Can you identify this rifle casing?

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Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by TranquilityBase » 29 May 2017, 2:57 pm

Hi. I found some rifle casings, one of which is shown below, while walking in the scrub, but am unable to identify either the caliber, or its origin. The back of the casing has some peculiar markings. The first one, as you can see below, looks like the Greek lower-case symbol for "tau". For some reason I can't copy/paste it here, but you can see the letter for yourself with a quick google search. The second symbol is a triangle, which is the Greek upper-case symbol for 'Delta' - Δ. It could just be coincidence that they look similar to letters of the Greek alphabet, and they could mean something else entirely. So 'Tau Delta'. I've never heard of this before. The other inscription might be a date stamp: 1909, but that's just a guess. I know very, very little when it comes to any type of cartridge, so please correct me if you think anything I've said here is false.

So, with this information and the two images I posted, do you think you can identify the bullet, manufacturer and year of manufacture?



P5290026.jpg
Side-on view of the casing, showing its length.
P5290026.jpg (1.43 MiB) Viewed 4181 times


P5290023.jpg
Back of the casing
P5290023.jpg (1.71 MiB) Viewed 4181 times
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by Varmtr » 30 May 2017, 5:58 am

it is a 303 British case
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by No1Mk3 » 30 May 2017, 6:24 am

G'day TranquilityBase,
As Varmtr says, it is 303 British. The headstamp is for the Iraqi State Arsenal, Cheers.
PS: The date on yours is 1959
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by TranquilityBase » 30 May 2017, 10:11 am

No1Mk3 wrote:G'day TranquilityBase,
As Varmtr says, it is 303 British. The headstamp is for the Iraqi State Arsenal, Cheers.
PS: The date on yours is 1959


Right, thanks guys. I thought the shape of it looked similar to that round, but the headstamp shown on the calibre's Wikipedia page was different to the ones I found, so I disregarded that possibility. So how do you know when it was manufactured? Is the clue in the "1909" number?
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by No1Mk3 » 30 May 2017, 11:02 am

Yes, what appears to be 1909 is actually Arabic numerals for 1959. The triangle is the mark for Iraq, and the mark before it is the arabic letter jim, or gim, used as an abbreviation of gheesh which is understood in this context to mean Army, or Military.
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by scaredyet » 30 May 2017, 2:23 pm

Question is , is it worth anything
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by No1Mk3 » 31 May 2017, 1:10 pm

G'day scaredyet,
No, not really. It was produced in large quantities from 1930 to 1959 on former British machinery until the AK47 was adopted around 1960, and much was sold on the world surplus market. Live round maybe $5, empty case maybe $2. The factory that produced it was destroyed during the 2nd Gulf War.
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by bigfellascott » 31 May 2017, 2:04 pm

Looks like ISIS has infiltrated Aus and gone back to using the good ol 303. :D
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by TranquilityBase » 31 May 2017, 4:39 pm

No1Mk3 wrote:Yes, what appears to be 1909 is actually Arabic numerals for 1959. The triangle is the mark for Iraq, and the mark before it is the arabic letter jim, or gim, used as an abbreviation of gheesh which is understood in this context to mean Army, or Military.


Excellent detective skills you got there. Thanks for the info, it's much appreciated.
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by brett1868 » 31 May 2017, 6:23 pm

bigfellascott wrote:Looks like ISIS has infiltrated Aus and gone back to using the good ol 303. :D


Gone all high tech rapid fire, might be time to bug out :D
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by duncan61 » 31 May 2017, 6:28 pm

fascinating
.22 winchester .22hornet .222 .243 7mm rem mag cbc 12g
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by Jamesb570 » 31 May 2017, 9:03 pm

Thanks gentlemen, always good to learn something. Called it for a .303 off the case pic but good to know the why & where that proves it
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Re: Can you identify this rifle casing?

Post by Yelp » 15 Jun 2017, 3:36 pm

Interesting, how did you come by a Iraqi case?
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