WWII .303 ammunition

[Danny P]

I would like to know if a British WWII soldier in the European Theater in 1944-1945 could have carried ammunition produced in Canada or produced in South Africa or maybe some other countries? And may this ammo also have been interware production?

Thanks,

Danny

 

 

[MatchFuzee]

From "With British Snipers to the Reich", by Captain C. Shore 

" I used a good deal of American .303 (particularly WRA) and this gave consistently fine shooting ."

WRA = Winchester Repeating Arms Company - New Haven, Connecticut. Manufactured .30-'06 Springfield and .303 British ammunition during World War I and World War II.

 

It is very very unlikely that any interwar stocks of .303 ammunition would  have existed in 1944. What hadn't been used or abandoned by the BEF in France, would probably have been used in training, with newly made .303  being issued to the front line. 

[Chris Hall]

A lot of the commonwealth ammunition in use on the continent after D day came from pooled stores as well as under supply contract. So there’s a very good chance that a British soldier could have been issued Canadian Dominion Arsenals Canada ammo, US produced WRA in various calibers, Lake City .50, various makers of 30.06 etc.

[teletech]

As a note, a couple decades back I did happen upon some WRA 18 .303 and I can corroborate Captain C. Shore's observations in this regard.  It has held up much better than most other .303 surplus I've used over the years.  I have yet to experience so much as a detectable hangfire from it, though I very seldom use what little I have left.

Edited December 12, 2020 by teletech