A few weeks ago I bought a sweet No5 Mk1infantry rifle. When I buy these things I try to make sure I get a small amount of period ammunition with them, just in case the urge overtakes me. This ammunition inner is Ball Mark VIIz ammunition loaded with nitrocelluose propellant. Manufactured byDefence Industries, part of Canadian Industries Ltd. The I.G. Canada means Inspector General Canada.
Simple little item, a ten round package of .303 rifle ammunition, intended for the Enfield infantry rifle and similar vintage weapons. This pack of ten is dated 1941 and manufactured by CAC, the Colonial Ammunition Company of New Zealand. This was the first ammunition company established in Australasia.
Shrapnel and shell fragments accounted for a large proportion of those killed and wounded in WW1. Those blown into the ether by high explosive to one side, artillery accounted for around 70% of casualties. These six balls were recovered from the Thiepval Redoubt on the Somme and are German in origin. Thiepval was a slaughterhouse on the first day of the attack and, despite early success, took a savage pounding from German counter-fire.
The Battle of Thiepval. The view looking toward Thiepval on morning of attack and showing German barrage. (IWM)
These two cartons arrived in the mail today, all the way from the U.S. I expect you won’t be that excited by them but finding unopened cartons of wartime Japanese Nambu ammunition is almost unobtainium. Getting them into Canada from the States is a painful experience as any ammunition export from the US requires Department of the Interior approval. These two cartons are marked almost identically. The star marking is for the Tokyo First Arsenal. The first line of characters is “ju-yon-nen-shiki-ken-ju-jip-po” which translates to “Type 14 Handgun Ammunition”. The second row is “ju-go-hatsu” meaning “15 rounds”. On the underneath of the cartons are the stamps for “sho” meaning Showa Year and 19.11, which translates to November 1944. These are perfect for my 1944 Type 14 Pistol here and fit into the front pocket of the 1944 holster I have here.
The other day I bought a Carcano Model 38 Carbine in 7.35×51 calibre. When I get these rifles I try to get just a small quantity of representative ammunition for them. Here are two slightly different issues of the 18 round carton for this rifle. The first is manufactured by SMI, Società Metallurgica Italiana in 1939, the second by Sezione Pirotechnico R.E. in Bologna, also in 1939. This round was introduced because of feedback saying the 6.5 Carcano round performed poorly in Abyssinia in 1936. Typically the Italians screwed up and actually made this projectile lighter than the one it was to replace.
This round was used specially by the Hungarians in their Steyr M95 infantry carbines such as this one here. This cartridge has a much more prominent rim on it than the Austrian round so if you find that your ammo is dropping out of the clips check that you may have confused the two, I did!
Another bit of kit I’ll never get to use. The Italian M30 Breda Light Machinegun fired Carcano 6.5×52 rounds just like the standard Italian military rifles of the time. This is a stripper clip designed to refill the horizontally fed magazines for this gun.It holds 20 rounds.
I have a Canadian made Enfield No4 MkI* rifle here. These are the stripper clips and ammunition for this rifle. Additionally you can see a battle pack of 48 rounds produced by the Dominion Industries Company, part of Canadian Industries Ltd. The ammunition in the battlepack is all VIIz ball, made in 1943. The clips show both brass rounds and steel, made in 1944 and 1945 by the same company.
Another small addition to my ammunition stock. These are stripper clips in Carcano 6.5×52 intended for the Carcano M91/41 service rifle as well as the Carcano M38 and other small arms. These fit this rifle here. Interesting side note, Lee Harvey Oswald put two of these into JFK in November 1963.
A modest little item here, this is a stripper clip for the 7.92×33 “Kurz” cartridge used in the MP-43/44 assault rifle. Really tough to find this ammo now and especially in the clip. Thanks Andrew!
A pretty simple item here, a clip of Arisaka 7.7mm rifle ammunition. This was used in the Arisaka Type-99 rifle here. Since I just obtained one of these rifles I was happy to get hold of some representative ammo for it.
In 1938 the Waffen-ϟϟ, still not integrated into the Wehrmacht supply chain, contracted with the DWM company (Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktien-Gesellschaft) to supply ammunition for their troops. These are some examples of empty brass head stamped for the SS, sourced from Eastern Europe. The TV stands for Totenkopfverbände.
I have always had an interest in the Indian Wars and especially the Custer Battlefield. This is a 45-70 Government round with a Winchester Repeating Arms headstamp.
With the takeover of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1936 a large number of Mannlicher rifles came into their possession. These were sold off to Germany’s allies such as Bulgaria which took possession of thousands of M95/30 rifles. This ammunition was produced in 1938 and has the Nazi eagle headstamp.
These are some examples of wartime production Mauser 7.92×57 rounds, the standard Wehrmacht rifle and machinegun round. These examples include the standard schweres Spitzgeschoß type as well as the S m E round designed to avoid the use of lead in the projectile and S.m.K., which is the armour piercing round used for targets in hard cover or in vehicles.
These rounds are the Kurz rounds used in the MP43/44 or StG assault rifle. These particular ones were made in 1944 and were taken into use by the East German Army as evidenced by the label dating from 1961. The DDR Army ceased using the MP44 in 1962.
These are three clips of the Japanese 6.5×50 cartridge designed for use in the Arisaka Type 38 infantry rifle here. The red band is sealant, not an indicator of the nature of the round.
These ammunition cartons contain original German issue 9×19 cartridges, as used in the P08 Luger, P38 Walther and MP-40. The ammunition was manufactured in 1938 and 1942 and 1944.
This is an airtight transport box for 75mm fuzes for a German Infantry gun. The case is dated 2.9.44. It’s an amazingly well constructed case with a complex catch system and dovetailed joints. I have to ask why, after 5 years of war, the Germans were still spending so much attention making essentially throw away gear so well.
