303 FMJ except for being Nickel plated.

2 of them are round nosed. (see pic)

The dates range from 1938 to 1948.

Any info welcomed.

100_3902.JPG (548.79 KiB) Viewed 4016 times

[brett1868]

Nickel plating of projectiles has been done for ages and Winchester used to (maybe still do) offer a "Silver Tip" pistol projectile. The only reason I could find for plating them was to lesson the chances of corrosion which makes sense given the intended purpose and age of these rounds. The modern purpose of Nickel plating is apparently to make them look pretty and extract a few extra $ from punters believing they'll make them shoot like The Lone Ranger

[No1Mk3]

G'day Die Judicii,
The white cupro-nickel jacket was used from early days until around 1943 by most makers, as is most common on MkII to MkVI, then early MkVII. The more familiar copper based Gilding metal coated steel jacket was mostly used after that, and by the end of WW2 almost exclusively, Cheers.

[Die Judicii]

Thanks No1Mk3, and Brett.
Much appreciated

[Norton]

Corrosion resistance has always been the only real purpose AFAIK.

We're talking WWII dates there of course which saw ammo carted all around the world (or destined to end up somewhere it maybe didn't).

Any idea on where the rounds might have originally been from? Somewhere frosty perhaps?

[Carter]

Would they be nickel? Not some alloy with a bit of nickel in it?

Pure nickel is hard as, must be hell on the barrels if it is.

[No1Mk3]

G'day Carter,
The material is referred to as Cupro-Nickel, an alloy of Copper containing up to 20% Ni and sometimes a couple of % manganese.

[Bourt]

Can any-one give me some in depth info on these rounds.

The story as I understand it is that they were developed to limit suffering of wounded soldiers. (Hence the WW2 ish years there)

Similar to not using soft point because of the excess damage they cause and additional problems they leave survivors with, nickel was used as it was meant to be less toxic than other options.

But they were more difficult to make, they fouled barrels like a bastard and the fouling was hard to get off. I don't have the full story on this but also some of the alloys were thought to be responsible for blow-ups as the projectile would bond with the brass neck and when fired try to take the top of the cartridge with it down the barrel.

[Gregg]

It could only ever be done in an alloy.

Solid nickel bullets would be like firing a rasp down the barrel every time you pulled the trigger.

[wheedle]

I don't have the full story on this but also some of the alloys were thought to be responsible for blow-ups as the projectile would bond with the brass neck and when fired try to take the top of the cartridge with it down the barrel.

Sounds like quite a spectacle

[Member-Deleted]

From my own background knowledge, the primary reason was cost. Like wars in general, keeping the price down and supplies up was the bottom line in eventually winning i.e petrol, spare parts, etc. Oversimplified for the purpose of the post of course, but the cupro nickel alloy was cheaper, and more available by 1942-43, and there may have well been had other secondary reasons behind the choice.

Barrel fouling was a big problem, as experienced extensively by NZ deer cullers back in the 50's and 60's. The mercuric primers didn't help either, and most 303 barrels were destroyed by corrosion and fouling than were ever worn out by actual firing. The round nosed cartridge is the Mk V1, a 215 projectile that comes out around 2100-200FPS, and this was officially superseded in 1907, by the Mk V11, a spitzer 174 projectile at around 2440 in the standard issue SMLE or 2,500 out of the P14.

I've used both quite extensively, and the 215 grain round nose is an effective buffalo killer with head shots at close to moderate range, but head shots ONLY, as the primary design of FMJ is to wound not kill, with no expansion. A buffalo's heavy bone structure around the brain make this possible. If you can get them cheap. they make good range ammo, and the standard sights don't need re-calibrating. Just remember to clean the barrel with really good solvent like Sweets 7.62, or boiling water carefully through a funnel, as this stuff is very corrosive. Good shooting